Week 26 dialogue about Practice Scheduling

[superblonde]

I just realized this advice, Week 26 dialogue about Practice Scheduling, is spot on. I’ve been de-motivated by recent bandmate rehearsals because they are not regularly scheduled, the guys claim “i cant schedule a specific time because it shifts from week to week based on family commitments so let’s just call each other in a couple days to work out a time” … yet not having a consistent scheduled rehearsal time is one angle of what is dragging us down. Arghhh Doug is right again. I’m gonna have to get on these guys, to make it a priority to nail down specific timeslots weekly, maybe with alternates in case they have to juggle other things but still, specific timeslots for availability.

I mean it shouldn’t be a big deal to reserve a specific timeslot. If guys want to get together to watch a game on tv, there’s a specific time for that game, like monday 6pm football.. the world wont reschedule the game because someone has to suddenly run to the grocery store to order and pickup their nephew’s 5 yo bday cake or whatever.. the game will be missed (sure it can be recorded and watched later but no one does that, it’s not exciting.. the date is simply missed).

I'm an intermediate student of Metal Method. I play seitannic heavy metal. All Kale Seitan! ♯ ♮ ♭ ø ° Δ ♩ ♪ ♫ ♬
And on the Seventh Day, Mustaine said: ∇ ⨯ E = - ∂B / ∂t ; and there was Thrash; and it had a ♭3; and it was good.

[Igglepud]

This tells me it’s not a priority for them. If it was a priority they would not have an issue making a time slot. Doug says it about guitar, Stephen King says it about writing; it goes for practicing anything. You need a SPECIFIC time to lock the door and shut yourself in (or leave and go to your rehearsal space) and your family needs to be supportive and respect that time (not bother you.)

I’d be willing to bet that your band mates not only don’t prioritize REHEARSAL (which is what getting together should be), but they also have no practice routine for themselves at home.

MY ROCK IS FIERCE!!!

[superblonde]

Absolutely correct.. I dont like to lecture adults on what they should or shouldnt do cause I’m not perfect either. Setting a timeslot is something that is mechanical and can be either done, or not done. If that mechanic can be done, the commitment is the later result. It seems better than asking/lecturing them again “So you guys, how important is this stuff to you? You said it was important so we need to get together blah blah”.. For one of the guys it seems really important ego-wise, he always hosts our rehearsals at his place, gets out drinks in advance, will say “i’ve always wanted to do this, it’s really something that I’ve dreamed of doing” etc, etc, and was visibly fuming when I called off one of our performances since we didnt have it togehter, yet hes also a chief offender in the “can’t set a definite schedule” problem. All that aside.. setting the timeslot in stone could act as the mechanics of prioritization which follows as a result. It’s a definite action to do. Not so abstract and easily lost, like “uhh I’ve gotta pick my priorities! this is important! oops that’s my wife on the phone, I’ll think about it more later”, etc. I ping them all the time to see where they’re at in terms of what they want or don’t want or what they can/cant commit to time-wise (that keeps people more happy in general) so it’s not like I’m pushing for something they don’t say they want. I guess they just don’t have clear ideas of what discipline means. And also.. they aren’t taking Doug’s course 😀 😀

My set of goals is pretty clear so after this upcoming week’s performances that’s what I’d hope we could switch to: alternate between every week thursday or saturday doing live rehearsal playing one of the 3 nearby open mics + busking locations for a 2 hr timeslot, so, we are actively out in public with a live performance-rehearsal once per week, in addition to our short 1.5 hr weekly practices.

I'm an intermediate student of Metal Method. I play seitannic heavy metal. All Kale Seitan! ♯ ♮ ♭ ø ° Δ ♩ ♪ ♫ ♬
And on the Seventh Day, Mustaine said: ∇ ⨯ E = - ∂B / ∂t ; and there was Thrash; and it had a ♭3; and it was good.

[Doug Marks]

I’m also a big believer in “minus one” recordings.  Each player has an individual mix minus their instrument to play along with at home.  Even if they can’t make the scheduled rehearsal everyone can still move forward.  But yes, it’s difficult to get adults together even once a week.  Sometimes it’s best to find a way to accommodate the natural flow.  Recordings can be made that feature single instruments and a click track.  For example, the bass player can’t make it so you play along with a recording that features only the bass player.  This doesn’t need to be difficult.  Both of these solutions can be accomplished by just moving the faders and creating individual mixes.

Metal Method Guitar Instructor

[superblonde]

The headscratcher for me is this business “We rehearse once a week” that I see posted everywhere and that everyone seems to default to. 1x/week is totally arbitrary, what’s so magic about only once per week. If it can be 1x/week then it can be 2x/week or 3x/week. I don’t relate to what normal people do with their time. On Tuesday nites are they too busy because they have to watch the latest rerun of MASH or what – that’s what I don’t get. Unless there’s young kids involved, I think it’s on bandmates to justify why they can’t spare more than 1x/week to get together. Just like as said in Week 26, once per week is not going to make a habit. If something is going to really make good progress then it has to be done more frequently than that. I know corporate meetings if they are done 1x/week (as typically scheduled in cubicle land), basically go nowhere. “Ok what were we talking about last week?”… Only when meetings get to 2x/week or more frequently do people really start to focus and progress is made more on a steep curve than a flat line. Any crazy active manager type knows, for the time leading up to a major deadline etc, the meetings almost always shift to a 3x/week or 4x/week schedule, even the dreaded “standing synchronization meeting every morning”. It really is the way to get people focused on the goals.. and forces everyone to do the homework otherwise the next meeting they are on the spot with nothing to show.

I'm an intermediate student of Metal Method. I play seitannic heavy metal. All Kale Seitan! ♯ ♮ ♭ ø ° Δ ♩ ♪ ♫ ♬
And on the Seventh Day, Mustaine said: ∇ ⨯ E = - ∂B / ∂t ; and there was Thrash; and it had a ♭3; and it was good.

[superblonde]

So, the guys continue to say, they want to get together to rehearse, and “maybe we can learn xx song, wow it will blow everyone away if we perform that! it would be awesome!” kind of stuff. Here’s where the rubber meets the road tho.. send out an email proposing a rehearsal date, get back “ahh i’ll be in las vegas that weekend.. Wedding of my nephew..” (Yes literally) umm, okay, but the proper mature adult thing to do is to offer a new date, not just shoot down every offer “ahh nope not that one. nope busy that day too.” duh, suggest a set of dates when you are available? But actually this is a problem even in corporate situations.. somehow people do not seem to be able to make the deductive leap, to offering a list of times as suggestions and allowing someone to weed thru the common times to pick the most fitting one.

Technology to the rescue, there’s some websites for coordinating people’s schedules. Doodle.com is one such site. Enter people’s email addresses, click on a bunch of dates, type in the purpose of the meeting, the calendar is sent out as an email sharing thing, and everyone visits the link to also check the boxes where they are free, so, the dates with the most votes, become the winning choice. So I did that (I tried this other site called Rally) .. perfect mechanism to develop practice habits for a group..

Unfortunately the guys didn’t fill it out. One of the guys said this week, “ahh I didnt fill out your form because all of those dates are too difficult for me to predict”. The other guys, I dunno if they ignored it, or what. In some way it’s good news. I’ll bail from this group and spend my time wisely elsewhere as they definitively wont commit to making practice a habit.

I would have liked to make more practice materials for them if they asked or if I saw they needed something specific.. I already created backing tracks and solo tracks for them to practice with. Not sure they are using them or not. Sometimes it seems so, mostly it seems not. Ultimately they aren’t practicing on their own without having external pressure of an upcoming rehearsal or performance. So making additional practice materials is kind of a time sink if the materials arent being used..

I'm an intermediate student of Metal Method. I play seitannic heavy metal. All Kale Seitan! ♯ ♮ ♭ ø ° Δ ♩ ♪ ♫ ♬
And on the Seventh Day, Mustaine said: ∇ ⨯ E = - ∂B / ∂t ; and there was Thrash; and it had a ♭3; and it was good.

[Author]

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