Listen!Might seem obvious...but this is critical! You have to listen to, and internalize, the song - if you don't know how it goes, you don't know when you're getting it wrong!
Ideally, everyone in the band will have had a good listen to the song before rehearsal - you'll find everything you need on Youtube. But it is still good to have a listen through at your rehearsal just before you have your first play through. Here's a few things I try to have in mind as I listen...but feel free to add your own suggestions.
Don't play along!! This is the time to use your ears, not your fingers. Playing along not only distracts you from listening, but also distracts everyone else! Chances are you will be doing it in a different key anyway...
Melody. Get the melody in your head...to the point that you could sing it back without the music. Take particular note of harder sections.
Structure and dynamic shape. What is the overall structure of the song - Verse / Chorus etc.? It doesn't really matter if you choose a different structure later...at least you will have a common starting point. What is the dynamic shape, and how do the transitions between the sections develop this? How does the arrangement - who's playing what when - add to the shape? It can help to write out the structure, and draw a "dynamic shape" squiggle above it!
Feel and groove. How is movement and momentum created rhythmically? Listen for your instruments role in this, and how it meshes with everyone else...
Instrumental parts. Listen out for any particular melodic motifs, hooks or features...particularly on your instrument. How else does your instrument help build this song?
What makes the song work? Hopefully the song does work! Why? What are the core features of this song - things that if you stripped away would be really detrimental? It could be a vocal melody, and instrumental hook, or a particular groove... Or another way of thinking about it...if you were to strip it back to one instrument - keys or guitar - what music features would you keep to retain its identity?
Lyrics. "But I'm the bass player," you reply... We're encouraging the church to adopt this song, and the lyrics and concepts contained in it, as their expression to God. If we are to lead this well, we need to first do so ourselves. How does this song help you express your hope, praises, dependence, struggles...?
All this listening preparation doesn't necessarily lock you into a particular arrangement...in fact, its better if you end up give it your own particular sonic 'stamp' and not just mimic the particular recording artist. But it does let you, as a band, have a common starting point to then start developing your own interpretation of it.
Ideally, everyone in the band will have had a good listen to the song before rehearsal - you'll find everything you need on Youtube. But it is still good to have a listen through at your rehearsal just before you have your first play through. Here's a few things I try to have in mind as I listen...but feel free to add your own suggestions.
Don't play along!! This is the time to use your ears, not your fingers. Playing along not only distracts you from listening, but also distracts everyone else! Chances are you will be doing it in a different key anyway...
Melody. Get the melody in your head...to the point that you could sing it back without the music. Take particular note of harder sections.
Structure and dynamic shape. What is the overall structure of the song - Verse / Chorus etc.? It doesn't really matter if you choose a different structure later...at least you will have a common starting point. What is the dynamic shape, and how do the transitions between the sections develop this? How does the arrangement - who's playing what when - add to the shape? It can help to write out the structure, and draw a "dynamic shape" squiggle above it!
Feel and groove. How is movement and momentum created rhythmically? Listen for your instruments role in this, and how it meshes with everyone else...
Instrumental parts. Listen out for any particular melodic motifs, hooks or features...particularly on your instrument. How else does your instrument help build this song?
What makes the song work? Hopefully the song does work! Why? What are the core features of this song - things that if you stripped away would be really detrimental? It could be a vocal melody, and instrumental hook, or a particular groove... Or another way of thinking about it...if you were to strip it back to one instrument - keys or guitar - what music features would you keep to retain its identity?
Lyrics. "But I'm the bass player," you reply... We're encouraging the church to adopt this song, and the lyrics and concepts contained in it, as their expression to God. If we are to lead this well, we need to first do so ourselves. How does this song help you express your hope, praises, dependence, struggles...?
All this listening preparation doesn't necessarily lock you into a particular arrangement...in fact, its better if you end up give it your own particular sonic 'stamp' and not just mimic the particular recording artist. But it does let you, as a band, have a common starting point to then start developing your own interpretation of it.
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