Brekelefuw

I have assembled an octet that plays my arrangements of mostly standard, some originals. It is trumpet, trombone, alto, tenor, bari, piano, bass, drums.

For some reason, when we rehearse, there is no energy. They play all the right notes, but there is no intensity or emotion to the bands playing which makes all of the charts flatline.
I have been trying to figure out an answer to get the band to be more intense for a while now and I just can't come up with one.

Everyone likes the charts and compliments me on them and they sound alright.

When leading a band, how do you get people excited and motivated to do well at them? Whenever I play in other peoples bands there is always a certain level of intensity that flows between everyone, but as soon as I put one together, it just flatlines, even if most of the players in the other band are now in my band.

Any help is much needed.

wiseone2

I would sit down and have a heart to heart talk with the band. Find out from them why it's just not working. Most times being direct is the best answer to this kind of problem.
Wilmer

Billy B

Face it. It's hard to get up for a rehearsal. Stick a mic in front of the band and tell them you are recording a demo. That should wake them up.

rowuk

You "assembled" the octet. Maybe some of the players think that they are just doing you a favor. The magic starts when everybody treats the group as if it was their own.
See if you can bring in some local musical hero to "coach" or critique the band. Then everybody has a reason to jump in with both feet!

Brekelefuw

Good Idea. I never thought of asking a mentor to step in and help out.

trpt2345

Penn Gillette plays bass on the side, and when he rehearses his band at his house in Vegas he hires strippers to serve drinks in the nude. Needless to say, everyone shows up on time, and plays with verve. Just an idea. :=)

Michael McLaughlin

trpt2345

Seriously, I don't know the solution to that one. My training was that you go all out all the time. I remember Harvey Phillips one time saying that rehearsing should be the same as performing just without the audience being there. But you play the same. At Eastman it was similar, Barbara Butler on the one hand always asking, "Could you have played that any better?" and on the other side Bill Dobbins saying if you don't want to play all out put the horn down and don't play until you feel like really playing because if you don't want to play, just don't. Maybe it's like acting or something, you have to be able to turn on the intensity at any moment at any time. Thanks for bringing this up, it is a really huge and relevant issue.

Michael McLaughlin

Brekelefuw

I brought a sandwich platter to that rehearsal that didn't go well, maybe I should have gotten the stripper and sandwiches package instead of just the food.

krossum

Does this same 'flatline' energy happen on the gigs? If it's just a rehearsal problem - no worries. Many musicians have two different gears - rehearsal and show.
-Kelly

Ed Kennedy

You need an audience. Get a gig and play in front of people.