Stratagem Excerpt: Quality Reps
What follows is an excerpt from my upcoming book, Stratagem: A Comprehensive Guide to the Marching Arts Rehearsal (Spring 2024).
Quality Reps
Repetition is part of most any learning process, whether it’s learning to read, multiply or ride a bike. We all need multiple opportunities to eventually master a skill. You may be familiar with the imagery of an iceberg used as a reference for the ratio of preparation to performance. The observer sees only the amount of iceberg exposed above the surface of the water. That represents the performance, but icebergs have more mass below the waterline and that mass represents the amount of preparation.
Just blindly repeating something doesn’t necessarily get us closer to our goal of mastery. We must approach each repetition with focus or a particular goal in mind. Just doing the same thing over and over again does not automatically equal improvement. Whether being coached or working alone, the performer must know where to concentrate their effort during the next repetition in order to improve the performance level.
As instructors, we must train the members of the ensemble to understand the characteristics of a quality repetition and to expect it of themselves each rep. Here are my characteristics of a quality repetition.
1. Why?: Why is the ensemble/performer repeating a large portion of the production, a phrase, a chord, a visual basic, etc.? What is the purpose for the next repetition? This is where we derive the focus for the rep. Whether the purpose is purely musical, visual, or a combination, the purpose has to be clearly stated for the performers to bring into focus the goal(s) for the repetition. Each repetition must have intention.
2. Focus: What are the members of the ensemble or the performer listening/watching for? Where are they concentrating their efforts during the rep? What indication will they have their efforts have paid off after the rep? The director/instructor must communicate this clearly for the performers or coach them in a way they take ownership of the focus themselves.
3. Unified Effort: Everyone involved in the rep understands where to start/end musically and/or visually. If music is being performed, there is a reference to measure numbers and counts. On the visual side of things, there is a reference to body position, set number, and counts. Auxiliary performers don’t always reference measure numbers, so they need references to equipment/body position/choreography and maybe an audio cue (sing or play the phrase for them). In short, EVERYONE understands which portion of their material is being repped. Knowing where the repetition ends is just as important as knowing where it begins. I often tell the ensemble, “Prove to me you understand where the end of this phrase is (musically and/or visually).”
4. Repetition is performed at the actual level of expertise possessed by the ensemble or performer at the time of the repetition: The instructional staff is actively watching this performance level and keeping track of its trajectory over time. A quality repetition’s performance level is the same or higher than the preceding rep. Our performers aren’t machines. Their performance level may slip and then rebound during the next repetition. Generally speaking, there will be a curve in a series of repetitions. The performance level will rise over a portion of the series and then begin to degrade. The instructional staff must have an understanding of this as to not continue the repetitions on a given section of material once diminishing returns have become evident. (see Rehearsal Atmosphere and Motivation)
5. The value of a repetition comes from comparison with the rep(s) just prior (today, yesterday, last week, etc.): This is how we as instructional staff put a value on the current repetition and can use it when providing specific feedback to the performers as well as in future rehearsal planning.
My favorite time as a director/instructor is when the ensemble/performer reaches the point of producing quality reps over and over. This is when real “cleaning” can happen. The instructional staff can use finely tuned/directed coaching to maximize details of the production.
Without quality repetitions the members of our team, the performers, instructors, and director(s) cannot expect to have quality performance. The entire team is responsible for creating a rehearsal atmosphere where quality repetitions occur. (see Organizing the Rehearsal Structure and Flow)
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