How to deal with a difficult music director?

[StMark]

Originally Posted by Renee29

an hour a week? I think that's very reasonable. How much do you except your musicians to practice?

We practice about 2-3 hours BUT we love it! it gets fun. I try to give lead sheets and CDs of the music in advance


My musician practices are seperate from choir. That's one reason choir practices end up being too long. there is too much going on at once.
when you have the band trying to learn the songs at the same time it turns into chaos.
Even if the band knows the songs, the choir can hide behind the music. It's better to have minimal music at rehearsals so that you can focus on parts and leads.

what I do is this. I have a seperate practice with my vocal section leaders and teach them the new songs. I believe every section needs an anchor. then, at rehearsals, they help me teach the songs and sing the parts. This makes the rehearsals go much more effectivley.

Also, I type out all our announcements and only highlight the things that need to be brought up.

IN fact, we have choir from 7-8 pm on weds nights which is our mid week service night! then the choir goes into our pastor's bible class at 8pm. our choir doesn't even have to come out an extra night in the week! this gives me more time to practice with the band and smaller groups, teams, etc.
It is AWESOME!

One hour rehearsals can and are very effective! and our attendance is GREAT because the people know I value their time,they know we mean business and they respect that in return.