Why is the Band Rushing!? (Picking Up Tempo) - Part 1, The Count

Yesterday was the rehearsal for my students of School of the Blues for their winter concert. There are always comments... and there was yesterday... that the band played faster than they wanted (from the start) or that they rushed. I audio record the rehearsals and in most cases when we review the recording, the band gave them the exact tempo they counted.

So, where does it commonly go wrong?...

1) Students forget to hear their song in their head BEFORE they start to count. They often just say what they need to say to the band to get them into the correct key, groove and where in the form they're to start, and then just start counting. The importing thing is to pause after the speech, hear your tune in your head... playing a couple select licks that represent the tempo well in your mind (this is not always the first lick in the song by the way) and then start tapping your foot or moving your body... and finally counting the band in.

2) If item #1 above was good, the next common goof is that when they say "1 . 2 . ", the preparatory count as taught in the Performance Training lesson (Openings, Endings & Breaks), and it's okay, then they do the "1 2 3 4" count they speed that up. The focus is to trust that your repertory count is accurate and you'll have to fight to keep the following count within that tempo.

What happens if you count and it's immediately obvious that it's way too fast or slow?... stop the band right away... laugh a little bit to the audience... say, "I'm sorry, let me try to get this train rolling one more time, I got a little exited," or some stage banter that seems appropriate for that moment and start the song over. Just don't make this a habit... it's up to you to practice your counts so this doesn't happen.

Tomorrow I'll speak of how a song can pick up tempo over the length of the song...