Band Dynamics NEVAH - Maine Bluegrass - Getting Along prt3

Hello NEVAH friends, hope all is well as we approach the Happy Holidays, all the Happy Holidays! 

Nevah at Old Towns Riverfront Concert Series

I'd like to briefly talk about "getting along" in our band - Musically. You might think a local Maine NewGrass, BlueGrass, Country, okay PROGRASSABILLY band like NEVAH would lean towards a particular sound. Well, we are hard to define, and truth be-told we have a musical spectrum that ranges from hard Bluegrass-ish to Rock and Roll to 60's accapella, And of course, everything in between.

Therefore, the question is … how do we select our music, and agree to the choices. Especially with an eight piece band? It's easy, the Men O' Nevah, have extremely good taste. 

I'm only joking, however, in reality it's pretty accurate - the band members have been around a couple of years, played numerous songs and know a lot of songs, plus we have a lot of open minds, and hearts and are willing to listen to anyone in the band who has an idea for a song, be it an original or a well worn favorite for inclusion in our "Master Set List" -

Pedal Steel and Drums

Banjo and Mandolin

Once a song is suggested, and we know someone really wants to do a song when they bring in Chord Sheets for everyone to look at, they generally have a simple arrangement in mind. 

The Band tries to:

1) Listen to the song played through by the person who would like to include it. If it's the sax player of drummer we'll have the guitar player chord it the first time.
2) Add additional instruments on the second go round … listening and leaving space for leads and instrument flourishes. (On this second go-round good listening and strong eye contact are paramount, the key to "less is more")
3) Work out vocal harmony parts on the third run through. Stopping and starting, assigning parts and trying short passages.
4) Work out leads and lead exchanges. An ever changing process until it feels right (could be several weeks or months).
5) Play it through a few times to see how we like it.
6) Rest, put it aside, STOP playing it and move on to other tunes.
7) Come back to it at the end of the evening.

The following practice we will go over it a few times refining bits and pieces, polish it, perform it and then re-work the tune as needed.

Throughout this process if someone has a thought we throw it out to the group and 99.9% of the time we give a try. On occasion a simple discussion, taking in everyones opinions might negate us trying to over-tweak a song.

It really is that simple!

NEXT NEVAH BLOG: From Practice to Live Performance