Band Dynamics Practicing - Nevah Bluegrass - prt 4

NEVAH, Maine's Bluegrass, Country, NewGrass, Prograssabilly Band practices quite a bit and it has really paid off, in more ways then one. We try to get together once a week and spend a good three to four hours practicing our tunes. Now, that may not sound like a lot of practicing, but when you have eight members in a band, to get 90% of them there each week is an amazing task we have been able to accomplish for almost two years now.

NEVAH (sans Eric)

We have a set routine we go through, usually a warm up song we jam on a bit which leads us to our arrangement of the Beatles - "I've Just Seen A Face", from there with instruments and voices warmed up we usually play one or two more familiar tunes then jump into something new.

If we are preparing for an upcoming concert/show, then we diligently work on any new material we wish to add, going over each arrangement numerous times to solidify the songs in our minds. We play a few more of our "current set" then go back to the new one's once more and finally end with either an acappella number that took us months to work out, or one of our solidly arranged vocal heavy pieces with numerous harmonies at the end.

NEVAH Wanted Men

A perfect example of our work effort paid off the other night at Main Street Music Studios of Bangor Maine. We spent three + weeks concentrating on the songs we were going to record, six originals. In nine hours were able to lay down most of the groundwork, lead vocals, harmonies and additional fill instruments. We were totally surprised, so were the studio engineers. However, we'd practiced all the parts for each song in rehearsal, and then played what we'd practiced.

NEVAH At Main Street Music Studios

Now, please don't get me wrong, I didn't say it was perfect, far from it. Several tunes were recorded, a couple of times each to relax the singers for better vocal quality. I am sure we will spend a good deal of time tweaking things and or re-recording/over dubbing certain tracks. However, we have a very strong musical foundation in which to build each tune and bring out the best sounds/moments from the session to make the songs shine. The Maine Street Music Studios recording session was an amazing experience, a pleasure, not only because the facility and owner/operator Andy, assisted byJosh, were amazing to work with … but because of NEVAH's rehearsal time.

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