Musicians, your time is valuable. You need that time to dedicate to creating and developing your music. But, as you grow in your career and business, the busy work does too. Updating websites, keeping up on social media, submitting music, coordinating rehearsals and interviews comes with the territory of a musician – and it’s a lot! To lighten the load, I’ll be sharing tips over the next few weeks on how to make the days go by easier.

Coordinating a Rehearsal

How many email chains do you have of you going back and forth with your band on rehearsal times, days, places…a bunch, right? Scheduling might seem like it takes no time, but when you think about it, it can take a chunk out of your day. Things that might be slowing you down is when and how you initiate the first email to schedule a rehearsal.

When scheduling a rehearsal:

• You want the rehearsal to be a few days / no more than a week from the performance day – so send the initial email about 3 weeks before the performance date.
• Be sure to give everyone a few days to reply – not everyone is glued to their email inbox!
• Give clear times on when you are free. Don’t say “Oh, I’m free whenever this week or next.” Instead, choose times and say “after 6PM on Tuesday, or 1-5PM on Friday”.
• Tell them how long you want the rehearsal to be, whether it’s 2 hours, 4 hours or a full 8 hour day.
• Find a time before you worry about the where it will be, a much easier task when dealing with a 5-member band.

Reminders are heaven sent to someone who has a swamped schedule. Once a meeting or rehearsal has been confirmed, I set up reminders with Boomerang for Gmail (or reminders in Outlook if you have that). Boomerang is great as it lets me choose a date and time to send a reminder. So, once I know a rehearsal will be next Tuesday at 5PM for 2 hours, I schedule a reminder to everyone in the band to send a reminder the day before. This has prevented the dreaded ‘double-booking’ that will happen as you get busier. Be smart and set yourself (and your band) some reminders.

For meetings or interviews, I tend to follow the same process. Pick the time for them, be clear on how much time you have, give them your contact info and set those reminders!