There will be times when you’re not fully prepared. It may be due to illness, laziness or circumstances outside your control.
The question is: should you go ahead regardless?
You might have missed several rehearsals, but a concert is coming up. You might not have put enough time into preparing a song to teach. You might unexpectedly be called upon to lead a song, but have had very little notice. Or you might have promised to write a song for a choir, but not found the time to finish it.
There’s always an excuse: illness, family emergency, procrastination, forgetfulness, bad time management, not enough notice, creative block, taking too much on or underestimating how long something will take.
But however valid your excuse, the deadline remains. Do you go ahead anyway, or somehow duck out?
It depends on what you’re being asked to do.
If you’re a choir member
If you’re not fully up to speed with one or more songs in a concert, don’t sing them. Tell your choir leader and step out for the songs you don’t know well enough. That’s better than just busking it and spoiling it for everyone.
It doesn’t matter how much you’ve been looking forward to the concert, if you’ve missed too many rehearsals, you might simply not be prepared. And if you don’t know most of the songs, you’ll need to miss the concert entirely.
If you’re teaching a song
If you’re a choir or song leader and haven’t had enough time to prepare a song to teach, drop it if that’s possible.
If not, you might get away with it if you have plenty of experience, but not if you’re a beginner. If it’s your own choir, it might be worth fessing up in advance and letting your singers know that you might stumble a bit in your teaching.
If you’re leading a choir concert
If you haven’t prepared properly for all the songs in a concert, you can always drop the ones you don’t know well enough.
Don’t leave until the last minute, though. Your choir members will need advance notice of any changes to repertoire or running order.
Perhaps a section leader can step in to lead one of the songs. Or maybe you’ve recently taken over the choir and have complete trust that your singers know all the songs well. In that case, even if you feel under-prepared, simply focus on conducting tempo and let the singers do their job.
If you’ve been commissioned to write a song
If the song isn’t ready, you have a couple of options
You could make it clear that it’s still a work in progress and rehearse with the singers who commissioned it until it’s properly finished.
Alternatively, let them know well in advance that you’ll miss the deadline. They can reschedule the premiere, giving you time to finish the song to your satisfaction. They’ve commissioned you especially, so they may well be happy to wait.
Whichever option you choose, keep in regular dialogue with whoever you’re writing the song for.
If you’re called upon at the last minute
If you’re unexpectedly drafted in to sing, teach or lead a song, there will already be an expectation that it’s an unusual situation and that you won’t be fully prepared.
The fact that it’s you who’s been asked means that they have faith in your abilities and think that you’re capable. Use that as a confidence booster as you step up.
If you really don’t think you’re up to the job, say so, and help to find a replacement.
So, should you go ahead?
The bottom line is this: if you don’t think you’re capable of doing the job you’re under-prepared for, don’t do it!
Chris Rowbury
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