Why I still rehearse

Rehearsal is not about getting the songs right. It is about earning the freedom to play them wrong on a night when wrong is what the song needs.

When I have rehearsed a set well, I do not have to think on stage. My hands know where they are going. My breathing knows where the chorus lives. That is not the goal in itself. The goal is that, with all of that taken care of, my attention is free to actually be present in the room.

A tight set is what gives me permission to drop a verse, hold a note longer, change a tempo because the audience is leaning in. The work I do alone in a rehearsal room is what allows me to play with the song in front of strangers. I will never stop turning up to it.