Jennifer Higdon on rehearsal etiquette

I’ve seen com­posers in rehearsals be pretty tough on their play­ers, and I always think, “hey, there’s no need to antag­o­nize the peo­ple who are going to per­form your music!” It seems to me you would like your per­form­ers to be fans of you. Now of course, yes, you want them to get it right, but…

Jen­nifer Hig­don, one of my favorite con­tem­po­rary com­posers (and just an all-out nice per­son, too), has some great insight into what’s going on the first few times you go to a rehearsal of your music. Some patience might pay off! Keep these insights in mind: