I'm in an informal and fluctuating ensemble that gets together every year to do some holiday songs. We don't have a formal leader, and we're all pretty inexperienced with playing with others. Sometime in December we gather together, along with friends and family and sing the list as a mob.
One thing that the band struggles with is starting together. I've been in rock bands, and we pretty much always started on the one after a count off of four. However, holiday music is all over the place in that respect.
I think we should do this:
Count off a full measure.
Count off the beginning of the first measure.
Start on the anacrusis itself.
So, for example, using that famous holiday song "Happy Birthday To You," we would go like this (using a spoken count off):
Leader: one two three one two
then
Band (playing melody, not singing lyrics): Hap -- py birth -- day to you, Hap --...
Also, I'm assuming that the most basic percussion approach is for them to play whatever they would normally during the anacrusis. So, "Happy Birthday" again: During a normal measure, the kit might play:
Kick snare snare | kick snare snare | etc.
And at the beginning the drummer does this:
Leader: one two three one two
then
Drums: snare | kick snare snare | kick snare snare | etc.
Doing things this way seems to throw the band off. However, to me, it's the only logical, reasonable way to start when a song has a pick up measure. The counter argument is often that it should start on the one, no matter what:
Leader: one two three one two three
then
Band: Hap -- py birth -- day to you, Hap --...
However, this has dire consequences as far as I'm concerned, mainly that it defies convention and throws off folks who would like sing along with the band.
Can anybody provide some guidance here?
Thanks, Greg