The purpose of this study was to gather information on rehearsing Lieder, present some of the most essential aspects of it and discover how to make rehearsing more effective. In this project, I examined my rehearsals with my singer and in order to view the rehearsing process from outside as an objective viewer, the rehearsals were videotaped. This thesis is written about the central issues concerning the rehearsing process and playing Lieder in general.

This project showed that rehearsing Lieder is a demanding process for both the singer and the pianist. Lieder are chamber music and therefore playing them well demands that both the singer and the pianist have the qualities of a good chamber musician. Lieder are all about poetry and thereby it is essential that both the singer and the pianist have the same level of understanding the poetry. The issues emerged in the rehearsing process were the importance of planning, goal setting, preparation, focusing, strengthening the musical connection between the singer and the pianist as well as experimenting.

Every rehearsing process is individual and different depending on the repertoire, musicians and their experience and level of professionalism. In addition to these issues represented in this project there are numerous other things to consider when improving rehearsing. However, the main benefit from this project was that categorizing the different stages and aspects of rehearsing made me more conscious about the rehearsing process as a whole. I believe that in future I can benefit from the knowledge gained from this project.