It is only four weeks until my next studio group event, so I spent Saturday morning planning and preparing. Our theme is Great Pianists and one of the things we are going to discuss is what makes someone a great pianist. In an effort to improve our own piano performance skills my plan is to group the students into pairs and assign each one a particular area that they are to judge. Things like:
• Best job introducing self and piece
• Most friendly smile
• Most calm preparation to start the piece
• Best use of dynamics
• Best articulation
• Most continuous flow from beginning to end
• Most convincing ending
• Best bow
• Best arm and hand technique

In order to help them keep track of their impressions and make a good decision, I put together this simple Judge’s Worksheet. As each student takes his or her turn, each pair can evaluate them on a scale of 1-10 in how they do in the area they are judging. Then at the end of all the performances, they can announce who they rated the highest in their area. I am hoping that this will help the students be more conscientious about how they present themselves as a performer and will set the standard for future performance opportunities as well.