Yes, I almost always play in my student recitals. This is mostly because I don’t enjoy performing, though, so I do it to let my students know that I’m willing to go through the same torture I put them through! Actually, many of my students and I have experienced significant improvement in our performing abilities since I started holding regular group classes with informal performance settings several years ago. From my experience as both a student and a teacher, I would say that it is always a positive thing for the teacher to perform something in student recitals, even if it’s a duet or ensemble with a friend or advanced student.

Rather than it looking like you “need an audience” or appearing showy, I think performing for your studio families lets them see how much you love playing your instrument. You are sharing your music with them, and they love to hear it! Does anyone else have input into this question? Do you perform at your student recitals? Do you think a teacher performing at his/her students’ recital could be perceived negatively? How so?

Remember, if you have a question you’d like to contribute to next week’s Monday Mailbag, leave it in the comments below or send me an e-mail sometime this week with Monday Mailbag in the subject line!

First off, I LOVED having a professional photographer! It was so nice to not have to worry at all about trying to capture pictures in the midst of everything else. Not to mention that the pictures look a whole lot better! We had a couple comments from families about the backflash being too distracting, but I’m sure that’s an issue we can work out the next time.

A stack of programs, boasting the winning artwork by Graham, that I incorporated into the final design. The cover is printed on a metallic silver paper and the inside sheets are on plain white paper.

The students all gather in the lobby area prior to the recital so that I can make sure everyone is present. Then we line up in the order of performance and sit as a group in the front section of the sanctuary. Meanwhile, several students provide prelude music for the audience members as they wait for the recital to begin.

These five students served as the narrators for the program and did a wonderful job! It worked really well to have them seated on the stage and just pass the microphone back and forth when it was their turn to read.

In addition to piano solos, we had a variety of other ensemble performances. Ryan and Joey arranged this duet of the Little Drummer Boy and had fun working together on it!

My good friend (and vocal instructor!), Lydia, graciously agreed to be the guest artist at this year’s recital. I always like to have some special guest as a treat for the students and their families.

A group shot of all the recital performers. You would have thought that I gave everyone a color scheme the way almost everyone was attired in red, white, and/or black, but I just told them to dress up. Amazing, huh?!

The Christmas gift sets that I put together for each student – a set of personalized note cards and a giant candy cane, tied with a ribbon. Simple, but hopefully meaningful and useful!

I have a couple hundred pictures from the occasion, but hopefully that will give you a glimpse into how the Christmas recital turned out. Truly a wonderful time!

Related post: 7 Tips for Enjoyable Recitals

I had five students volunteer for narration parts, so they read short introductions for each of the pieces while the performing student takes his or her place. We have a variety of different instruments, as well as a guest artist who will be sharing several vocal selections with us. One of the things I really try to do is make the whole recital an enjoyable program so that everyone who attends has a good time. This is partly due to the fact that I greatly disliked attending recitals growing up – both performing in them and being an audience member. I want this to be a very positive experience for my students and all their family members and friends that come to hear them. That can be a challenge, so here is my list of 7 things that I do to contribute to an enjoyable experience:

1. Take specific requests so that the student can learn and perform a piece of their choice.

2. Try to carefully select pieces that are level-appropriate, but that will make the student sound really good. Highlight their strengths (e.g. if they love to play fast, lively pieces, give them something with lots of scale runs; if they are very expressive, give them a slow, lyrical arrangement, etc. I even have a handful of students who have written their own arrangements or adapted one from a book to their liking).

3. Schedule the recital from the beginning of the year and start talking it up so that everyone is excited about participating.

4. Add some extra perks to the recital. Years ago I started holding a program cover contest where any student could contribute a drawing and then all the students would vote on their favorite. I then incorporate this into the final program design. Students who love to play extra Christmas songs can sign up to play part of the prelude music before the recital. Students who enjoy speaking or acting can sign up to read narration parts. The main idea is to incorporate different elements so that students with different interests and talents will get even more excited about participating.

5. Hold a rehearsal the week prior to the recital. This has become an absolute “must” for me! The students get a chance to test out the piano, perform in the same setting as the recital will be, become more comfortable playing in front of others, and otherwise scare themselves into working their fingers off for the final week leading up to the recital!

6. Hold a reception following the recital. Seriously, for some of my students, it is all about the food. Every family brings a plate or two of goodies to share, and after the recital, we head to the fellowship hall for a time of visiting and munching on the treats. Very easy!

7. Change it up every year. I love keeping my students and families always guessing about what is going to happen next. Always be on the lookout for new games, new approaches, new pieces, new ideas to incorporate. If everything is always the same, a certain boredom sets in, but if things are different and unexpected, I think it promotes a sense of curiosity and wanting to be a part of what’s going on. That’s my opinion, anyway!

One new thing that I’m trying this year is hiring a professional photographer to take pictures during the recital. Has anyone else ever done that? Every year I just ask someone to take them with my camera – usually as an afterthought – and they turn out blurry and generally not-so-great. So this year I thought I’d try a new approach. I’m going to have the photographer take pictures throughout the program, a group shot at the end, casual shots during the reception, and family shots around the piano for anyone who would like them. Then each family can opt to purchase a disc with all the pictures. I’m still nailing down a few of the details, but I think it will be SO worth it to pay to have someone do this. And I think most of my families will love the idea, too! Will have to post an update after the fact to let you know how it turns out! Plus, I have someone shooting video as well since I always like to have full video/audio recordings of each of the recitals.

Anyway…that’s a bit of a ramble…can you tell I’m excited?! Hope you all are enjoying the season and are getting your fill of lots of Christmas music these days!

I start off by taking requests from students for a piece that they would like to play for the recital. And this is basically first-come-first-served because I only allow one rendition of each carol/song. No, all 30 of you cannot play Carol of the Bells! Then I spend hours and hours pouring through the books I have on hand and sitting at the music store trying to find just the right arrangement for each student. I want them to love their piece and to sound beautiful when they play it!

Once all the pieces have been selected and assigned, I incorporate them into our theme for the recital and write the narration or other elements that will be included along with the performances. This year’s theme is Jesus: God of the Galaxy! (This is in keeping with our Exploring A Galaxy of Music theme for the studio this year.) We’ll have our recital on December 17th, with a mandatory rehearsal the week prior. This Name that Christmas Tune game that Wendy posted looks fun! I think I’m going to use it at the rehearsal as a fun game in between our two run-throughs of the program.

I love doing our annual Christmas recital! It’s become a favorite tradition among my students and their families, and I’ve found that the students play so much better since I’ve started holding regular group classes throughout the year that give them the opportunity to develop their performance skills on a regular basis. I’d love to hear what others are doing recital-wise. Are you doing a Christmas recital? Do you have a theme? Favorite pieces? Traditions?

STEP ONE: Gather the necessary supplies – note pad, pencil, and sticky flags.
STEP TWO: Go through file cabinets and pull out every book or sheet music that has the name of another country or something representative of another country in the title.

STEP THREE: Write out each student’s name on the note pad.

STEP FOUR: Play through each piece and determine if a particular student would like the piece. If so, write the student’s name on one of the sticky flags and affix it to the sheet music or book. Then, write the title of the piece next to their name on the note pad.

STEP FIVE: Repeat step four until every student has been assigned a fun piece!

STEP SIX: Excitedly anticipate each student’s lesson when I can introduce them to their new repertoire and watch their eyes light up. I think I love having them start new music as much as they do!

I’m sure there is some more technologically advanced method for doing this, but for some things I’m still a paper and pencil person. By the way, this World Music theme has turned out to be a great way to try out new repertoire that I might otherwise overlook. I think I should try focusing on a specific theme like this every year. Does anyone have suggestions for successful themes they’ve used in their studios/recitals?

Pre-Recital:

Recital:

Do you recognize Emily?

Post-Recital:

A group shot of all of us. I love my students!

We gathered afterward for a reception of scrumptious goodies provided by all the families.

With three of my most-loved students (a.k.a my three youngest siblings!) after we were all done cleaning up, and ready to go home and crash!

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There are six signs, with the following titles: Approach to Piano, Arrival at the Piano, Performance, Completion, Bow, and Return to Seat. On the back of each card is a list of things to remember in conjunction with that portion of the performance. I printed each of these signs on a sheet of colored paper and laminated it. Once I introduce the performance principles to students (or review them prior to a performance), I distribute the cards randomly. Each student takes a turn performing, and once they are back at their seat, the students with the cards hold them up if they followed the steps listed on that particular card. If the performer doesn’t get a raised card in a particular area, the “judge” of that area explains what they should have done differently to get that card raised.

You can download your own set of these Performance Signs for free and print them out for use in your studio. The combination of the visual representation and the constant use these get in my studio has entrenched these performance principles on my students’ minds. That’s not to say that they always remember them in the “heat of the moment,” but we’re getting there!