Recital timeline recommendations: It is so important to have students well prepared for recitals. My biggest goal is for confidence for each student and for them to feel great about performing! I never want a student to feel panicked about a recital and that is avoidable by making a plan to be well prepared. Picking songs early is a big component to students feeling prepared. As we prepare for recitals, we can of course be working on other songs too and working ahead in the books. The recital song doesn’t have to be the hardest song they know! It is an important skill to polish a song and to keep a song “strong” for a length of time. This is taught through performing. Please be in communication with parents about this concept as well. These are my recommendations on timeline that has lead to successful performances for my students. Every student is different and so please adjust accordingly. Recitals always have a way of “sneaking up” on us. It seems like a far way off, but it will be here before we know it.
Invite the student to perform in the recital (Registrations due by February 1st)
Start talking about if they’d like to participate and their song selection (January-February)
Make your song selection (By March 1st) Select something they can already play fairly well. Please read guidelines below.
Your students should be able to make it from start to end in one go (March 15th)
Polishing (March-May)
Notes: Please read all these guidelines for song selection
Songs don’t have to be memorized, if they are, I would have them memorized at least 1 month in advance from the recital day.
Please pick just ONE song per student.
If your student has been playing a while and is a good practicer and you want to move this timeline back slightly, please do so. Do what you feel is best for the student.
If the student is working on a longer and more technical piece you may want to choose your piece sooner.
Please pace appropriately. If you’re not seeing progress week after week, be sure to talk with the student about increasing practicing. If there is no increase to practice time, you may need to choose something more simple for them. Please be in communication with me about this, I have some tricks to do this. :)
NOTE: Please keep in mind that you or your student will most likely be absent between now and the recital. Please work this into your planning process. Always leave wiggle room for unexpected absences. Keep track of how many lessons are between now and the recital so you are on track.
Continue to do “practice performances” throughout the process to accurately gauge progress.
You don’t necessarily have to pick out a song out of the method books. Most students play songs out of the method book. I would encourage most students to pick something out of the method book, this ensures the skill level is correct and it make your life easier. If you have a student who requests to play something different, the content of the song MUST be family friendly. Even though we aren’t singing the words, the words have to be appropriate and the content has to be completely appropriate. Please double check lyrics/origin and content of songs before saying yes to a student playing a song that isn’t in the method book.