Piano World Home Page Forums Our Most Popular Forums Piano Teachers Forum Do you give programs to performers?

My son loves his recitals and the fact he rattled his program was a sign of immaturity nothing else. FWIW- He loves holding the program and treasures it. His teacher keeps her recitals short too and there are always refreshments afterwards. The post program social aspect is definitely a big hit for him.

Just finished my studio recital yesterday and it took 45 minutes. My students all sit together on first three rows with me. Everyone is given a program and I do the same thing at the pizza party rehearsal the week before. I normally don't have any problem. We talk before about sitting quietly listening to each person play just as they would want everyone to sit quietly for them. Usually only have to look back 1 time if one of my boys is getting a bit restless. I like them to have one so they can follow along with who is playing and what they are playing. I don't have to call anyone up to play. They know who they follow and to get up while the other person is coming back to their seat.

I guess I expect more from my students. I had over 100 people at a recital yesterday. Recital held in one room and reception in another. Recital room was spotless when I went to check after everyone had left. A couple of moms help me serve the reception and clean up while I am "working the room."

I have appreciated your posts on this subject here and on your blog. I also was always in the bottom of the recital list due to my more advanced playing. Did I like the recitals? Absolutely not! My last one I bombed because I procrastinated memorizing my piece which I hated with a passion (and I still do - good old John Thompson Grade 5!) I played two lines and that hit a complete wall and could not remember anymore. Looking back - my teacher should have caught this. While part of it was my fault for not memorizing, she was also at fault for letting me get up there without being prepared. I was very embarrassed. Made even worse by getting an award as best student. This was my last piano recital though since I wanted to learn to play the organ. Sad thing was I never could get back on the memory bike. Thankfully, you aren't required to memorize your music as an organ major.

My studio - we always have an annual pizza party. My students love it. They play their two pieces for everyone. No parents or anyone else are invited. When I asked them to vote if they would want to continue having a recital each year, they all voted no (remember no parents were there). The pizza party is for them. The recital is for who? The parents. Going to work on possibly changing that.

This year's preparation was horrible due to children being pulled in so many different directions with practicing, school, sports and or dance. A couple of my students worried me up to 2 weeks ago when I said pieces had to be ready to go. It is not worth the hassle for me and the stress for them. And, honestly, now and in the foreseeable future, please tell me what career someone will be able to make in music except as a top tier performer. Churches are starting to die and close, and that pace will only quicken each year. I am a church musician now. Not too sure I will be able to have a job in 10-15 years. We are in for dark days in music in this country.

I have stayed off this forum for the ugliness that some seem to want to write about someone if someone offers a differing opinion. I don't do community events or, heaven help, Guild events. That is not my focus. My average tenure of my students is 4-6 years. If a student (or usually parents) are so competitive oriented, I tell them nicely that I would not be the teacher for them. We aren't all things to all students.

And BTW, I have the once per year recital. It is held at a nice local church with a/c. And no one would disagree more strongly with me if I said I didn't expect success with everyone whether in my studio or at my church. I happened to even mention it yesterday in my recital's closing remarks and how parents can help having this attitude when a child practices at home.

Gosh, just love generalizations and jumping figuratively on someone because they don't agree with you. You don't know me and I don't know you. Now you can jump on me. But I'm gone. The ugliness is not something that I need or want. We are all just expressing our opinion or what works for us.

Thank you for your kind words. I'm so glad you enjoyed my blog. My approach to music ... and to life in general ... is that the purpose of it all is to enjoy it and be happy. Sometimes easier said than done

Music is one of life's great joys. And to see it made a burden on so many youngsters absolutely breaks my heart. I had one High School teacher who changed the entire course of my life in my last year of High School .... by encouraging me and by showing me the sheer beauty of his subject ( English Literature) ... a gift of confidence in myself and joy in learning. Wow.

In tribute to him ... and to what doors he opened for me ... I march on. I'm impervious to harsh disapproval. My blogs are my testament. Nothing brings me more joy than when I see someone has downloaded an original piece from some far away country ... and I know some child is playing those notes half a world away!

That is my armor against criticism. Against harshness and intransigence.

But encouraging words still give me a huge smile. And I thank you for yours.

"We talk before about sitting quietly listening to each person play just as they would want everyone to sit quietly for them." <-I think this is key - not 5 minutes before it starts, but at least the lesson before with a gentle reminder before the recital starts.

I think most people do not have live theater/music experience and need to be reminded that every child worked hard, that it takes courage to perform and that if they have a young child who needs to run around, to exit and enter during applause.

You can't expect kids (and some parents) to know how to behave if they do not know how to behave.

I'm always learning too - I was at one show that asked if you have a cough to open your cough drop wrappers during intermission (they were recording the performance). Always something new!

Goodness gracious here. What "ugliness"? I see differences of opinions, not personal attacks.

It is clear there are teachers who do not believe in recitals or Guild auditions or anything like that, and there are many teachers who do.

I'm pretty sure that both approaches work with different types of students. As long as you are public about your philosophy about such things, what's the problem?

For me, overall my four musicales and one Guild audition were overall very positive for me. Having said that, if I lived in different parts of the country and had a chance to take lessons from either Mr. Brook or Happy Piano Muse, that would be just fine. Recitals or no recitals is not a game changer for me. Now for parents of younger students, maybe it would be.

But for me, the assertion (which I think is being offered?) that recitals, Guild auditions etc, are universally bad for ALL piano student of any age seems ridiculous.

Yes, and Mr. Butler also seems to have missed that Mr. Muse was the first to drop condescension bombs, on John.

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When teachers apparently lose self-control and retaliate on perceived slights, I think the best thing we can do is to not take sides as to which child threw sand first - but rather give them the space to find their own way back. The discussion should stay on topic I would think.

Personally I would hope that the teachers in this forum would do their best to understand each other's views and varying experiences, rather than seeing something adversarial. And if someone's views are the opposite of your own, it does not mean an attack on you - it means your views are different. You are each in your own private corners, developing your craft continuously on your own. Isn't this a great opportunity to see what your colleagues are doing, and weigh new ideas? I certainly come here to learn as much as I can from all sides.

One of the problems of e-communication–-shades of meaning and tone can be hard to read. I don't think offense was really intended on any side here–-but I wouldn't blame people who felt hurt either. It's surprising how cutting words on a screen can be. It can also be hard to anticipate how they will be read.

In my workplace we've decided to err on the side of excessive e-politeness.

Sorry, I have to interject my view here. The only poster who I felt set a negative tone on this topic is HPM. Immediately, she assumes that my recitals are probably not fun, gives tips on how to prepare a more attractive program, advises me to "give those kids a break." How are those comments positive? I felt criticized and defensive, one of the reasons I don't post very often anymore.

For teachers who haven't been on this forum a long time, we do occasionally have spats. I doubt they're really personal, more likely, we've developed something that works for us, we're really proud of it, and want to share it with others. From 2004 to 2013, I ran our recital program for out teacher's group. We put on 120 recitals, covering a broad spectrum of musical styles. We tried a Baroque only annual recital for a number of years; we tried a "modern" recital. Both had adherents, but were not popular enough to support stand along programs. We tried giving students programs and not giving students programs. Our programs were well done, not cheap cheesy handouts. We also give each participating student a certificate of participation which they can display or save in their portfolio. We tried having students sitting with parents and moving to the stage when their turn was at hand; we tried having students off-stage and entering and exiting from the wings, entering from the wings but then going and sitting with their parents, and also sitting as a group near the stage steps.

Out of the 50 - 60 members of our association, teacher participation ran between 12 and 15 members. We averaged roughly 20 students per recital.

In addition to the above, my Studio hosted one formalish recital per year, and several informal recitals through the year.

If any teacher who does recitals wants to pick my brain about our experiences, feel free to PM me if you don't wish to post on the forum.

You guys seem to have lost a colleague. I hope that some of the senior teachers are encouraging bmbutler to return - there were indeed some personal comments - if this thread is to be a dialogue rather than preaching to the choir, surely you will want to make ALL your colleagues feel welcome. Maybe a private outreach?

(End of off topic and crawling back into lurking mode).