Here’s the problem: every student is different.
When preparing students for recitals, the challenge is to set them up so that they reach their “peak” at the performance. If they don’t have enough time to prepare properly, then the final week before the recital is likely to be stressful and unenjoyable (as well as the performance itself!) If students have too much time, they can lose interest in their repertoire and not really know what to do when they’re practicing.
Philip to the Rescue!
One thing I find very helpful is the idea of a countdown chart. Credit for this goes to the amazing Philip Johnston, who has a great article on making countdown charts on his website. (I also highly recommend his book, The Practice Revolution.)
The hardest part of making a countdown chart is fitting it to the individual student. Like I said earlier, not all students are the same, so I came up with some guidelines for myself to help students make best use of their time:
1) It All Begins With Repertoire Selection
Choosing repertoire is extremely important. It needs to be manageable, but challenging enough to hold interest. It should have pedagogical and motivational value, and it should suit the performance.
2) Don’t Assign Everything at Once
I don’t like assigning multiple pieces at the same time. I like students to practice in a variety of ways, and if I assign all their recital/festival music at the same time, they spend all their practice time doing the same thing, be it learning notes, capturing the expression, refining, memorizing, etc…
Instead, I assign the more time-consuming repertoire first. For most students, this is often contrapuntal music or 20th century music – repertoire that contains an unfamiliar element that requires a lot of time and repetition to sink in. Then a few weeks later, I add the next piece, and so on. The last piece they’re assigned is something that fits just like a glove – a piece that hits on all their strengths, so that they feel refreshed and empowered going in to the performance.
3) Think in Terms of Hours, not Months
While the Countdown Calendar is a great way for students to think of upcoming performances, as a teacher, I find it more useful to think in terms of a countdown clock.
Consider this – the performance is three months away, and your students have 45 minute lessons. Of those 45 minutes, about 10 will be spent on warm-up/technique, another 10-20 on method book and theory materials and activities. That leaves, at best, 25 minutes in each lesson to work on performance repertoire. 12 weeks * 25 minutes = FIVE HOURS.
That’s right, even though the recital is 3 Months away, you only get 5 Hours with your student on repertoire. And if anybody gets the flu, well…you see how precious the time is! For students who are good at working independently, this time is less of an issue. For students who need help every step of the way, those 5 Hours are extremely important.
4) But it’s JULY!
I know, I know. I’m sitting here writing a post about recital preparation and for many of us, our next recital isn’t until December – but that’s the point. July is Vacation Month, August is the Beginning of School. September and October are good working months. Then November happens – everybody gets tired and Thanksgiving will erase a week of teaching from our schedules. (Which is not a bad thing – everybody needs a break and I love Turkey!) Then we’re back, and those December performances are upon us! (And that’s optimistic, most of my students will do a festival in November – yikes!)
So yes, I’m thinking about it now. And if I can choose some great repertoire and formulate a solid game plan, this Fall’s performances will be a success!
Recent Comments