My studio sponsors four student recitals per year. I think that teaching students to perform is just as important as teaching them to play the bassoon. I remember being surprised when many of my music school friends would say, “Oh, I love to play my instrument, but I don’t like to perform.” I didn’t get that. Why would you be getting a music performance degree if you don’t perform? I later realized that it was because they simply hadn’t learned the art of performance and they felt inadequate.
I know that planning recitals is a headache. Finding venues, arranging accompanists, scheduling students–it’s enough to make you give up on recitals entirely! See this post for ideas on how to minimize the pain. I’ve also learned that if you hold recitals at the same time every year, it starts to become tradition. You get used to it, parents and students get used to it and you all may even start to look forward to the next recital!
I try to align my recital dates with the public school calendar. I wait until marching band season is over before holding the Fall Recital. (Although the students usually only have one week after marching band ends to cram for the recital.) I hold a Solo/Ensemble Preview Recital the first week of February. Solo/ensemble festival is held in February here in my state of Utah, so this recital serves as a chance for my students to get a performance in before they play for the solo/ensemble judges.
The Spring Recital (late April, early May) is a themed recital, where all of the students play music by the same composer or from the same musical time period. I find it easier to force feed them music history when everybody is focusing on the same kind of music. Our final recital is our Summer Recital. This is a much less formal recital. We play more bassoon quartets, popular music and music with multimedia components.
In addition to these recitals, I also provide opportunities for my students to play for each other in group lesson and masterclass settings. Look for future posts on the specifics of all of these events.