If you’re like me, it feels like the weeks are just racing by. Although I knew it was coming, seeing November pop up on the calendar yesterday morning gave me a bit of a jolt. November! Already!
For many piano teachers, November marks the start of serious holiday recital preparations. How many Novembers have we all spent prepping recital pieces to ensure our piano students experience successful performances?! Too many to count. Still, the weeks fly by quickly, and BAMMO!… recitals arrive… and some of our students are still scrambling to get ready.
And so, instead of allowing those weeks to sneak away from us this year, I have a recital readiness plan that you can use to make sure your students are prepped to play when the time comes.
Your “4 Weeks To Recital” Readiness Plan
If you too are “done” with hoping, praying, and fretting about your piano students’ recital preparations (or lack thereof!), then you’ll appreciate the schedule set out below.
Beginning 4 weeks before your piano recital, compare your piano students’ readiness to my schedule. Are they on track? Wonderful. Are they not on schedule? Time for a home practice intervention.
By giving yourself 4 weeks of planned-out preparation, come recital time, every one of your students should be 100% recital ready… leaving you to plan the rest of the event stress-free!
Ready to get started?
Let Your Piano Recital Countdown Begin
T Minus 4 Weeks:
Your piano student…
- has chosen her recital piece
- has completed a score study on her piece (try this printable!)
- can play her piece hands together with few mistakes and a modified tempo
- can “tap track” her piece easily (see this post)
- has a clear understanding of what needs to be fixed during home practice
- has selected two performance goals
T Minus 3 Weeks:
Your piano student…
- can play her piece with little to no mistakes at a modified tempo (as needed)
- pays careful attention when adding expression to her performance
- plays with no rhythmic errors
- can name the first and last note(s) and/or chords without looking at the score
- has completed these three “mental piano practice” activities
- can complete these fluency exercises
- is working on memorizing the piece (even if this is not a recital requirement)
T Minus 2 Weeks:
Your piano student…
- can play her piece with little to no mistakes at the indicated tempo
- has performed the piece for at least two different people
- can play her piece from memory with little to no assistance
- can stop and re-start from any point in the score
- has noted her “Landmark Breaths” on her piece (see the post)
- has recorded the piece on video and created practice goals based on her observations
T Minus 1 Week:
Your piano student…
- can play her piece with little to no mistakes at the indicated tempo
- has completed our “Recital Bootcamp Circuit” with ease
- has played her piece on at least one “unfamiliar” piano
- can play her piece in a variety of octaves on the piano and at a variety of tempos
- has selected “trouble spot” places (places where she can re-start if things “go wrong”)
- has completed a guided visualization of her performance
- is excited about showing off her hard work!
Looking For Holiday Recital Repertoire?
If you teach late primer piano students you will definitely want to hop on over to Amazon right now and pick up Comet’s Freezing Cold Carols.
In this hilarious musical adventure, Comet, the freezing cold reindeer, decides to quit pulling Santa’s sleigh and seek out a new, warm, and comfortable career. After many funny failures, Comet discovers a solution that lets him return to Santa’s sleigh and his love for gift distribution!
Jam-packed with late primer Christmas tunes, note reading games, warm-up exercises, a rhythm activity, sight-reading activities, a practice tracker, and a certificate of achievement, Comet’s Freezing Cold Carols will give the gift of music to your students this holiday season.
Susan says
Wow what a lot of fun ideas. Especially the boot camp. All my students love games where they race and get timed. Thanks so much for these ideas Trevor and Andrea.
Andrea says
So glad you’ll find it useful Susan! Yes, my kids LOVE the boot camp routine 🙂 And… it really does work! They’re ready for “anything” after that! Happy teaching 🙂
Elizabeth says
This is perfect for me, the logistically challenged. More on how to plan a recital is more than welcome reading. Thank you so much for posting this.
Andrea says
Hi Elizabeth – happy it’s useful! We have blogged a lot about recitals – here’s some links to get you started 🙂
https://www.teachpianotoday.com/2016/03/30/what-does-it-take-to-throw-the-perfect-recital-the-teach-piano-today-recital-guide/
https://www.teachpianotoday.com/2012/10/23/christmas-piano-recital-tips-from-a-gingerbread-man/
If you search “Recital” in our blog search bar you’ll find all of the posts we’ve written about this topic 🙂
Sarah says
Hi, I;m loving these ideas but a little scared by the timescale if a piece is selected only 4 weeks before the recital? Am I choosing pieces that are too challenging? Most of my children are beginners/elementary level but would take much longer than 4 weeks to get a new piece up to performance standard.
As always some brilliant fun suggestions which I will definitely be incorporating into my preparations.
Thank you
Andrea says
Hi Sarah – I always choose pieces that can be “performance-ready” within a month as I want my kiddos to be 100% successful at a recital and therefore I want them to a) choose a piece I know they can definitely tackle and b) not get sick of practicing it before the recital day. However, some other teachers have different goals for a recital and prefer to choose more challenging pieces that take longer to master; using the recital as a goal to complete a more challenging piece. This schedule is flexible – choose a timeframe that works for you and adjust as necessary 🙂
Evelyn Michaels says
I have a dilemma. Recital piece was chosen and agreed upon by student. Piece was a little challenging but he could have handled it. A few weeks before, student starts “ forgetting “ to bring his music to lessons. Discussion ensues about the importance of preparedness and responsibilities, another week passes and he tells me he doesn’t like song and obviously hasn’t been practicing.
My question … has anyone ever told students they couldn’t perform because they weren’t prepared?
I ended up choosing a different piece last minute and the week of recital he excitedly told me he learned it.
Does anyone have policy about missing last lesson before recital?
My recitals are not as formal as others I’ve seen, but I do stress being prepared and ultimately want the student to enjoy the day as well as the process leading up to it.
Andrea says
Hi Evelyn – this post will help! https://www.teachpianotoday.com/2016/03/28/what-to-do-with-a-piano-student-who-isnt-recital-ready/
Ryan says
A big question about T minus 4 weeks. The article says that at this point the student:
has chosen her recital piece
can play her piece hands together with few mistakes and a modified tempo
Am I misread this? At this point (4 weeks until recital), the student has just chosen her piece. How in the world is it the student just decided or found out which piece she’ll play AND now all of a sudden can play the entire thing with few mistakes?
This does not match my experience (or, I’m guessing, anyone else’s) at all. Unless the piece is too easy for the student, it takes at least a week for the student to even be able to play through the whole piece with tons of mistakes and out of rhythm. Often it takes two or three weeks even to get to this point. …Right?
Andrea says
Hi Ryan – no, you’re very right that doesn’t make sense. The “has chosen her recital piece” is referring to the obvious – that the student has a chosen piece to work with. The “action item” at 4 weeks until the recital is that it should be playable with few mistakes at a modified tempo (if necessary). It’s not “chooses her piece” at 4 weeks but “has chosen her piece” assuming this has already happened. As this is a 4-week plan to “being recital ready”, the piece is already learned. These last 4 weeks are how to then prep that piece for a recital performance.