Traditional piano recitals have been a part of my life either as a student or a teacher for over twenty years. While there are wonderful aspects to traditional piano recitals, there are some drawbacks as well. The main one being that some students really suffer form performance anxiety. As a teacher, I want my students to be successful and find joy in connecting with their music. How could I give my students a positive experience and environment to share their music with others?
Drawbacks of Traditional Piano Recitals
The first negative about piano recitals is the anxiety it can cause students, resulting in negative feelings towards piano lessons in general. I remember the anxiety recitals caused me as a student trying to make sure I had no memory glitches. For years, performance equaled anxiety. As a teacher, I have seen the same affect on my students. Some students get so anxious they have decided it’s either quit lessons, or opt out of recitals. Over the years I have tried to lessen the stress of recitals by making sheet music allowed, letting students have control over music selection, helping students prepare more adequately, and even allowing students to opt out . But for some students the very act of sitting in front of people, with everyone staring at them can be overwhelming.
Secondly, recitals can be stressful for parents who are trying to keep siblings quiet for any length of time. I am a parent of young children, and I know this is hard.
Music as the Focus or in the Background?
Last year while reading “Musicking” by Christopher Small for one of my masters in music education class, I came upon the following.
The silence and apparent passivity of audiences at symphony concerts deserves a little more attention. Historically it is a recent practice…Aristocratic listeners [of the eighteenth-century] felt free to treat the musicians and the performance as background to their other activities, to listen attentively when they felt like it and to talk, eat and drink…
Christopher Small, “Musicking” p. 43
I read this multiple times. Up until this point, I had always thought piano recitals and symphonies had the music as the center of focus. But historically, music was background noise at social events. Their experience and interaction with music would have been completely different than ours. Back then, applause would occur in the middle of a piece if someone really was impressed — much like what happens during a ballet when audiences clap after an impressive move. Now, we only interact with the music after it is completed. This thought rolled around in my mind, and eventually I came up with a different model for sharing our piano music that would allow families to relax more, and students to not be the primary focus of the attendees which would hopefully reduce performance anxiety.
Piano in the Park
My main goal for this event was for piano families to gather for a party with yard games and pizza, and students providing background music. We were being historically accurate!
Structure and Considerations
- Food: CostCo Pizza, cookies (CostCo bakery) and beverages were provided. Families each paid $10 to help cover the cost.
- Length of time: 1.5 hours
- Location: Local park pavilion with a large open, flat grass area for yard games.
- Only one small pavilion by the large open grass area at our local park had an electrical outlet. I had called the city to ask if I could reserve it and they said it was a first come first serve area. I forgot to check if the outlet actually worked. Big mistake. We plugged in the speaker 30 minutes before the event was to start and there wasn’t any power. Luckily, another pavilion was available and we moved over. It didn’t have much space to play games, but no one seemed to mind. Moral of the story: check the outlet
- Entertainment: playground, yard games (families brought whatever yard games they owned to share), piano music
- Possible games: bocce ball, yard Jenga, Kuub, croquet, corn hole, Frisbee, soccer
- Piano music: Students were given 15 minutes each to fill with music. Most students played 6-10 pieces! I thought kids would just choose 2-3 pieces, but all of them were excited to pick out and play lots of pieces.
- Equipment needed: keyboard, extension cord, aux cord and adapters for between the keyboard and aux cord, small speaker/guitar amp, working outlet (I forgot to check this and we had to move last minute to a new spot)
- Announcement: I did make sure to announce that the purpose of the music was to be background music, and we would love if people would be able to talk with each other and play games. I felt this would be necessary since everyone was so used to the traditional piano recital etiquette.
Free Piano Party Checklist for Teachers
For teachers considering this event, here is a free Piano Party checklist.
Pictures
Feedback
This was by far my favorite event. I enjoyed being able to listen to a wide variety of music from the students, play lots of duets, play games with my students and talk with the parents. Parents and students also enjoyed it and expressed their satisfaction. One student declared that from now on, all our piano recitals need to be a party in the park! I’d call that a success.
References:
Small, C. (1998). Musicking: The meanings of performing and listening. Wesleyan Univ. Press.
If interested in this book, purchase it here on Amazon.