As the end of the year approaches we are reminded of a few things. Holidays, Christmas movies, eggnog, snow and Christmas Concerts. It is customary for a studio to put on an end of year concert to show the parents and families of your students what they have been working on, and to give your child performance experience. CRASH has never done an end of year concert for two main reasons. One, most of my students are on the younger side and performing is extremely nerve wracking. And two, if you’ve read my previous blogs you will know that my idea of a successful lesson product is not always playing a written song. This year however we are doing a virtual Christmas concert. The obvious reason being due to COVID. However it has got me thinking about the pros and cons of holding an end of year concert and why virtual is not a bad way to go.
I have many mixed emotions about forcing a child to perform in a concert. The pros are obvious. The families love attending, the children feel pride in their work, they learn to get over stage fright and how to perform. However as someone who performed in many of these concerts I can tell you there are also a lot of cons. It is stressful, it is scary and it makes you start to resent the music you are playing. I wont say that anyone who hosts a student concert is evil, because that is entirely untrue! I do see the good in it. I however, with some help of my students, have come up with a concert method that works on the pros and leaves out some of the cons.
The benefit of online. Doing a virtual concert took all the stress out of performing. The parents shared stories of the video submission process. I heard “they were so proud of their third take so that’s what we sent”. “They were a little overwhelmed on Monday so we tried again on Tuesday and it went much better”. Having the ability to record whenever they wanted, however many times they wanted and in the comfort of their own home was a great way to get their foot in the door of performing.
Less rigid performance material. I didn’t want to force anything on the students that they didn’t want to play, but instead challenge them on an area that they do enjoy. I had a few students play on marching drums, some students play on drumset, a few playing Christmas songs on the piano and some of us doing a virtual jam or duet! I even had a student who was starting to really fall in love with composing, so she wrote a song for me to perform in the concert. She was so thrilled to be “in charge” of what I did.
Make the concert about them. One thing that has bugged me the most about student concerts is that it feels more for the parents then for the child. Obviously it is great to have the family see how for the child has come and to share in the pride of their hard work, however I want to make sure it isn’t at the expense of the child’s growth or love for music. For that reason I want them to be able to be goofy. To do a fun gesture or make a mistake or do a dab instead of a bow. Whatever it takes to make the concert fun and less rigid for them AND the parents.
I should say that I am not against student concerts, more looking to adapt them to all types of students. I do think that when you get older and into your teens, a little bit of fear and accountability to yourself is a good thing. Even though we will most likely be able to perform in person next year. I may keep up with the virtual workshop, the kids loved it and so did I!
Hilary