It's close to the end of the school year, a prime time to schedule a recital for your private students. To make sure your recital is a great experience for you, your students, and the audience, some careful planning needs to be done.

If you have fewer than 10 students, you can either choose to have these students perform 3-4 songs, or you can go in with another teacher. The advantage to the former: more performance time for your students. The advantage of the latter: another adult with whom you can share the responsibilities, more exposure for your students, and giving YOUR students more exposure to other performers.

Whether you have quite a number of students or whether you decide to go with another teacher, recital length decisions are crucial. An hour to an hour and a half in one sitting is best. If your recital program will run any longer than that, you must fit in an intermission, or you'll run the risk of poor audience etiquette. Some teachers actually give two recitals in the same day, breaking it up and scheduling it so parents and visitors can see their own children without having to sit through two or more hours. More on that later from someone who has observed this through a parent's perspective:-)

Facilities are another important matter. If you have a small group and aren't sharing a recital with another teacher, you might consider your home if it's large enough. I've attended small, intimate recitals for my daughter before, and they were very nice. However, realize that you will also be serving as hostess, too. If you have more than 5 or 6 students, that could get to be a handful. Investigate other facilities, such as schools, churches, and local colleges for cost, piano conditions, and seating arrangements. The cost of rental might well be worth it.

Refreshments add a nice, personal touch to the end of a program, but these shouldn't be your responsibility! You have enough on your mind. Enlist the help of parents to arrange these. And, remember KISS (Keep It Simple, Silly:-)

In planning the actual program order, keep some things in mind:

• You want to involve as many students as possible, but it's not a good idea to involve students who aren't prepared, even if that means leaving them off the program. That sends a signal that it's OK to not be prepared, plus, it's miserable for the audience. Consider having those students be part of a duet or small group, or just require that they be there to observe. If the students don't practice in order to get out of the recital, you need to question their motives, as well as their parents'. It truly sinks the rest of the students down, and puts you in a bad light.
• Mix up the difficulty levels.
• BUT, it's a good idea to have any students under the age of 9 or 10 near the beginning. They might get restless before they play otherwise.
• Don't think it's necessary to give each student the same number of songs. Plan the best arrangement for each one first and figure out the timing. The, you can "pad" the rest with duets, special highlights, or even some performances of your own.
• If you can have the facilities (especially if your recital involves piano), a wonderful finale or encore is a Monster Duet, in which each student, plus you, and maybe parents, perform one work all together. This would involve several instruments, of course, but frankly, it's so cool! Half the participants take one part, and the other half part two. For piano, you can have two to an instrument.
• If some of your performances need accompaniments, consider letting accomplished students or parents do it.
• Schedule a work for yourself. It's a good motivator for kids, and lets the parents know that this teacher knows what he or she is doing!
• Make sure you recognize any students who had achieved high ratings at music festivals, competitions, etc. You might consider a little bio in the program for these students. Again, this can be a motivating factor for students coming up.
• If your parents can afford it and you have enough numbers, you might consider having the recital professionally videotaped or recorded. That gives each family a chance to get a nice memory and will cut down on the videocameras and snapping bulbs that might distract students.
• Enlist a parent to do NICE programs. BUT, please make sure they give you a master to proofread beforehand! Carefully check for spellings and make sure you give proper acknowledgements to anyone who helped.
• Don't be afraid to ask. If you have a parent who is in the printing business, see if they'll volunteer their time to print the programs if you provide the paper. See if there's a videographer parent who will videotape the program and charge only the price of the tape. See if there's a parent who has an "in" with the local college to give you a good rate on a room. Be prepared to take no, but don't be surprised with a "yes!" You'll never know how you can save yourself some time and money.

On the day of the recital:

• Do What You Can To Make This A Good Experience And Relaxed For Your Students
• Make sure all the equipment is working, ready to grab, and organized. Nothing's worse than watching fumbling between pieces for 2-5 minutes while the next person's getting ready. (Another thing to consider when you're deciding the order of the program). You might want to select a couple of responsible students to act as stage hands.
• Ask the students to arrive about 30 minutes early for warming up. That means normal latecomers will arrive about 15 minutes early, and you'll still be OK. If someone arrives after the recital starts, make them perform out of order, in time for them to relax and not be flustered.
• START ON TIME.
• When you start, you're probably going to have to give a little speech about concert etiquette. I've attended recitals where little children were allowed to run around (and sometimes, I saw students who were performing doing this!), people talked during performances or got up, and in general, were quite rude, although they probably didn't see it that way. In this day of TV and pop concerts, a little talk about proper behavior during classical performances is almost a must. (Please step out if you must in between performances, please take crying children out to the foyer, please do not allow your children to run around, etc.). Don't be afraid, during the recital, to remind people of this if they decide to "try" you to see what they can get away with.
• In the same little speech, you would probably want to ask the audience to not take pictures while a student is actually playing. It may not bother some, but it could break the concentration of others. Allow time at the end of the recital for pictures and "re-enactments". This is especially true if your recital is in close quarters......not quite so bad if you're in a regular recital hall.
• Keep the flow going. If you see that someone isn't there, or has arrived late and is still on edge, skip on and go to the next person. Don't allow much dead time.
• Acknowledge everyone who helped and give your thanks!
• Relax and enjoy your students and their (and your!) accomplishments.
• Ask a good photographer parent to take a group picture or two. Submit one to the local newspaper, and include the students' names in the article.
• Be open to suggestions and ideas for next year!

If you have any thoughts on this topic or other ideas related to private studio teacher, please contribute them!