Themed recitals are a fun way to shake things up in your studio.
Having a theme can make choosing repertoire both easier and harder — easier because you have parameters to work within, harder because those same parameters can limit your options. The range of difficulty across available pieces adds another layer of challenge.
In this post, I’ll share a peek into my 2026 Spring Recital, “A Story of the Wild West,” and how I used both student creativity and AI to bring it to life.
In the next post, I’ll be making available a new repertoire guide with links to more than 85 pieces you can use to build your own Wild West theme recital.
A Quick Look Back At My Theme Recitals
It’s been a while since I’ve done a themed recital! Over the past 10 years of this blog, I’ve only written about recitals when I felt the recital presented ideas useful enough to share. But after doing some digging, I realized I’d done more than I remembered — some I had forgotten about entirely.
Here’s a quick rundown:
- 2024 — Fall, Halloween Theme (Fall Recital)
- 2022 — Complete Works Projects (Books: Carnival by Ted Cooper + Picture This by Valerie Roth Roubos)
- 2021 — 12 Days of Christmas Video Project (resource from Joy Morin)
- 2020 — Halloween Recital (Fall Zoom Recital)
- 2020 — 9 Lessons Learned from My First Zoom Recital
- 2019 — Romantic Period Music (students did one Romantic period piece + 1 other piece)
- 2019 — A Summer Coffeehouse Recital
- 2018 — Spring Recital 2018: Songs We Know
- 2017 — Church Music Recital: Favorite Hymn and Praise Piano Books (Fall Recital)
- 2017 — 2017 Spring Recital: The Magical Forest, A Narrative Suite
- 2016 — Spring Recital 2016: A Collaborative Recital
- 2016 — Picnic Performance (Summer Recital)
- 2016 — I managed to pull all previously chosen pieces into 4 descriptive categories: Dance Styles, Classic, Descriptive/Imagery, Medieval/Renaissance Flair (Spring Recital)
- 2015 — Classical, Jazz Styles (Spring Recital)
- 2015 — Color Recital (Fall Recital)
- 2014 — I managed to pull all previously chosen pieces into 4 descriptive categories: Animals Around Us, A Little of This, A Little of That, A Little Butterfly Garden, Carnival
There’s also a post from a teacher friend on using Catherine Rollin’s Museum Masterpieces books for a recital theme!
Choosing A Theme & Repertoire
In the fall semester, I surveyed my students on recital theme ideas, giving them a list of about 15 options and asking them to mark everything they’d enjoy and flag their top three choices. After tallying the votes, I leaned toward themes my two oldest students had rated positively — even if those weren’t their top picks.
I know some teacher friends just pick one themselves, and others have their Seniors choose. However you prefer to do it is fine!
For theme ideas, there are plenty of places to look, but the most comprehensive list I’ve found is on ColorInMyPiano.com: The Ultimate Guide to Piano Recital Themes.
The nice thing about choosing a theme early in the year is having plenty of time to pull together repertoire — at least, that was the intention. In reality, I procrastinated and scrambled like crazy in the first week of January.
The result, though, was a comprehensive list of repertoire built around the “Wild West” theme. While my 13 students and I covered 23 selections in total, I scoured the internet and compiled a list of more than 85 pieces at varying levels — solos, duets, trios, complete books, classical selections, modern music, and even an audience-participation piece.
The list turned out to be so comprehensive that I decided to package it as a resource you can use to plan your own Wild West recital. Check it out here!
Adding Visuals
Thanks to Canva and a couple of creative students, we had a wonderful slideshow to accompany the recital!
I have two siblings who wait in the studio during each other’s lessons — although we do some overlapping lesson time together as well. They love to draw, so when I announced the recital theme, they immediately asked about creating artwork for it. I was all for it!
They divided up the pieces between them and spent a couple of months during lessons illustrating each one. The cactus was a special touch — a large painting the older sibling made on a big sheet of paper, which I simply scanned and uploaded to Canva. Isn’t it amazing?!
One of the pieces was an audience-participation number by Wendy Stevens titled “Yee-Haw!” The audience had a rhythm pattern they clapped along to during the whole piece. This particular student has been working on building speed this past year, so it was the perfect piece for her to shine!
Enlisting AI
I wanted to take things further and really make this a special recital — so rather than simply presenting a list of pieces with thematic titles, we brought the whole event to life with a storyline.
This was a perfect job for AI!
I fed ChatGPT a list of the pieces along with instructions to weave them into a single cohesive story while keeping it concise, and it delivered something really fun. Each piece was connected by just a sentence or two of narration.
I was really impressed with what it came up with! Here’s a little snippet:
We’re heading back in time—to the days of the Wild West. Our story begins with a dream – a dream of wide-open spaces, new beginnings, and life on the prairie…
Prairie Dreams (by Catherine Rollin)
So settlers packed their belongings, climbed aboard their wagons, and headed west in search of something more.
Wagon Wheel (by Darius Rucker)
The journey was long, but spirits stayed high—and sometimes the best way to pass the time was to clap, laugh, and enjoy the ride.
Yee-Haw! (by Wendy Stevens)
Across the open land, horses carried travelers swiftly over the plains.
Gallop Across the Plains (by Melody Bober)
Among them were strong and trusted companions—like the spotted Appaloosa horses, known for their strength, endurance, and beauty.
Appaloosa Pony (by Martha Mier)
I put the text on each slide, included a simple physical printout for anyone who wanted to see the whole recital laid out, and read the text aloud between pieces, which made for a nice transition so students didn’t feel rushed.
Teacher Performance
Opinions vary on this, but I believe it’s important for teachers to perform something at recitals — both so students see us putting ourselves in the same position we ask them to be in, and so they can see us not just as teachers, but as musicians and performers.
I invited one of my studio moms to sing a duet with me: “Wagon Wheel” by Darius Rucker. Here’s a ladies’ duet version we referenced on Spotify for practice. She took the lead, and I added harmony while accompanying.
After the recital, my reasoning for performing was confirmed when a former student and sibling said to me, “You were amazing, you sounded so professional!” 🙂
By the way, I shared about this in the April edition of my newsletter, The Monthly Pause. If you’re not on my email list, you can join here.
A Success!
I think everyone — myself included — really enjoyed the extra engagement. Students were encouraged but not required to dress up, and I was so pleased with how many jumped in on the costumes!
I even had to borrow boots from a student’s sister. So glad they didn’t mind!
Would you enjoy holding your own Wild West recital but hate the idea of all the research time it will take to find appropriate repertoire? Check out the newly released Wild West Piano Recital Repertoire Guide!
More On Recitals
Favorite Sheet Music Piano Solos for Halloween
Audience Instruction Signs for Your Recitals
Studio Awards: Policies and Procedures
Studio Awards Update: Including Some Awesome Trophies
Podcast Episode 182 – Recital Reflections (While It’s Still Fresh)
Podcast Episode 118 – Recital Programming Considerations
Podcast Episode 017 – Recital Program Formats: Pros, Cons, Ideas, and Resources
