Organizing a studio recital involves many different aspects beyond student repertoire preparation. I’m sure many of us have stories we can tell about the lessons we learned in our first few years of recital planning.
One of the first lessons I learned was to put up some kind of signage, especially when the recital is not in the same location every year.
Is it a necessity? No.
Can people eventually find their way to the recital hall or auditorium? Yes.
So why use direction signs?
If you’ve ever attended a graduation party, baby shower, or conference, I’m sure you will agree that the minute you see a sign indicating you are in the correct location, you breathe a sigh of relief.
It’s comforting not to wonder if you’re in the correct location or to search for where you’re going. Relieving this slight anxiety for your audience will make a great first impression and add a professional touch with little effort. All it takes is a few signs posted around the building where the recital is being held.
Get this Freebie
This free download includes nine different signs. They are intentionally designed in a simple, no-frills format to be used for any studio and recital. Enjoy!
Consider taking your signage a step further and purchasing a yard sign you can reuse from year to year with your studio logo that says “Recital Here” or something generic that could be used for any kind of performance(s) you organize in your studio! I’ve not done it yet myself, but I love the idea!
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This past Sunday was my studio’s 7th spring recital. Every year I try to do something different to keep things interesting. Last year we did a studio-wide collaborative project (a narrative suite). In 2016 we did collaborative pieces (duets, trios, 2-pianos 4-hands).
Sometimes in the fall, I hold a themed recital. This past fall, we did a church music recital, and three years ago, we did a color recital (this recital was prior to Piano Pantry, so I don’t have a post on it).
This year the theme was “Songs We Know.” Usually, I reserve the majority of pop-tune playing and such for our summer picnic performance. I decided to forego the summer performance with our house project and all that’s going on this year. Thus, the popular-themed music for the spring recital.
In this post, I’ll share some highlights from this recital, including a list of repertoire.
Finding quality arrangements of hymns and praise/worship music for piano students is not easy. To help make your search easier, in this post, I’m going to share a few that have proven to work well with my students in recent years. I’ll also share snippets from a church-music-themed piano recital I did with my students.
Let’s discuss why finding appropriate hymn and praise/contemporary worship music arrangements for piano students is tricky.
First, hymns are written in a homophonic (and even more specifically, homorhythmic) texture, meaning they sing the same rhythm in a blocked chordal structure – one that is not easy to play for even intermediate-level piano students.
Second, while many churches are moving away from hymns, contemporary worship music trends, and changes so quickly, many “praise” books published in years past no longer resonate with students.
This creates a struggle for piano teachers!
Functional Musicianship in Daily Life
One of my solutions is to ensure all my students learn to play chord charts and lead sheets so we can easily download any worship song they like and learn how to play it or at least sing and accompany using chordal patterns.
Part of my teaching philosophy is that I want to enable my students to be functional musicians who can operate in multiple situations, especially those they encounter daily. For many in my studio, the church is a big one.
One of my students just started playing in their youth worship band, and many others are providing music as preludes, communion, offering, and leading during youth-led services. I have several students who are also singers and love singing and playing contemporary worship music.
The next two photos are from our church music recital.
All my students learn to play from chord charts and lead sheets, and a few older ones work on 4-part hymns on occasion, even if their church doesn’t sing hymns. It’s still an important skill they may be able to use someday!
Favorite Church Music Books for Students
In my opinion, Alfred, in general, has the best collection of sacred music out there. Their Sacred Performer series is full of a plethora of any type of book you could imagine. A lot of sacred music I get for students is published by Alfred.
Disclaimer: All opinions regarding publishers and books are 100% my own. This is not a paid advertisement. However, please note that Piano Pantry is a participant in the Amazon Associates Program. There may be links to Amazon products in the post. As an Amazon Associate, I earn from qualifying purchases. Simply put, being an associate allows me to make a small percentage from Amazon on items to which I link at no extra cost to you.
One of my all-time favorites
I had been on the lookout for a while for a book of hymns in their original state (not arranged) that were slightly simplified. The homophonic texture of most hymns is quite complicated for most students to play.
Praise Hits is a solid selection of music that’s generally not outdated. Often in the “praise hits” world, with the quick shift in contemporary worship music styles that occur, it’s easy for a lot of students to not be familiar with the music even in books marked as “Popular,” “Current,” or “Contemporary.”
Levels 1 and 2 are OK, but Level 3 is my favorite. The pieces are written in a very chordal style with inversions and voicing similar to what I might choose to play if I were playing from a chord chart.
All of the levels correlate with the Alfred Basic Piano Library levels.
Of course, I can’t go without mentioning Faber’s Hymns supplements.
Book 2Bis one of my favorites from this series since it focuses on using primary chord progressions.
Book 4 is one of my all-time favorite hymn arrangement books for students. There are lots of pieces, and the arrangements are all very pleasing. I go for this book before I go for books 3 or 4 in the Play Hymn Series mentioned above.
Bastien doesn’t make it into my studio often, but I have used the Hymn Favorites books quite a bit. Level 2, once again, is my favorite.
Like Alfred and Faber, the levels correlate with the levels of the piano method series.
The Popular Hymn series is similar. I’ll be honest; I’m not exactly sure the difference between the two series. Maybe one was published later with supposedly more “popular” hymns of the time?
Christian Hits for Teens is one of my newest discoveries. One of my students performed “The Prayer” from Book 3 at the recital.
As an intermediate-level student, not only was the piece a bit of a stretch, but I’ll admit I didn’t allow enough preparation time for her to master it.
We were about to cut the piece short during one of her lessons when we took a moment to listen to Celine Dion and Josh Grobansing the piece on YouTube. It gave me a brilliant idea!
Since we had two keyboards on stage, she played the first 2 1/2 pages, and I picked up when it became beyond her ability halfway through page two and played to measure 60. She played measures 61 through the downbeat of measure 64 then I played the final page. She joined me on the final two resting chord measures to close it out, and it worked quite splendidly – just like Josh and Celine! 😉
Carol Tornquist is one of my favorite arrangers of Christian piano arrangements. Her book Current and Classic Praise (Late Intermediate / Early Advanced) is one of my absolute favorites. A couple of my students have played from it and really enjoyed it.
The selections are current and classics, literally! My favorites, in particular, include 10,000 Reasons, How Great is our God, In Christ Alone, Your Grace is Enough, and Your Great Name. I have to say though that there’s not one arrangement in the book that I don’t like!
Christian Hits
She also has a book called Christian HitsI recently purchased and am excited to keep on hand. It’s marked as “Easy Piano,” but we all know that’s a lie. 🙂 Come on, publishers!
I have a student who plays around the Faber Level 3B level; this was perfect. It includes inversions, root-5th-octave-crossover accompaniment patterns, dotted 16th rhythms, and plenty of syncopation.
My biggest qualm with the whole “easy piano” mark is that when people other than teachers (like piano parents) go out to buy a book for their students for Christmas or something, they never pick the proper difficulty level because of labels like this. They think, “gee, my student has been taking piano for five years; they surely play harder than easy music,” and they get them an advanced level book that is not even close to what they can handle. We should all put our heads together and develop a better labeling system!
Super Easy Songbook: Hymns
This Hymnsbook from the Super Easy Songbook series by Hal Leonard is a great resource to have on hand as it’s full of 60 hymns in lead-sheet style in the keys of C, F, and G.
It includes charts with suggested chord inversion at the beginning of every piece.
One of my adult students, who has played by ear her whole life (and only in the key of F!), is playing out of this book. I also have her reading 4-part hymns in various keys and playing one-chord chart praise hit each week. She is doing great with the combination and is a star student!
The Phillip Keveren Series
One of my other favorite composers (even more than Carol Tornquist, shh!) is Phillip Keveren. The guy is brilliant. Hal Leonard has a gold mine with his incredible Phillip Keveren Series out there LOL. 🙂
This is from the Piano Solo Late Intermediate/Early Advanced series. My student playing in the RCM Celebration Series Level 6 is playing from this book.
There’s also a Hymns with a Touch of Jazzbook I came across while writing this post that’s already in my shopping cart. I can’t wait to try it out!
From his Easy Piano series, is the Weekly Worshipbook that is full of 52 hymns.
The leveling would be good for a student around Faber 3A-3B. It is also a great book for adult students interested in playing hymns that may find the homophonic hymn style too challenging.
As a bonus, each piece includes a short “hymn history” segment – a beautiful tool for discussing the piece.
One of my students, who’s big into praise and worship music, has gone through nearly every piece in this book!
Our Church-Music-Themed Recital
For our church-music recital, every student had the opportunity to perform two pieces. The first piece was an assigned “reading” piece arrangement. For their second piece, they were given the option of:
Another reading/arrangement
A piece by ear
A chord chart to play and sing
A lead sheet
4-part hymn with the possibility of the audience singing along
Other ideas they may have…
Four of my youngest students played a piece by ear. They included “The B.I.B.L.E.,” “This Little Light of Mine,” “God is so Good,” and “Jesus Loves the Little Children.” They played the melody in the RH, and we added single bass tone harmonies on the left.
This father/son duo played an arrangement of Christ the Lord is Risen Today. How special is that!?
I was especially happy to have a couple of students play hymns that the audience sang along with. One played “Faith of our Fathers” about halfway through the recital (I “led” the singing), and another did the “Doxology” as the final piece of the recital. It was a great way to close out a church-music-themed recital and to pull the audience in to make music together!
Aren’t they delightful?
What are your favorite church music books? Let’s keep the list going in the comments!
AFFILIATE DISCLOSURE
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This year was my studio’s 6th Spring Recital. For the last several years, I’ve been trying to mix things up a bit to keep the end-of-year recital fresh and exciting. Everyone plays a solo in the recital’s first half, followed by a 10-minute intermission.
The second half of the recital changes from year to year. Two years ago, everyone played a jazzy style, and I explained to the audience what they should expect to hear before each style set. Last year we did collaborative pieces, including duets, trios, and two pianos with four hands (some pieces with a live drummer).
This year, we did a studio-wide collaborative project. I pulled out a book I’d been itching to use for several years but didn’t have enough students at the level to perform the pieces until now.
In this post, I’ll share the book we used and the process I went through in pulling this special recital together. I’ll share lots of photos from the recital and also have a free download to help you plan your own production of this narrative suite.
It’s that time of year for many when preparations for year-end recitals are in full force. If you have ever had to mentally think through the same basic list of tasks every year for your recital preparation, this post is for you!
The first year I had a recital in my studio, I kept detailed records of what needed to be done, when, food needs and amounts, and more. I’ve continued to do so every year, and this habit has become a planning life-saver.
Using a recital preparation timeline and checklist keeps me sane, saves time (by not having to think through every little detail again from year to year), and saves money (tracking food purchases vs. actual usage).
What Should I Include?
There are three different types of items you will want to create checklists for:
Preparation timeline and checklist
Miscellaneous notes of reflection
Food buying guide
The recital preparation timeline and checklist should include a timeline leading up to the recital, such as what items to complete 3-4 months before, 6-12 weeks before, 3-4 weeks before, the week before, the day before, and the day of.
Miscellaneous notes of reflection are a great place to jot down mental notes for yourself for future recitals. For example, “Don’t do recitals that last longer than 60 minutes without including an intermission,” “Don’t forget you like to keep a clipboard with you for all your announcements and awards,” and so forth.
The food buying guide, of course, is only applicable if you provide the refreshments for the recital yourself (or for the rehearsal). I’ve always liked serving students a pizza lunch after rehearsal as a simple and fun way to build community within the studio.
Over the years, I’ve saved myself a lot of money by taking time to record actual numbers, such as how many people attended, how much food I bought, how much was left, etc., and have really gotten it down to an exact science.
Be sure to sit down no more than a day or two following the recital to make your notes of reflection and record food consumption. I promise your future self will thank you!
Start Your Own Document
To help you get started, I’m going to share a free document of my list of items – many of which you will want to include.
Keep in mind that the content is my personal record. I’m giving you access via Google Docs. Access is view-only, so you will want to download the document and make your own edits.
I’m excited to share with you a wonderful informal performance I host for my students in the summer.
You’ll not only get all the nitty-gritty including repertoire used, and my preparation checklist, but I’m going to show you how this performance can be used as a marketing tool!
Until last year I didn’t do any kind of recitals during the summer. I believe in keeping summer commitments as light as possible, which is why I make summer optional for families. I usually have 60% of my students take summer lessons.
(Since you’re a piano teacher I know you’re wondering…yes my income drops in the summer. However, students who don’t take have to pay a $25 non-refundable holding fee. This amounts to several hundred dollars which helps a little with the reduced summer income.)
Last summer, however, I decided I wanted to do an informal picnic performance for students taking summer lessons.
I can’t remember the exact reason I decided to do this but do recall seeing Irina Gorin posting on Facebook about a picnic with her studio families and I thought it was a lovely idea. I’m always looking for ways to build community within my studio and what better way than to have a meal together!
This past weekend I held my fifth spring recital. Each year I try to do something a little different. This year the first half featured student solos, and the second half was collaborative pieces.
In this post, I’ll share a few video clips of student performances and a list of some of the resources I used for collaborative music.
There were several duets, one-piano six-hands, and two-piano eight-hand pieces. Besides a couple of duets here and there, this is the first time I’ve had all my students collaborate.
Learning to play with someone is a skill in itself, and I can say that, without a doubt, all my students felt challenged and yet completely rewarded in the end. Parents and students alike can’t stop saying how much they enjoyed the collaborations. I can already tell my studio families will be expecting a lot more of this from now on, and I’m excited as well!
A local teacher friend and colleague recently hosted a fun and unique recital using Catherine Rollin’s Museum Masterpieces series.
In this post, you’ll hear directly from her about how she executed this recital. I’ll follow up her recap with seven hidden lessons we can learn from her description and plan.
If you’re unfamiliar with the series, here is a YouTube playlist that features the whole series! You can also download free samples from the Alfred site.
(To see photos from my friend’s Museum Masterpiece Recital, click here.)
From MaryLee
I am featuring the four books of Catherine Rollin – Museum Masterpieces. I heard about them when she conducted a workshop at Taylor University last September. I knew then, and there I was going to do this for the Spring recital. The kids all chose their pieces from the insert of the paintings she included in each book. I asked them what painting caught their attention and then I played the piece. They have been loving it! Some asked to play two, so a few are doing that.
I am having my nephew, who is an artist here in Ft. Wayne, talk a little about each painting. He will have some of his works on display and my students are submitting some artwork, which we will also display. I have four boys that are serving hors d’oeuvres as we check this all out at the close of the recital. It should be a lot of fun.
I was just looking up on Pinterest for my instructions on a “shaving cream” painting. I think I can pull this one off and display it Sunday without knowing it is awful. I am not talented in drawing, painting, etc.!!
Each painting will be projected on the screen at the front while the student plays. And my “waiters” will be dressed in suits and bow ties, offering hors d’ (am tired of spelling that word) on silver trays. A former student who had just finished her first year at IU asked if she could come and take photos of the recital, as she has gotten interested in photography. Then the pictures will be posted for others to see.
At the workshop, Catherine talked about her parents taking her, as a child, to many museums to see original paintings. So that had an impact on her. And the pieces are wonderful, as you might imagine, and they are not all in the key of C or G and are very expressive.
I like making recitals as interesting and as possible fun, as I hated recitals growing up!
Hidden Lessons
Not only have we gotten a great idea from Marylee, but there are a lot of “hidden” lessons we can learn from her description and plan.
Even though there’s a focus book, the series has several levels which allow all students to participate.
Students were encouraged to choose their pieces, giving them ownership.
Having all students perform from the same series and assigning roles beyond performing inspires a sense of teamwork – belonging to something bigger than themselves.
A professional in the artistic field is featured; there is an application beyond just the music.
Technology/visual stimuli are incorporated.
Direct teacher participation.
After-recital activities foster a sense of community within the studio (gives parents time to talk about how great the recital was!)
Do you give out awards to your students for various achievements from the past year?
Would you like to do more awards but aren’t really sure what to do besides recognizing student achievements in festivals and competitions?
Do you struggle to implement or track something like this with any kind of consistency?
This post is going to look at a few types of awards that can be integrated into your studio’s awards program, as well as how to track everything by creating a simple “policies and procedures manual” of your own.
Types of Awards
There are a few different types of awards I give annually at the recital.
Awards don’t always have to be about celebrating achievements; they can also serve as a time to celebrate a student’s ongoing commitment to music study, which is why I love MTNA’s Music Study Award.
Please note that you have to be a member of MTNA to have access to this award.
They have a free certificate available for download signed by the current MTNA President and the Executive Director and C.E.O.
The PDF is editable so you can easily type in your student’s name and print it.
Don’t worry, it doesn’t print the purple color on your forms!
For the first few years, I printed them on heavy white cardstock but recently have been using heavy certificate paper so they look a little nicer.
Important points to note:
It can be a bit tricky to find these awards on the MTNA website, so I’ve included a screenshot (updated as of 4/2021). You will need to be logged in using your member information in order to access these pages.
[Click on the photo to enlarge]
If you are using a certificate paper that has a large border on it, you will need to scale down the print area. Here’s a 2-minute tutorial to show you how.
Event Participation
Any students who participated in events outside the studio throughout the year are given their ribbons and certificates at the recital.
For example, if I have any students participate in our state’s Achievement in Music Festival in March, they are given their certificate and medal on the day of the event, but the theory ribbon is distributed to teachers after the event.
It’s nice to have something physical to hand to students when recognizing their participation in the event during the recital award time.
One-Minute Club
Each year all students are required to participate in the One-Minute Club Note-Naming Challenge. The winner of each level is given a $5 gift card to Walmart and the overall winner (the fastest time for level 5) is given a $15 gift card. These are all announced at the recital.
Other Awards
A couple of other programs I’ve used in the past that are good to include in your end-of-year awards time:
The Music Achievement Award Program is another one offered to members of MTNA and can be found in the same area of the Members Only site as the Music Study Award shown above.
Students have to complete several outside musical tasks such as writing a report on a composer, composing pieces, and more. They have a huge array of things to choose from and MTNA has an implementation pack to help you get started.
Students who completed this program received a small plaque at the recital that says “Music Achievement Award,” (purchased from Music in Motion). I also took those students to a professional performances such as a concert with the Philharmonic. Due to the expense of the awards that I give for this program, I do charge a small fee for students who enroll.
I offered this (optional) opportunity to my students for several years but in my effort to reduce activities and simplify, have not offered it in a while.
Design A Policies And Procedures Manual
Once you determine the types of awards you want to incorporate, set aside some time to formally write up the program (for your own reference) so it’s concrete and consistent from year to year.
Here are several items to consider including in the manual:
1 – A list of the awards you give annually including any requirements.
Here’s mine as an example:
MTNA Music Study Award (awarded for total years in piano lessons)
Participation Award (less than 25 lessons)
Year 1 – Certificate (25 lessons minimum)*
Year 2 – Certificate + Lapel Pin
Year 3 – Certificate
Year 4 – Certificate + Lapel Pin
Year 5 – Certificate
Year 6 – Certificate + 5” Trophy
Year 7 – Certificate
Year 8 – Certificate + 7” Trophy + Legacy Inductee**
Year 9 – Certificate
Year 10 – Certificate + 11 ½” Trophy
*If preschool students participate in recital they receive a participation award and/or the certificate from Wunderkeys for completion.
**Students who study at Studio 88 for 8 years will be given the legacy award and their names placed on a plaque in the studio.
2 – Links to the exact item(s) that you purchase for each award.
For consistency, give the same awards every year. This is also a way to build excitement for students. Imagine a 2-year student seeing a student who has been studying for 6 or 8 years receive a large trophy.
I recently witnessed a 5-year student commenting to another student that they’re staying in lessons at least until they receive the “Legacy Award” (8 years) if not longer (see below for details on the legacy award).
Here’s what mine looks like:
3 – Notes and reminders regarding engraving or anything else you may want to remember from year to year.
It was important to me that the wording and formatting of my engraving were the same from year to year so I keep a few notes regarding those kinds of details.
For example, do have the names engraved in all caps or just uppercase the first letter? Do you put the year the award was received on the plaque or trophy or X number of years of study, or a date such as 2015-2020, etc.?
4 – A list of students by name and their years of study.
Keeping this list from year to year will be a big time saver. Each year I simply copy and paste the listing onto a fresh sheet, shift everyone’s names down a year, and remove those who are no longer students. This process takes about 10 minutes!
If I have any transfer students who will be receiving an award for the first time in my studio, I make sure I confirm with the parents exactly how long they took lessons prior to coming to me and ensure the parent is in agreement with the years of study I will be awarding their student.
Awards
4/21/202 – To see more specifics on the trophies I give as well as a list of my awards updates, check out this post:
3/31/2021 – If you’re just now starting an awards program, do you wonder if you should play “catch up?”
The Play Hymns Series by Melody Bober and Robert Vandall is really nice.
Of course, I can’t go without mentioning Faber’s Hymns supplements.
Bastien doesn’t make it into my studio often, but I have used the 
She also has a book called 
This 
There’s also a 
From his Easy Piano series, is the 
Do you give out awards to your students for various achievements from the past year?
