Simpedia

Kevin M., California

In my groups, I have a concert every ten weeks. I let them know about this during the first lesson, and really build it up. I also tell the students that it would be great to invite friends and family. Of course, having friends and family creates referrals, and also gives the students the chance to get comfortable playing in front of strangers.

Depending on the group size, I will pick one or two songs for each student to play as I want the concert to last no longer than my class time of fifty minutes. They are involved in this process, but if everyone wanted to do Dreams Come True it would be boring, so I might override some of their selections to get a better balanced concert.

On the weeks before the concert, a little class time is spent on finalizing the selections. We work on playing through mistakes, adjusting the bench, walking up to and away from the piano, as well as acknowledging the applause, etc.

On concert day, I know the week before how many friends and family are coming and make the seating arrangements. Also, if I have had some inquiries, this is a great time to invite them to come along and check out the the fantastic results Simply Music is getting. I almost always sign up any prospects that come to the concert because what the students have done in ten weeks really sells itself, and the students talk the program up so much that the people really get excited and want to sign up.

On other thing, and depending on where you are at in the curriculum, I also make sure to assign a song for them to learn that week so that they not only get the benefit of the concert, but also have some new material to work on during the week. For instance I might have them watch Alma Mater Blues second section, and learn it entirely from the video. There is only one thing to learn, and again it tests their ability to learn from the video which I think is good.