Approaching Performance with Beginning Class Piano Students

Introduction

As professional musicians and music teachers, when we think about music education, performance opportunities and preparation are often at the forefront of our minds. We are accustomed to school concerts given by the choirs, bands, and orchestras we direct, as well as recitals common in private studio settings. However, when it comes to our Piano Lab classes, it can often be a mixed bag. Some teachers approach it as a non-performance elective designed for students who don’t want to participate in performances. Others approach performance as a requirement when learning a new instrument. So in this article, let’s look at the very legitimate reasons teachers do and don’t include performance requirements, ways to support novice musicians in their first performances, and several models for formal performance in Piano Lab.

To Perform, or Not to Perform?

The Case for Performance Requirements

You’re probably already familiar with the joys of performances! Performances are good for our students’ musical development. They lend purpose and meaning to what we do in the classroom and are often great motivators. A positive performance experience can hook a student for life! The joys and highs of the positive feedback can keep students invested and learning music for the next performance.

Performances also have tangible impacts on family and community involvement and investment in our programs. Parents seeing their kids succeed in a performance involves those parents in the process in a way that a positive test grade just doesn’t. And having parental support and approval in a performance can make a students’ success all the more real for that student.

The Case against Performance Requirements

As much as we as music teachers are accustomed to the joys of performance, it’s important to remember that performing is not a universally positive experience. Many people have stage fright and failing in public isn’t fun for anyone! The last thing we want is for our class to be the reason that a student is turned off from music education. If we really believe that music education is for every child, then we have to create music education opportunities that meet our students where they are. And some students are not ready to get on a stage and perform in front of an audience this year! That’s ok! And it’s ok to have a class where those students can make music without having the pressures of performance hanging over their heads.

How to Support Novice Performers

Whether you require performances or not, building strategies to support those students who are more reluctant to perform can benefit all students! So, let’s look at few tips for encouraging, supporting, easing the fears of reluctant performers.

Tip No. 1: Acknowledge Students’ Legitimate Fears

The absolute first step to working with students who are nervous or reluctant about performing is to understand where they are coming from. If students don’t think you understand what their concern is, they’re less likely to work with you to overcome those fears, and you’re less likely to address their concerns.

Each student will have their own fears, but many common ones are: feeling insecure about their abilities, feeling the weight of their peer’s or strangers judgements, picturing a worst case scenario in which they ‘bomb’ on stage. Some students may just have a general fear, while others are specifically afraid of one particular person’s judgement. Some may be comfortable performing in front of family and friends, but absolutely unwilling to perform in front of the specific peers that are in their piano class.

It’s also worth understanding that videos of their performance posted on social media may prolong or intensify their fear. Some students may fear others recording them and their mistakes living forever on the internet for all their peers to see. For this reason, I encourage you to make a plan for addressing phone usage and recording anytime you have students performing.

Tip No. 2: Build a Supportive Class Culture

Now that we have some understanding of our students’ fears, it’s important to look at how we can mitigate them. My biggest suggestion is to build a class culture from day 1 that creates a supportive non-judgemental atmosphere. A ‘class culture’ can be intangible so here are a few questions you can ask yourself to determine what kind of environment you’re creating: How do I react to mistakes in my classroom? How do I react to students comparing themselves to others?How do I set students’ expectations when learning new songs?

In general, here are a few things I tend to say to my students a lot: “Mistakes are a normal part of learning. It just means you’re about to learn how to play a hard song.” “Everyone has musical strengths and weaknesses.” “The first time you play a song will usually be the worst time you play a song! The trick is not to stop at the first time.” What are your go to lines? How can they help or hurt your class culture?

Tip No. 3: Lower the Stakes with Informal Performances

Another benefit to understanding where your students are coming from is that you can create performance opportunities that address those fears. For example, have students pair up with a trusted friend in the class and practice playing their songs for one person. Teach students how to respond to their peer’s performances by giving positive feedback. Make these performance opportunities reciprocal. When both partners play it adds a sense of camaraderie to the experience.

Another option is to create an opportunity for a studio class style performance. This is when you ask students to perform for the class pieces that are in progress, then provide coaching while the class observes. The key to this is to set the expectation that everyone who plays is playing something in progress. This means that everyone will be making mistakes! If you set the expectation upfront that this is the place where we make mistakes and that we’re all making mistakes together it can help eliminate or at least mitigate the fear of failure. It prevents the unknown of “will I fail?” by answering “yes you will make mistakes, but that is normal and expected here”!

How to Incorporate Formal Performance

If you decide that you do want to include an element of formal performance into your piano class, there are a few ways you can do that. Here are three suggestions in order from least stressful to most stressful.

Class Concert

One way is to end the year with a class concert. In this performance opportunity you have your students perform for other members of the class. When I’ve done this I use the final exam time already built into the schedule. This is the best of both worlds because your students are already in a familiar place and playing for people they’ve gotten to know throughout the year. But, you can easily make it feel elevated by decorating the classroom, asking students to dress up, and bring food for after the performance.

Include Piano Students in a Previously Scheduled End of Year Concert

Are you already preparing for a choir, band, or orchestra concert? Why not include a few piano students in this concert too? I like to incorporate piano students into my concerts especially when I have a few highly motivated students in my piano class, but the majority of the class is not thrilled about performing. This gives those few individuals a performance opportunity. But, because other ensembles are performing as well, there’s no pressure on the pianists (or piano teacher) to put together an hour’s worth of music. If I have a few students that are interested, I also like to use these occasions to showcase a piano ensemble.

Piano Recitals

If you have a circumstance where you have a full class of students who want to perform, you can always put together a traditional piano recital. Like any concert, you’ll want to carefully think through repertoire choices, the order of students playing, and other logistics. This extra effort to put on a piano recital can be worth it to give students a positive experience that’s all about them, and to boost the visibility of your piano program!

Final Thoughts

Navigating the nuances of performance is something you will need to do for yourself with your individual students in your specific community. Where I’ve landed in my classroom is that performing is for any student, but not necessarily all students. Any student that wants to perform can have a chance in one way or another, but formal performance isn’t a requirement.

I also find that the interests and abilities of my students can vary from year to year. It’s ok to make different decisions about performance opportunities and requirements in different years. It’s also ok to pull back from performance opportunities if necessary. No two students are alike, and no two classes are alike. Hopefully the ideas in this article will help you find the solution that works best for you and your students!