Ithaca Talent Education has been hosting recitals since May. We’ve put on a recital a month. Sometimes the recitals are so full that we split the recital into two–hosting them at the same time, but in different zoom rooms.

Here is the play by play for making a recital like this possible.

PREP

1) The recital dates were planned in advance and shared with the whole school on our school wide calendar.

2) Every teacher has access to our recital sign up sheet. The sheet includes the performer’s name, their piece, the composer, the length of the piece, and if the student will be playing with accompaniment.

3) The week of the recital our school administrator sends out an abbreviated concert order, the zoom link, and instructions to performers. It has already been pre-determined which teachers are hosting the recital. The zoom link is set up and provided by the host of the meeting.

4) A few days before the recital a school-wide email goes out announcing the recital. This message includes the official recital program in PDF form. Guests are invited, but it is requested thy change their name to ‘ITE Guest’ so as to be recognized and granted entry to the meeting.

5) The day of the recital the host and performers meet 30 minutes before the performance for tuning and sound checks. The hosts and other teachers available to help have students play a few seconds of their piece to check that original sound is turned on, coach camera placement, and check tuning if needed. We utilize breakout rooms to speed up this process.

THE RECITAL

At the time of the recital all guests are let into the meeting. The host welcomes everyone and gives some instructions about the meeting. We ask the audience to stay muted while the performer is playing, but then to unmute to applaud after each child is finished playing. If someone accidentally stays unmuted (which invariably happens) then the co-host mutes them. Congratulatory comments are sent via the chat feature. A recording of the recital is made by the host or co-host and sent to those who request it.

One fun aspect of the recital is that the audience really goes nuts during the applause. We clap, we cheer, we whistle, we shout, we laugh. Some people even bring cow bells and cymbals and other boisterous instruments to celebrate.

Each performer raises their hand while the performer before them plays. When it is their turn the co-host spotlights them for everyone. After they bow the co-host removes the spotlight and spotlights the next performer.

Occasionally a video collaboration is featured rather than a live performance. In this case the host or co-host would remove the spotlight, share their own screen, and broadcast the video from their computer or stream from online.

At the end the host comes back on to thank accompanists, parents, and any other contributors.

A copy of the chat is saved and sent to all performers.

VALUE OF THESE RECITALS

I’ve been surprised to see how important of a role these recitals have played as we switched to zoom teaching. I think they offer community, celebration, and a platform to share just as it is needed most. Of course some students volunteer to play every month and some students have never participated, but the point is that the opportunity is there. I’ve used the recitals as ways to motivate students to add an extra layer of polish that they might not have otherwise done. It’s also been a great way to have brand new students learning over zoom to have their first tastes of performance.

Because we’ve done the recitals every month the performance is becoming an effortless extension of their learning process. It is exciting to see something made possible via the pandemic circumstances having a positive impact. I hope this inspires you to organize a recital of your own.