I love performing. I spent so many years focusing on crafting my ability and now I’m passing on that educational experience to my students. When I first started, I was shocked to know that students were used to performing 1 or 2 times a year.
What if basketball teams trained all year and had one game against an opponent?
How can you improve if you only perform one time per year?
It’s ridiculous.
One of the first cultural shifts I made was to have students perform 1-2 times per month. Let’s weigh the positives and negatives:
5 Positives:
1. Students practice more and have a goal in mind
2. Parents take more videos and share on social media to market your studio
3. Students and parents develop friendships with others
4. Students fail more often and can improve performing skills
5. The studio can connect with a wide variety of venues and develop a stronger network
5 Negatives:
1. Requires more time to organize the event
2. Lowers the quality of recitals since preparation time is 2-4 weeks
3. May cost up to 6x more money to have monthly venue rentals (can be minimized with free venues)
4. Students who are less confident are a risk to leave
5. Busy students will be busier
The positives far outweigh the negatives for me, but depending on what you value that may change. I can imagine more performances would be negatives for a teacher who doesn’t want too many students, doesn’t have extra time since they work another job and teaches busy teenagers. For most teachers dramatically increasing performances would be an instant boost in every important area: student practice, retention, prospective students, marketing, community impact, and culture.
Why do you do one or two performances a year?
JT