If you’ve ever taken private music lessons you are probably familiar with recitals. They are an opportunity to perform the music that you work on in the woodshed for hours by yourself. Most music instructors offer recitals to their students, and surprisingly most teachers make recitals mandatory.
I have learned over the years of teaching that a lot of students don’t wish to play in recitals. I decided long ago to always make recitals optional to students and never pressure them to perform in public unless they want to.
I know that a negative recital experience can have a lasting affect on a student. I was recently talking about public performance with a friend and she explained her experience with recitals when she was growing up…
All of my recitals were mandatory. From the moment my teacher said we were having a recital until the time it was over I was terrified. I would get in front of people to play, even if they were friends and family, and just make a whole lot of mistakes because I was so nervous. It was never fun and it was never a good experience for me. Luckily I never had to memorize a piece for a recital because I would’ve completely drawn a blank! It has affected me to this day because unless I’m playing with someone else I really don’t like to play alone.
What I have gathered from the conversations I’ve had with people about recitals is that this testimony is pretty common. I think one reason for this is that people take music lessons for all kinds of reasons and not all of those reasons are associated with public performance. For example, if I have a student taking lessons to be able to play an instrument as a hobby, learn more about music in general, and have a greater appreciation when listening to music, then this student might not be interested in playing in a recital. If this is the case then requiring this student to play in a recital would be unnecessary, and perhaps counter productive.
I could go on about the many benefits of recitals. I could also help a student who is nervous or apprehensive about recitals prepare mentally for a performance. However, all of this would be in vain without the willingness to perform. For those students who have decided they do not want to perform, they should not be forced to do so against their will. If you are a parent and you know that your child doesn’t want to play in a recital but you know that if they did play it would help them overcome their fear then this is a good instance to push them to participate in the recital. But this is a tricky situation because if you are wrong and the recital doesn’t help them overcome their fear and instead leaves a lasting negative impression then it would have been best if you hadn’t made them play in the first place. So be very careful, and if in doubt, don’t push them to perform, but instead talk to them and see if you can spark an interest in them to perform. There are ways to overcome fear, but not by force, only by support and encouragement.
~Jason Theiste
