Performance Parties

Because performing is always stressful for me as a musician, and for many of my students, I’ve been wanting for quite some time to try having a performance party where students would come and play for each other without any parents or other grown ups around.  A few weeks ago I sent information home with my student families about the idea of dividing my students up into groups by age and having a performance party.  The idea was met with resounding excitement from many students, particularly the younger students, but even the teenagers thought the idea was great and many were really disappointed when it turned out that they had conflicting activities.

Each student got to pick out a piece of music that they really enjoyed playing and that their fingers felt very comfortable with, something that they already were able to play very well.  The youngest group of students was crazy with excitement about the notion of playing and THEN having a snack.  One student even asked me last week what kind of snacks I was planning on having.  When I replied that I was thinking about cookies, brownies, cheese and crackers, her eyes got huge and she asked, “Could there be a platter?”  I made sure there was a platter.  And I smiled about it all week.

The parties took place yesterday.  The youngest group of students played first.  Playing took approximately seven minutes, because their songs are quite short, of course.  Then they converged on the snack table, and sat at my dining room table eating snacks for 25 minutes!  They were vultures, I tell you!  You should have seen the glee they expressed at being independent and by themselves at a party with snacks and without parents stopping them from having as many snacks as they wanted.  I have no idea how their tummies even could hold that many snacks!  It was amazing.  Mr. SP was right in the thick of it.  He’s been practicing for a half an hour for several weeks to get ready for the party so he could eat snacks.  He told me later that his stomach was so full he thought it might burst.

The third through fifth graders played next.  There were actually two teenagers who played for the youngest group of students and had so much fun they decided to stay and play for the next group as well, which also made me smile.  Snack time after this group played went much quicker, because, to be honest, there weren’t really THAT many snacks left after the first group departed.  One third grader was particularly put out with his first grade brother for having eaten six brownies when he only was able to have two.  There were still plenty for each student to have a normal snack portion.  After they were done eating we moved into the living room to play a game of music jeopardy, which was very exciting.  They were very into the game.

Overall, although I was a bit exhausted at the end of the evening, it was a resounding success.  I will tweak a few things about it, but it is definitely something I will be doing next year in my studio.  It was really fun to see all of my students interact with one another.