Concerts!
How many of you are already thinking about concerts for this year? You might be, especially if it’s been scheduled in December or sooner!
Concert performances are exciting, especially for the kids, and they can demonstrate all the great things you do in the classroom and how you do it. But, concerts can take on a life of their own. Managing expectations from your colleagues, admin, parents, and the kids of what a performance can look like is also challenging.
What if concerts reflected what you do in the music room? Process over performance? I realized early on that I didn’t need to reinvent the wheel with students just because there was a performance coming up. I would pull pieces, songs, student compositions, and movement & dance pieces we did throughout the year, up to the point of planning.
I’m not a big fan of doing concerts that run like a talent show (nothing wrong with talent shows! It’s just a different type of format) with nothing weaving one song/piece to the next, and so I really embrace themes!
Perhaps your school chooses a theme for you, or you can brew one up with your students, but this is where the colorful imaginations of everyone involved shine through. I can’t encourage you enough to include your students in the planning. Present a framework to students and together, color it in through guided discussions. Involving students and offering opportunities for student voice and choice, gets them highly invested in the overall project and event!
I know, A LOT goes into planning a performance. Let’s start with how you can craft your current curriculum around a theme that keeps intact good teaching and learning all while wrapping a colorful bow of artistic integrity that opens everyone’s eyes with wonder.
For the most part, my performances have been K-5. I taught at a relatively small school, but I’ve also done grades 2-5 with over 320 students, and K-2 with 250. Anyway, more later on logistics and some ideas for concerts that I’ve done!!
Check out Concerts, Part II of this article which offers some ways to weave all your pieces and songs together into a beautiful theme!