Piano Recitals—What to Expect
Learning to play the piano can be one of the most beneficial things that you can do as a child. As part of the learning process, many students are given the opportunity to perform in a piano recital. Parents of students especially look forward for their children to play in a piano recital as it is often seen as a great confidence booster and family occasion.
Beginning piano students often want to know what happens during a piano recital. Teachers often tell students that it is a chance for them to perform pieces in front of an audience that they have learned and perfected over the months. So a recital is a great chance for students to show improvement and progress over the school year by performing in front of their parents and peers.
A recital is a time where a student needs to prepare and feel comfortable with performing. The most positive thing is to practice on a daily basis so that the student feels completely comfortable with the performance. A good idea would be to practice performing for the family and others a few times before the actual event.
In addition to practicing on the piano, you should run through the performance several times in your mind because visualizing the entire concert is very beneficial. Your subconscious mind doesn’t have the ability to determine what reality is and what is visualized. This means that if you run through the performance successfully a number of times, your subconscious starts to believe that it’s easy.
Piano recitals offer many benefits to children that participate in them yet some parents try to keep their children from being involved in them. They fear that the child will mess up and get embarrassed, so instead of letting them perform the parents will shelter their children from potential pain. This does not happen too often, as many parents also push their children to perform.
As a parent of your child, talk to them and ask if they want to play in the upcoming recital. If they have reservations, ask why and ask them to play their pieces. Many children today get so many negative messages from their peers, and performing a piece of music in front of an audience is a great way to bolster self-esteem.
There are students who are nervous and upset because they reflect the negative attitude the parent carries with them. Many parents do not feel good about themselves especially if they compare themselves to others, and most children sense this negativity in them. Parents need to be cognizant that their children are like sponges and will absorb their low esteem and self-consciousness about performing for an audience.
As a parent, just go with the flow. Talk about how it will be fun for them and encourage them as piano recitals offer the child a great opportunity to gauge their progress. They can see something happening from all of those hours in front of the piano because a good recital can be one of the best memories in a child’s life.
