Our 2017 Spring Piano Recital

Saturday, May 20, dawned sunny and bright, and I got up early to get to the auditorium at the Bothell Music & Arts Building to get everything set up for our noon recital.  I invited my performing students to arrive around 11 a.m. so they could have a chance to try out the baby grand piano they would be performing on, and also to take advantage of the many different pianos in the various practice rooms.

We set up the room for 60 attendees, and by 11:45 a.m., everything looked ready--food out on the tables, programs and program notes were stacked by the door, students were busy practicing all over the building on 8 pianos, and guests started arriving.  Then guests kept on arriving.  By the time we began our recital at 12:05 p.m., there was standing room only!  Over 75 people found us that day.

Pranav, a 10-year-old student, kicked off the program with his piece, which went well.  And thus it began. It is so thrilling for a teacher to watch 16 of her students perform either for the first time, or the second, or third time.  So much happens in one year.  Lives are changed when one learns something new.  Playing the piano can change your life.

The hour from noon to 1 p.m. that day was an experience none of us will forget.  We were filled with amazement, pride, and the joy of seeing someone find great pleasure in learning how to play the piano.  It fills their life with something that is hard to explain.  It changes everything.

Many weeks later, that day still lives in my mind.  I am so grateful to be the teacher sitting on that second piano bench, watching new musicians find their joy and share it with others.

Preparing For Our Spring Piano Recital

Somewhere around Easter, the idea that the May piano recital is near prompts much action among my piano students.  At the beginning of the year, we are all aware that the recital date is "out there" somewhere, but it still does not have that sense of urgency that galvanizes us to action.  Until, of course, Easter.

The weekly piano lesson format changes, and the student's full attention is now on their recital piece or pieces of music.  Everything changes.  They live and breathe the music, they research the background of the composer, and they find ways to perform for their friends as a kind of  "dress rehearsal" for the real event.  It's an exciting time of the year for a piano teacher.

So much of music follows a cycle, either a personal cycle or a school cycle, or a yearly cycle.  There are ebbs and flows, and this is how it should be.  Very few pianists (except that 2% of students who go on to be professional musicians) can keep up a rigorous schedule of practice and performance.  We all need to work hard on our chosen music, but we also need times where we take a break, think about other subjects, and refresh ourselves so we can come back to our music with a new perspective.

We all made it through the recital, and now summer is just days away.  School will be out next week, and vacations will begin.  Most of my younger students will take July and August off, and my studio is closed the month of August so I can rest and refresh myself.  I feel these cycles in my own life deeply, and encourage you to find your own cycles and observe them.