Virtual Recital? Don't sweat the small stuff.
It’s over and yet, because of technology, my first virtual recital will live on through eternity.
This realization could be good or it could be bad if I let myself sweat the small stuff.
So, if you plan to hold a virtual recital on any platform, my biggest piece of advice?
Don’t sweat the small stuff.
Benches will be too close.
Technique may be iffy.
Hand position may be questionable.
That part you went over the day before won’t go the way you intended in the video.
Performances may not be from memory as you had anticipated.
Attire may not be what you suggested.
Dynamics may be nonexistent.
Some students will go nuts trying to please the camera and you’ll have to play psychologist.
Some who despise a live audience will rise to the occasion and nail a video performance.
Notes will be missed.
Beats will be added.
Pianos will be out of tune.
There’s a truckload of things out of your control when holding a virtual recital. It’s not your choice of recital space, piano, atmosphere, sound quality…Instead, it’s your students’ living room with them playing a nice piano, a decent piano, a digital piano or a freebie “clunker” from an uncle. Be prepared for surprises. And, be prepared to be pleasantly surprised, too.
In the next couple of paragraphs I reflect on my virtual recital experience and particulars about my preparation:
What I did.
What I would do again.
What I should have done (I believe you should never should on yourself, but hopefully my “shoulding” will help you!)
Provide Video Recording Guidelines
Give clear instructions to student families about how to set the stage for the video recording. Click here to see what I sent each family. (You will be forced to make a copy.) All of them were required to submit an audio recording via Tonara before I “cleared them” to shoot their video.
I should have reminded them before they began video recording:
Place the camera in a horizontal position to fit the YouTube format.
Look into the camera and say your name, your piece and the composer—some did and some forgot.
Bow after your performance as we always do that at recitals. But, that takes more time and I have a long playlist and there’s no one applauding anyway, so, not sure that’s really important.
It takes imagination to design a homemade camera stand.
Provide File Clear Sharing Procedures
This is the trickiest part—how do you share a rather large video file? I offered my families these choices:
1. Make your own YouTube Channel and upload your video there and share the link.
What I didn’t realize is that it’s not easy to add a YouTube video from another channel if it’s made for kids. Parents had to switch their settings and they also had to add a custom thumbnail to their video, etc. with further instructions from me. I had to handhold during this process and would not recommend this route.
2. Share the file via Dropbox or Google Drive.
None of my students did this as we tried other avenues but I recommend this option so that you have the raw file and can upload it to your channel and add the thumbnail you prefer.
3. Share the file via Tonara.
Oh my, this has to be the quickest, easiest way EVER! Gotta say, if you are using Tonara, ask your students to share their video via the chat and then upload the video to your channel. Note: longer videos may not load or take a long time to load. We did have some issues.
4. Upload to my YouTube Channel
Now this is pretty slick. After I sent an invitation from my YouTube channel students were permitted to upload their video directly to it. Then I added in the thumbnail and description, etc. This was by far the easiest way for me but definitely more work for the students.
Note: I made a new channel for my recital that has no subscribers. This keeps things under the radar with less unwanted traffic and comments, etc. I highly recommend this. Watch the video below to learn how.
Also, as you upload, make all videos and the playlist UNLISTED, to regulate who views your playlist.
Require Home Input
With all this technology, I like to mix in some homemade elements. So, I asked students to do a couple of things which encouraged an investment of time and creativity beyond their music making.
Draw an SGP sign and make sure it can be seen in the video. Learn more about the “why” behind the SGP signs here.
Find three interesting facts about the composer of one piece. [I added the information they found in their video description.]
Take a photo holding the SPG sign. [I edited the photo on my phone and added their name and then used it for a thumbnail on the video.]
Share your age, grade and school that you are attending. [I then added this to the video description.]
Write a poem about online lessons. [As you can see from the meme above, I wrote my own to inspire them. Some took the challenge and were pretty clever. I added them to the video description.]
Set a Hard Deadline
Thanks to Tonara, I could easily contact and remind students of what I needed from them—like a photo with their SGP sign.
I learned that I should have upheld my initial deadline date for submitting all material with no wiggle room. I ended up chasing down videos the day of the recital. And one video took FOREVER (5 hours!) to upload to my channel because the family had slipped away to the grandparents house in nowhere land where internet was REALLY spotty.
Encourage Engagement
In social media threads, I noticed that teachers were concerned about families not watching the entire recital. And yes, that’s going to happen. It’s really the family’s loss if they choose not to. They are investing in lessons and if I were them, I’d want to hear how other students are playing under the care of Ms Leila.
So, to generate more views, I invited audience members to do two things:
Choose “Best of Show” in categories like Best Fast Piece, Best Slow Piece, Best Camera Work, Best SGP sign…
Find answers to questions which means they must watch the videos and read the descriptions.
Here’s the google form that I asked the audience to complete.
Record a Welcome and Good-Bye Video
Below you’ll find both of mine.
Design an Interesting Playlist
Keep listeners engaged by changing up styles, ages, moods and levels of playing. It’s quite simple to vary the order of your performance videos once they are in a playlist. Let me know if you need help.
Many have asked: “I thought you can’t make a playlist on a channel made for kids.”
What I’ve learned is that you can make a playlist in your channel with “made for kids” settings but you cannot add other videos to your playlist from other channels that have the “made for kids” settings. In other words, it’s best if you have the raw files and you upload the video yourself OR your students upload directly to your YouTube channel. Then you can make and design a playlist.
Because of the playlist option, I avoided editing and combining all videos in an editor like iMovie. I didn’t add anything to each video except text in the description and a thumbnail of the student with his or her name. I avoided any other “fancy” editing that may take more time and effort. I spend too much time at the computer already and I have a fatigued right hand.
Upload each video individually and then add them all to the same playlist and share that unlisted playlist link with families.
Consider other Ideas
Perhaps I was too concerned about collecting the videos and the scavenger hunt to announce an official premiere? I’m not sure why I didn’t as I know many teachers announced a start time and used the YouTube Premier option. Or they held a Zoom meeting and watched the video together. The creative energy of piano teachers amazes me!
My only reason for just emailing a playlist with the ballot without hype is probably because it would have caused me more angst than I’m game for right now. This season of lessons, I’m trying to get through and didn’t have the energy to make a big deal about anything. I just couldn’t afford the brain space to sweat the small things.
In hindsight, I could have hosted my recital on my paid Vemeo account instead to get around the legal complexities of YouTube. I did some research on how to set up my YouTube channel for the recital and although there are restrictions, I feel I followed the protocol and selected the correct settings for my recital channel.
Watch the video below that explains things much better than I could if you are in doubt about what I did.
Celebrate the Good
If I do this again, I won’t call it a recital, I may call it “living room sessions.” It was so fascinating to see where my students play and on what instrument they practice. I’ve always encouraged a decent home instrument but know that money is tight for some families. And as students continue lessons with me and play on my beloved Bella—my Yamaha C6 grand—they eventually become “piano snobs” and talk their parents into an upgrade.
I do think some households will hop on the phone and get their piano tuned when the lockdown lifts.
The virtual recital project kept all of us focused on a goal when it would have been easy to slip into a pandemic daze of withdrawal and lethargy.
My virtual recital could not have been possible without the support of dedicated students and their families. I’m exceptionally grateful for their ongoing support of all things online which compels me to keep on going.
To keep students occupied and creative while watching the recital I sent them piano care packages. Learn more about them here.
Final Tip
Filter all virtual recital decisions through the lens of two questions:
What matters during a pandemic?
What doesn’t matter during a pandemic?
The fact that we can continue to keep our students on track for sharing their music making with the rest of the world is our good fortune as piano teachers. Many professions are not so lucky.
Remember the big picture and avoid getting stuck sweating the small stuff.
And, if you’re curious, leave a note in the comments and I’ll send you a link to my virtual recital.
-Leila
Wearing hats: a new trend thanks to this pandemic?
PS. A sneak peek: there’s nothing quite like a student playing one of my favorite arrangements.