Student Recital Guidelines

MUSIC TEACHERS ASSOCIATION OF CALIFORNIA

Southern Alameda County Branch
Guidelines for Recital Programs

 

  1. Limit ten students per teacher, 5 minutes per student. However, due to limited time, this rule does not guarantee all your students will play, or if they can play all the pieces they entered. So far no one has ever been turned away. All efforts are made to ensure that everyone has a chance to perform. Remember, this is not a personal program for one teacher. The decisions of the program director are final.
  2. Please fill out the entry form completely: Keys, Opus #, BWV, Hob., K., L. # if any–title of movements, collection name–accurate length of time of performance: do not round off to the nearest minute–the level of difficulty of the music according to the MTAC CM syllabus, not the level of the student’s CM ability–siblings or carpool that need to be together on one program.
  3. If you have more than 5 students, they may be split up into more than one recital, but they will appear in adjacent recitals.
  4. All students should stay for the whole recital in which they perform.
  5. Students should dress appropriately. Tennis shoes, t-shirts, and jeans are not appropriate.
  6. Any kind of music is accepted, including pop, jazz, and simplified classical works for either solo or ensemble.
  7. The fee is $10.00 per student. All fees are nonrefundable.
  8. Expect to help out at the recitals in which your students perform.
  9. No requests for a specific time for your student to appear. You and your students should have the recital date clear of any other appointments, so that there are no conflicts with performance times.
  10. Enclosed is a list of Bach AMB and short prelude and fugue BWV and Anh numbers. Use this to help you fill out the entry form more completely.

Performance Guidelines

  1. Limit up to 2 pieces per student–5 minutes total.
  2. Limit one movement of a major sonata or concerto.
  3. Limit up to 2 movements of a suite, but 5 minutes total.
  4. For 2 performers who also have a duet, 10 minutes total for all their performances.
  5. All music must be memorized, duets optional.

Thank you!

 


Due to a number of teachers who have been taking advantage of the 10 students per teacher, 5 minutes per student rule and the popularity of the recital program, please be informed that Rule #1 is being enforced.

 

Please understand that the recital hall has rules on how we use their facility. They do not like it, when we go over the time we reserved for our recitals.

When doing the arithmetic, if all teachers took advantage of the 5 minutes per student, 10 students per teacher rule, this would only allow a few teachers to be accepted, since there are only about 3 hours of program time. This would not be fair. These recitals sponsored by the branch are not for the personal use of a few teachers. This is a showcase for representing all the teachers of the branch.

 

Therefore, when a program is very popular, and there are many teachers who have entered many students, the following decisions may be made to try to accommodate all the performers who have applied. If you have a large number of students, then expect that your students’ number of pieces may be cut out to allow other teachers’ students to play, even though your students’ 2 pieces are less than 5 minutes. If all your students play only 1 piece and each is over 5 minutes, expect that some of your students may be cut from the program for the same reason.

 

If you have more than 5 students, then expect that they may be split up into adjacent recitals, even if they are playing very short pieces. The goal of programming is balance. Balance is achieved by the variety of music styles, number of teachers on each program, level of piece, and even the length of each piece. For example, for a better balance of the program, if you have 8 students entered who are beginners and the rest of the teachers have intermediate and advanced students entered, then your students may be split up into 3 programs, even if their pieces are very short. All efforts are made to avoid such situations, but sometimes it can happen.

 

Please do not expect special favors or special treatment. Sometimes requests will be granted under special circumstances, but not all the time and should not be assumed thereafter. Special requests which have been granted in the past, is now being abused.

Running a program like this on a volunteer basis is very difficult. It takes a lot of personal time to do the work. Every effort is made to be fair to all teachers who enter their students. It is unfair for you to call and try to influence the decisions made in programming the recitals, even when a decision seems to be unfair to you. Running a program involves a great deal more than how many students there are or how much they can play. This may be your personal concern for your own students, but it is only two of many in achieving well balanced and fair programming for all.

 

Thank you for your understanding.

 

 

 

 

 

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