Year after year, students, teachers, and audiences love the 12-Ensemble “Monster Concert” and consider it a highlight of the year! It’s important to understand up front, however, that while playing in a group holds a bit less pressure than a solo performance, students and teachers should prepare to the same level of excellence that they would for a solo performance.
Choosing Repertoire:
- New students to this event may do better playing pieces slightly below their level. It is a very new skill to pianists to play in an ensemble without pausing or starting over; to keep track of rests; to come in on cue and to cut off on cue, to follow a tempo change, etc. Make room for this learning curve, and your student will become a better musician because of it!
- Take into consideration tempo, correct counting in syncopation, ensemble counting (rests, entrances etc), following a conductor through tempo changes, and general technical challenges when choosing a piece for a student. Did we mention tempo??? Strong counters do best. The teacher is responsible for working these out with the student before group rehearsal.
- Pieces are “leveled” for different reasons, and sometimes primo and secondo parts are not even equally difficult. It’s best to study different pieces within a level to find the best choice for a student’s strengths and areas of needed growth.
- Consider suggesting an easier piece, a just-right piece, and a slight challenge as options for students to choose from. Recordings are on the BTM website, and music can be studied at Dunkley Music and sometimes online.
Preparing Students:
- The rehearsals planned throughout the day of the concert are quick “dress rehearsals” only, to prepare the group for performance as an ensemble. There is NOT time for conductors to coach individual teams.
- Performance preparation means students should confidently manage details including: correct key signatures; suggested tempo markings; correct rhythms (especially in tricky places!); musical details such as ritardandos, fermatas, dynamics, etc; correctly count through rests; etc.
- #1 Ensemble skill–Practice going on no matter what—just like singing in a choir or in church, or playing in a band / orchestra. No re-starts! Stay with the beat!
- #2 Ensemble skill–Prepare students to watch a conductor! Practice conducting in lessons while students follow. Change tempos, do cut-offs, cue them in.
- #3 Ensemble skill–Prepare students to be flexible! Tempos sometimes change when ensembles play together. Have your teams get comfortable playing slower than the suggested tempo, on the suggested tempo, and faster than the suggested tempo—they will be confident no matter what changes may happen at dress rehearsal!
- Prepare specific musical details conductors may email to their groups. Teachers, please “flex” and support the conductors’ interpretation choices. Often the conductors are happy to answer any teacher questions.
Signing Up:
- Piano positions fill up on a first come / first served basis. Two alternate spots are offered as well.
- While alternates are not guaranteed a performance slot, there are often cancellations on any given piece. Alternates are advised to learn their music in the hopes that they DO get to perform. See “Cancelling a Team” for more information. Keep checking back to the Sign Up sheet.
- Please fill out all info, including teacher emails and first & last names for students.
- Students are invited to sign up for one piece when registration opens, to allow as many students to participate as possible. After a second sign-up date (see schedule at beginning of the Sign-Up document), students can participate in as many pieces as they are interested in, for no extra registration fee.
- Final registration / payment is taken closer to the performance date.
- Please do everything in your power to fill BOTH positions on the duet team. If you collaborate with another teacher to put together a team, you are responsible to rehearse the team before dress rehearsal the day of the concert.
Cancelling a team:
- Please cancel students at the earliest understanding that they cannot or will not be participating! This is very important!
- Carefully remove your team’s sign up off the sign-up sheet, accessed from the website.
- Carefully move the Alternate 1 team into the newly opened position.
- Carefully move the Alternate 2 team into the Alternate 1 spot.
- Please immediately email the teacher that you moved into a performance position so he / she can begin preparing their team! They will probably be very excited and thank you for the opportunity to participate!
What to expect during Dress Rehearsal:
- This schedule is incredibly tight! Rehearsals go quickly and are packed with information.
- Students should arrive early and be ready to go!
- Have the original music.
- Students may dress casually for rehearsal.
- Parents may observe the off-stage rehearsals scheduled in the morning.
- No one is allowed to observe the on-stage rehearsals without purchasing a ticket. This ticket covers the evening concert.
- Teach students to turn pages; tape copies to eliminate page turns when possible. Teachers should plan to participate to help with page turning during rehearsals and at the concert.
- Morning rehearsals start with 20 minutes off-stage. Conductors hear individual teams and make comments to the group to prepare for the stage rehearsal. The group then spends 20 minutes on stage with the rhythm section, playing together and learning ensemble performance skills—staying together, following a conductor, and interpreting / expressing as a group instead of 24 individuals!
- Afternoon rehearsals work together solely on stage for 30 minutes, strengthening the unity of the ensemble.
- Conductors will frequently place a team on a particular keyboard. Please work with the conductor. The keyboard you play on during rehearsal is the keyboard you play on during performance!
Performance Information:
- Call time is 6:30pm, with all students dressed in performance attire and in their seats for the 7pm performance.
- Please consult with your teacher on each year’s performance attire.
- Tickets are sold in the main lobby as this is a fundraising event; there will be one price for individual tickets sold and a family rate for groups of three or more people living in the same household.
- As a reminder, a ticket is needed to watch group rehearsals. Ticket sales will be available throughout the day and are good for the evening concert. It is fascinating to watch the intense rehearsal process that brings so many students from many different studios together for a successful evening concert!
- Performers do not need a ticket as this is covered in their registration fee.
Lastly, all proceeds from this event go directly toward student scholarships, strengthening our music community and the next generation of young artists! The costs for registration and tickets are so small, so please come with a great attitude… and donate directly into our fund at the ticket table if you are able!
We are so glad you are participating in this year’s concert, and look forward to a busy but fully rewarding event!!