Last month I judged for “The Arch Cup” in St. Louis, Missouri for my friend, Caroline Hixson.
Since the type of event she wanted her students to participate in wasn’t available through her local teaching organization, she created her own piano festival.
Students participating performed one memorized piece from the Romantic or Contemporary time period. If the students received a Superior Plus rating, they receive a gold cup trophy at the December recital. If students received a Superior rating, they receive a ribbon.
Caroline had the event in her home. Students waited in the basement before playing and then came upstairs when it was their turn to play.
If you create your own festival and have too many students participating, you could also have the event at a local school or church.
Here are a few benefits to creating your own festival:
- Timing – Offer the event during the time of year that works best for your students. Having “The Arch Cup” in October allowed Caroline’s students to have a piece ready to perform for the December recital.
- Adults – Most events through teaching organizations are not open to beginning adult students. Allowing adults to participate in your festival gives them motivation and a clear goal for learning music.
- No Rules for Repertoire – Imagine if you didn’t set time period guidelines for repertoire. It would be less stressful to plan pieces for students!
- Profit – If each student pays a small fee (about fifteen to twenty dollars) to participate in the event, you would be able to make a profit after paying for the awards and judge.
- Freedom – The best benefit is that you can create your own judging form and structure the event how you think it would benefit your students the most.
Here is Caroline’s adjudication form for the event. She also made certificates for each student.
Caroline kept her dog in another room, but we couldn’t miss a photo opportunity on my thirtieth birthday.
Do you live in an area where you might not have other teachers who could judge for your own solo festival? Check out how I had an online judge for my solo festival one year!
Lauren teaches piano to students of all ages in New Orleans, LA. Teaching is her passion. She enjoys creating resources for her students and is the author of Ready for Theory®.
