5 Steps for a Most Memorable Recital Video!

A great recital video is a worthwhile investment you'll enjoy the rest of your life! Here are my top tips for how to make a video you and your child will be proud to share and remember forever!

Click here to download the Checklist

1. Make a Great Introduction:

• Get dressed up! Fun costumes and/or formalwear, depending on YOUR style. Santa hats, props, related toys, and decorations add LOTS of fun! 

• Introduce your name, age, grade, and the piece they're playing
• Encourage your student to speak up with a slow, clear, confident voice,
• Include anything special they'd like the audience to know or notice about THEIR performance of the piece! (Special sound choices, modifications to the original melody, or things to inspire the listener to imagine while listening, etc.!)
• A recital is also a snapshot in time: Let your teacher and audience know specific things you worked extra hard on, or are hoping to achieve at this performance, like playing without mistakes, playing smoothly, using lots of contrast, or expressing a certain emotion

2. The Piano/Keyboard

• Digital keyboards: Choose an instrument sound you like for your piece! Strings, choir, flute, oboe, brass sections, harpsichord, theatre organ, and French horns are some favorites!
• Label your keys small and at the TOP 1" of your keyboard for a tidy look and almost zero touching by the fingers
• Pedal: Use the pedal for smoother transitions and more blended harmonies! (Here's one on Amazon. Make sure your keyboard has a pedal jack and that the plug size matches!)

3. Seating

• Sit up at the piano! No slouching!
• Height: Sit in a chair high enough where elbows are at the level of the keys
• No rotating/swivel chairs

4. How to Shoot a Great Video:

• Camera in one place, at the student’s eye-level, ideally not hand-held or wobbly. *This is also less pressure for the student!
• Because our eyes are side-by-side, we prefer to look at landscape shots, not portrait!
• Frame the shot from top-of-head to fingers-on-keys!
• Light from the front, onto the face instead of from behind (avoid bright background windows)

• For digital keyboards, make sure the instrument volume is up loud!
• Try multiple takes to get comfortable with the routine!
• Take a long bow (or for ladies, optionally, curtsy)!

5. Post Your Performance!

• Tag Mr. Zach with "@Zach Tolan" and include as much written description as you like (or let the video speak for itself!)
• Post here: https://www.facebook.com/groups/exactnotes/ 

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