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Hosting your own solo festival is a great way to give students a performance opportunity and to add another income stream to your studio. (Read about running your own festival here.)
The biggest benefit to running your own festival is that students can have an opportunity to play for a judge without so many rules for repertoire. You can create the rules to suite your studio! You can set the guidelines for the pieces that you want your students to polish. In my own studio, I use the solo festival as preparation for a larger upcoming competition in Louisiana. However, a rotating theme such as a musical time period of history or theme (Halloween, animal, etc.) would be fun for your studio!
Back in 2017, I used an online judge for my solo festival. Now, more than ever, you might find this essential!
At the time, I really wanted my students to be able to play for someone outside of Louisiana. We typically use the same judges for our contests, so I wanted them to have a different perspective. I decided to have an online judge. Amy Chaplin, piano teacher and blogger, agreed to judge.
How to Have a Festival with an Online Judge
3 Months in Advance
- Set the date for your festival.
- Hire a Judge.
- Email the date to your studio.
- Decide the structure of your festival. You can either host the festival in-person at your studio or upload videos to YouTube. If you have a small studio or expect small participation numbers (such as just a few students), you may find that you can host the festival in-person with extra precautions.
2 Months in Advance
- Create your own adjudication form and start planning which students will participate.
- You can download the adjudication form I used for my festival here: Solo Festival Adjudication Form.
- You may also want to try creating the adjudication forms on Google Docs so that you can easily share with the judge.
1 Month in Advance
- Collect fees from students.
- If you are having an in-person festival, assign each student a time. I recommend 5-10 minutes apart to give the judge ample time to write. During the current pandemic, you may also want to allow even more time so that one student can leave before another enters.
- Fill out the adjudication forms for the judge.
- Send the judge a list of repertoire so that they can make sure they have the music in their own library. If the judge does not own all of the music, I do not recommend scanning copyrighted music. In this case, ask the judge for general comments about the performance.
Playing for the Judge
When I held the festival for my students, I set up my iPad on a universal stand so that the judge could see students’ hands and feet. My students really liked the idea of playing for someone far away!
For the festival, I kept the connection with Amy on FaceTime the entire time. (Feel free to use Skype, Zoom, or Google for this as well.) I brought in one student at a time as they arrived and introduced them to Amy.
Having the Festival During Covid-19
If you’d like your students to still come to your studio, you can do just as I did in 2017 by keeping the connection with the judge the entire time. You can add the extra safety precautions of requiring hand washing before playing, wearing masks, and waiting outside until the previous student leaves.
If you’re not ready for an in-person festival or have a large number of students, I recommend uploading videos on YouTube for the judge to hear instead. You can upload the videos as unlisted and create a playlist for the judge. Read how to do that here.
Lauren teaches piano to students of all ages. She enjoys creating resources for her students and teachers. She is the author of Ready for Theory®. For personalized help, check out the consultations page for teachers.
