Yesterday we had three back to back unique events as an academy and with our sister school Music 1st as well. These events, all called Festival on Stage are an opportunity for students to play their prepared Festival pieces before the community on stage! Festival, is an annual event hosted by us at The Tuned In Academy as the only local club which is a part of The National Federation of Music Clubs.
The NFMC is a really important organization that does some amazing and important work in communities all around the country. Their focus is on giving students an opportunity annually to play before an adjudicator and receive really important feedback that is both educational, critical when necessary, and encouraging of course. Students prepare two unique pieces every year for this event, both of them usually memorized although the requirements are a little bit different for each instrument one of them is usually a historical piece of music by for example a famous classical composer, and the other one is usually written by a current living American composer currently writing new works (which is another really important part of this annual event which we appreciate very much).
The music that students learn to play exceedingly well, often memorized, and then play before and adjudicator and then even also on stage in front of an audience is usually quite challenging, pushes them in new areas as students and musicians, and the process itself is so important for their personal as well as musical growth.
As an educator and director, one of the things I really appreciate about this event each year is just seeing students devote time and mental energy, technical and physical work, over the course of usually at least 3 to 4 months, to learning this music and getting it to the point where it’s going to be really really good, is just a healthy experience.
Most of them all do exceedingly well and earn Superior ratings or Excellent ratings, and honestly every year the music gets even better which is exciting and fun to listen to. But of course in that, many of them have periods of time where they really struggle, they may have periods of time where perhaps they aren’t even working on it the way they should or at all, and yet what’s really beautiful in that is most of the times, they have a moment either at home, with their parents, or with their instructor, or all three where they realize it’s time to buckle down, it’s time to work hard, and if they can do this! And it’s a beautiful thing when they push through those struggles, and they make it happen!
One of the things that I think is so fun, is that Festival itself happens in usually late March, and then there’s spring break, and after that students have an opportunity to play that music before an audience. Festival is just before an adjudicator, a professional musician, highly trained and capable, different however then they’re normal teachers, who we hire specifically to come in and give them unique attention and very careful analysis according to several important musical standards.
Then students have a few weeks including spring break usually, to sort of push that music away a little bit, breathe, celebrate their accomplishment at Festival and if necessary of course wrecking with any struggles they had. And then, they get to play the music again but this time on stage in front of the whole community so in one sense they get a second chance, in another sense, they get an opportunity to do something they didn’t get to do at Festival which is play it before an audience.
The whole process I think is really healthy for students and whether they end up playing music as an adult or not, there’s a lot of important growth as a young person that will benefit them in so many different ways.
