1st Mistake: Relying on Bluetooth / Wireless connection when Playing my Performance Tracks
For some context, my school has a Portable Speaker system with one large, tall speaker that lives in our “Cafe-torium” and it can be taken outside and has decent volume capabilities. It also has the ability to connect via Bluetooth, meaning it can connect wirelessly to all kinds of devices. At first glance, this sounded very useful and versatile, as I could control my performance tracks from my conducting position, rather than always having to rely on having it run by an older Choir student positioned close to the speaker.
The problem I ran into was that my Bluetooth connection would often disconnect during(!) our performance! Sometimes right in the middle of a song! I think the reason this kept occurring during our performances, as opposed to our rehearsals, was due to all of the extra people and their phones in the room, which would get in the way of that connection to the speaker. Thankfully, my students were pro’s and just kept on singing A capella, even without the accompaniment track; however, I knew that I couldn’t rely on that wireless connection anymore.
Solution: Always have a Backup Option (or two!) like a Wired Connection (Aux Cable) or a CD
After that concert, I bought myself a 50-foot Auxiliary (Headphone) Cable so that I could have a reliable, wired connection to the speaker and not have to worry about wireless connections ever again! For safety and stability purposes, I would tape the cord all along the floor so that it wouldn’t be accidentally tripped over or become disconnected from either the speaker or my computer/phone. It has worked wonderfully now over the past few years and I hope my mistake can be a cautionary tale for somebody else!
2nd Mistake: Assuming Outdoor Performances are exactly like Indoor Performances
It was Veterans Day a few years ago and the very first time I had been asked to prepare a Choral performance that would be held outdoors. I was excited, as were my sweet 4th graders, who had valiantly worked to prepare their challenging Tribute to the Armed Forces piece. We got up to perform and they sang beautifully; however, with us being positioned on the basketball court and facing the open field, there was no place for the sound to bounce off, meaning that no one could hear them sing and it was even challenging for them to hear the accompaniment track! Until then, I hadn’t thought about how, for indoor performances, there are, of course, walls or a sound shell to help project the singers’ voices to the audience. Under the circumstances, the kids performed wonderfully, I had a few tears about it afterwards and hear is what I learned for the future!
Solution: When you are outside, you need to consider a multitude of factors for creating a successful student performance
- Do you have a wall or some surface to have the sound bounce off of and help project your students’ sound? Do you have access to sound shells?
- If not, then you need to consider having a lot of students sing at a given time
- For me, even having an entire grade level (4-5 classes) just doesn’t cut it. For our upcoming Veteran’s Day performance (next week!), I’m having my Kindergarten-2nd grade classes sing one song and my 3rd-6th grade classes sing another song. I’m really hoping, with that many singers, that it will be a strong enough sound to be heard and allow the kids to feel confident in their performance.
- Prepare the kids by telling them it is going to sound different than practicing inside the classroom! When possible, practice outside so they get the idea of how it will sound!
3rd Mistake: Not Starting to Prepare Early Enough for a Performance
I cannot tell you how many times I have looked at the calendar and thought “Oh, we’ve got 6 weeks until this performance; we’ve got plenty of time!”. But, when you consider holidays, days off and other possible disruptions, you might only have 4-5 lessons to prepare your students for that performance. It’s also important to think about if you want to be able to have time to teach other content during your lessons, in addition to your performance songs, rather than drilling those songs for all of those lessons. I have found that behavior problems can arise when I wind up just drilling a song over and over for a performance, as it is so different than our normal class activities.
Solution: Sit with a calendar way in advance, count the number of lessons and make a plan!
Making a plan allows you to be mindful of exactly how many lessons you have to work with, for each class, and what things/events might get in the way of those lessons. Consider, for example, saying for these 2 lessons, that we’ll focus on these 2 songs. For the next lesson, we’ll focus on the choreography for one of those songs and so on.
Lastly, I would encourage starting your hardest songs at the beginning so you have the most time to work on them, with your easiest songs left toward the end of the teaching cycle.
Bonus Tips!
Be the Diva on that Performance Day! Give yourself time!
When it comes to preparations during performance time or on the day of, be the diva and ask for things that you need to have a successful performance! For example, if you have a class right before the performance, ask that teacher (way ahead of time) if they can keep their class for that day or reschedule them, etc. Mostly, I’ve found that teachers understand and can be flexible. You need that time to make sure your sound is setup correctly so that you are not rushing over with everyone else!
Ask for help! You are ONE person!
Communicate and delegate as much as possible! Ask teachers for help getting students to sit in the correct spots. Ask a teacher bestie to help run sound! We all know that some songs need to be louder than others and reach out to a trusted colleague for help with this. It all helps to alleviate pressure off of you, especially when you’ve done the work ahead of time to really prepare who you’ve delegated to so they know exactly what they are expected to do on the day.
Block off your conductor area! Use some cones!
I cannot tell you how many times I have been stepping over kids or parents to get to my conducting spot! Use some tape or cones to really seal off that area and space that you need to be successful in leading that performance.
Simple is best!
In the past, I’ve tried to program really complicated pieces with harmony or rounds, when in reality, the parents who are coming just want to see their child performing anything! I’ve learned that one showstopper piece will work best and really allow your students to shine. That song can have some choreography or a prop of some kind (I’ve used flags or candy canes from the Dollar Tree!), while it is then totally okay for the other songs to be in unison!
Have an Emergency Kit for yourself!
Here are a few things that I have in a fanny pack (that I wear proudly!) or have nearby:
- Deodorant
- Perfume
- Breath mints when talking to parents!
- Water bottles!
- Extra batteries for any wireless microphones, etc.
- Extra long Auxiliary/Headphone cable
- Backup CD for your Performance Tracks
- Band-aids!
If talking in front of an audience scares you, have the kids do it!
There are always students who want the limelight of speaking in front of an audience so give them that opportunity! You can pre-write what they should say or even have them write it and this takes the pressure of public speaking off of your plate.
I hope that you find these tips and learning from my mistakes helpful for your planning and preparation for performances! Let me know down below if you found anything particularly useful or if you have any other tips!
Jessie Powell
Music and Motivate
