san diego piano academy

Recital Policies and Schedule

Below is the detailed schedule of this semester's events and how the submission process will work. Note that it is encouraged for teachers to submit their students for multiple recitals throughout the semester.

RECITAL POLICIES


Recital Requirements

  • Music must be memorized, except in rare circumstances where a special arrangement has been made between the teacher and the academy.
  • Music must be able to be performed consistently without hesitations.
  • Video submissions are required to participate, with some exceptions. See below.
  • Students should plan to dress nicely for their performance.

Teachers should also be covering the following recital prep in weekly lessons starting at least 2 weeks prior to the recital.

  • Have students practice the full performance by memory, including walking up to the piano and bowing at the end.
  • Instruct your students to be doing 2-3 performance practices for family members each week leading up to the recital.
  • Please make sure your students know that at the recital they will be sitting in program order in the first few rows. When they arrive, they will find their seat with their name on it.

Video Submission Guidelines

  • Each video submitted should include the name of the student, the composer, and the title of the piece in the name of the file.
  • If a student submission is for more than one piece, there will need to be separate videos uploaded for each individual piece.
  • It is recommended that the teacher records and submits the video for each student to ensure the submission is to the standard and quality of the teacher’s instruction. In the case where this is not feasible, you may share your Dropbox link with the student for them to upload their own video but please advise them to include their name, the composer and the title of the piece in the name of the file.
  • David will send out a reminder 1 month in advance of each recital with clear deadlines for submitting students and videos.
  • The submission deadline will be Thursday, 2 weeks prior to the recital.
  • The initial program draft will be available Wednesday morning, 1.5 weeks prior to the recital.
  • Teacher’s verify program and give final suggestions/requests by the end of Thursday, 1 week before the recital.
  • Final programs are created and sent out by Saturday, 1 week prior to the recital.

Leading up to the recital

*Discretion is up to the academy to decide the final program and who takes part in these recitals.

This recital is for students of all levels to prepare and try things out in a public setting. It is strongly suggested that a student not be submitted to a recital unless their music is fully learned, up to speed and memorized by the time of the submissions. Students and teachers may choose to submit a student for the recital without an included video; however, these students will only be considered for the preparatory recital, time permitting.


The preparatory recital will be filled in this order until it reaches capacity:



Preparatory Recital Submission

  1. Students with a video submission that showcase a readiness to perform.
  2. Students without a video submission but have a strong teachers recommendation, max 2 per teacher. The teacher must use judgement as to which of their students either deserves to play and is ready, has the most to gain from performing, or will be upset if they don’t get the chance to perform.
  3. Students without a video submission or a strong teacher recommendation.

SDPA Formal Student Recital Submission

This recital is an audition based recital for students of all levels with an emphasis on intermediate to advanced students.


To be accepted to these recitals the following criteria must be met:


  • Only students with video submissions will be considered for this recital. Teachers may recommend a student be given special consideration for this recital which the academy will take note of. It does not guarantee which recital the student is placed in.
  • Music must be fully learned, up to speed and proficiently memorized at the time of submission to be considered.
  • A student's time constraints will be taken into consideration in terms of which recital they are placed in, but will not be weighted heavily in the program planning process. In general, we are not able to accommodate timing requests from parents or teachers but this will be handled on a case by case basis.
  • The recital will be filled based on the readiness of the student showcased in the submission video.

  • Recital videos will be sent to teachers to pass along to their students about 10 days after the recital on Monday.
  • Teachers may give suggestions for how to improve the recital process, taking special note of feedback given from students.
  • Suggestions may be given to students by the academy and at the discretion of the student's teacher for possible improvement in future recitals.
  • The academy and teachers may discuss internally how to improve the preparedness of students for future recitals.

After the recital

Recital Schedule

Click here to access the full calendar for this semester's events.


*Changes to our recital policy may be made any time at the discretion of the Academy. We will inform you of any changes in advance.*

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