Well the paperwork has landed for the NFMC Scholarship Piano Festival. It’s been sorted and organized and the schedule made out. It was relatively painless on my part. Once the system a system is in place it makes everything so much easier.
All of the teachers and students work quite hard preparing for these events. The chairmen of these events will only keep doing these jobs if it goes as smoothly as possible. How can we work together to make everyone’s experience the best it can be.
1. Teachers, check the rule book for instructions about special time request. Some events are very specific as to when you can do this. For most events, if the request isn’t turned in with the initial paperwork it probably is too late.
2. Teacher and Parents- check the calendar before signing up for a festival to see if there are any conflicting events. It always makes me upset for the student to hear that they have prepared a difficult piece only to have to withdraw the week of a performance due to a scheduling conflict.
3. Teachers- WRITE NEATLY!!!!! Excuse me, did I scream there? Sorry. Please take the time to write legibly so that the chair can read the student’s name and get the spelling correct. The same goes for the title of the works to be performed.
4. Chairmen- Have a organizational system set up before the paperwork begins arriving. Sort it as you go.
5. Chairmen- Learn to use Excel or a similar program. The sorting capabilities will save you lots of time and effort.
Good luck!