This past weekend concluded a three-weekend run of Silent Film Recitals I hosted for my piano students, and let me tell you — it was such a fun project to organize! I really enjoyed this as an opportunity for my students and myself to try a performance event different from a typical piano recital and learn about the historic art form of silent film accompaniment.
I will share much more about how to organize a Silent Film Recital in a future blog post, but for today I will share a just few highlights and photos.
I received inspiration and resources for this project from SilentFilmCelebration.com, a non-profit organization directed by Heather Smith of Centerville, Utah. She has been organizing Silent Film Festivals for piano students for a number of years, both within her studio and with her local music teachers association. I have seen her posts on Facebook about these events and have been wanting to try it with my own students for a while now.
If you’ve been following my blog for a while, you might remember that I currently have a studio comprised of about half Michigan students (where I live now) and half Ohio students (where I used to live, whom I continue to teach online). Initially, I pursued the possibility of finding a venue halfway between the two areas, making it a 30-minute drive from either direction, but had difficulty finding a suitable venue. So, I ended up organizing separate recitals.
In addition, I decided to have my Michigan students perform their Silent Film Recital twice — once for friends and family at my church, and a second time for folks at a local retirement center. My Ohio students performed just once, at a local retirement center. Three recitals was a lot of coordinate, but I was determined to do it and thankfully it all went pretty smoothly.
One of the keys to organizing a Silent Film Recital is having two pianos, so that one student can be getting ready while another student is playing. This allows for smooth transitions as the music changes between scenes. I brought in my portable digital piano (I have a Kawai ES920) to use in addition to the acoustic piano at each venue.
The other thing you’ll need at your venue is either a TV or a projector with screen.
The website I mentioned earlier, SilentFilmCelebration.com, provides resources for organizing your own silent film event for students — including a selection of 2-reel (~20-minute) comedy films by Buster Keaton and Charlie Chaplin (with more films to come), an outline of the scenes or “chapters” throughout each film, and sheet music that can be matched to each scene. You can use music from many other sources as well — which I will talk more about in a future blog post. I had such a great time exploring the historic music of the early 1900s composed and published especially for the purpose of live silent film accompaniment.
My students chose their own music, making sure to match it according to each scene’s mood, and then practiced their cues from when to start and stop playing during the film. It’s not as hard to do as it sounds, but it does take practice.
I loved hearing audience members chuckle at comedic moments during the film showing. It was a low-key event, where the focus was not only on the students, but also on enjoying the film. We had a great time.
After the film showing, my students also performed film-inspired solo pieces — meaning, music from movies, TV shows, or video games.
If you are looking for an alternative recital format for your piano students, I’d highly recommend considering a silent film project!
Stay tuned for my upcoming blog post, How to Organize a Silent Film Recital for Piano Students. Update: read the article here!
Your turn: What recital format alternatives have you tried in the past? Could you see yourself organizing a silent film recital with your students in the future? Please share your thoughts and ideas in the comments below.
PS: My apologies for announcing the incorrect date for the free Zoom webinar I’m offering this Friday about my new book, Keys at Play, Book 1. The correct date is the 17th, not the 18th — so, Friday, November 17, 2023 at 10-11am Eastern time. If you’d like to register, please do so HERE. If you are interested in being able to watch the replay video, please sign up for my separate email list HERE. Thanks for your interest!
Thank you for this inspirational, and creative post! I am planning to do the same in the spring.
That’s great! I bet you and your students will have a great time, George.
Wow! I’d never heard or thought of doing a silent film recital. That is SUPER cool. I can’t wait to hear more about it. I’ve only been part of a traditional recital and online (pre recorded) recitals that I did during COVID. Thank you for sharing this so far.
I’ll share more about it soon! I’m working on a pretty big blog post. 🙂 It really was such a fun recital format!!
This is such a fun idea!! We used to have silent film festivals in the city we are close to, where an expert silent film musician would fly in to play for. I was never able to go, but I heard they were fantastic. This recital would be so interesting and fun for the students to prepare for! I can’t wait to hear more details.
So glad you are interested, Kaly! I’ll keep working on my blog post with more details and try to get it out soon!
What a fabulous recital idea! Looking forward to the upcoming blog post with the how-tos!
One year my students performed at a historic movie theater, playing selections from movie soundtracks while clips (without sound) from those movies were projected onto the big screen. The editing was a lot of work, but the culminating event was a really unique experience for my students!
That’s an awesome recital idea too, Marissa! I love that, and think it would be engaging and so fun for students and parents.
This is the coolest recital idea! I think my students would really get into it, & I would love to try it. I just need to read your big blog post first to see if I’m up for it. Is there much technology involved? That’s always my biggest worry. Thanks so much for another amazing idea, Joy!!??
Thanks, Laurie! The main bit of technology involved is being able to play the video on your computer and then connecting your computer to either a TV or projector using an HDMI cable. I would try it with your TV at home first, and then all you have to do is confirm that your venue’s TV or projector has an HDMI port as well.
Follow-up blog post is up now! You can check it out here.