Holidays can be a very enjoyable time with all the festivities with family and friends. These occasions are the perfect time for you to encourage your students to perform for enjoyment and fun instead of just getting ready for another concert at school. It gives the students the chance to share with others what they have been learning and the skills they have developed. Using SmartMusic to accompany the performance can make for an enjoyable experience for all.

Encourage your students to use any festive occasion to present their own concert to relatives and friends. Consider having a class discussion about what would be the “ingredients” for a successful concert. For example, the range of topics could include proper performance etiquette to connecting speakers to the iPad or computer so everyone can hear the SmartMusic accompaniment.

Program suggestions

• Songs from method books.
• Literature that students are going to perform for a concert that are in SmartMusic.
• Choose from the thousands of concert titles available in the repertoire library. Go to Find Music and choose Concert & Jazz Band, String & Full Orchestra.
• There are thousands of solo titles with with accompaniment as well.  Remind your students that the solos don’t have to be holiday specific. Listed below are a few suggestions and to find them, just go to Find Music and type the title into the search field.
  • American Favorites
  • Easy Christmas Instrumental Solos (Record everyone singing along and playing it back!).
  • Easy Popular Movie Instrumental Solos
  • Singin’ with the Big Band
  • Songs from Broadway musicals
  • Top Praise and Worship Instrumental Solos

 _{Browse for thousands of titles in SmartMusic.}

• Any of the performances can be saved as an MP3 and can be shared with those who were not there in person. In case you missed it, here is a blog by teacher Jim Schulz that explains how to create a holiday CD.
• Ask students if they would like to share the recordings with you and possibly the class.

This activity can be very beneficial in many ways to your students. Performing for enjoyment and sharing…does it get any better than that?

Happy Holidays from everyone at MakeMusic!