Submitted by Deatta A. Szulis, Camillus, New York
Idea posted November 22, 2002
Question: I have a 4th grade concert coming up and will be doing about 3 Music K-8 songs and probably 3 other songs. My question is - when performing the Music K-8 songs for concerts, do you use piano or the recordings? I really think that some of the recordings are great and would sound much better than the piano. And, what are your thoughts about doing some songs with piano and some with recordings within the same concert?
Answer: I think the variety of piano and recordings is a good solution. I have an excellent accompanist, so I use piano whenever I can. I think the elementary students SING so much better with the piano. There are certain selections, however, that really need the taped accompaniments. I think a concert with all taped accompaniments is not a good idea for students at this level unless you are doing a revue/musical type thing. Then make sure it is not overpowering the students.