The Performance Classes and Recitals
At Crocus Hill Studios
Dr. Joseph Zins / Dr. Jo Anne Link
Artists – Teachers of Piano
Description
The studio offers seven to eight Performance Classes (generally one per month) and three formal recitals per year. The classes are designed to provide a warm, relaxed, and positive yet serious atmosphere where students are allowed to develop their abilities as performers. It is a musical “greenhouse” in effect.
The classes also provide a definitive guide as to the students’ pace and quality of their development. They learn to become good audience members and to support their classmates’ efforts and abilities. The students, parents, families, and teachers form a support group that encourages all students to develop their musical gifts to their full potential.
Performance Class Protocol
All students are required to attend and contribute to the Performance Class (PC). Any absence must be excused – in writing – two weeks before the scheduled class. Students will not be permitted to leave early or arrive late in order to accommodate other activities. The teachers give of their time and energy for the entire day as part of the paid tuition. However, a small fee per student is charged to cover the expenses of hall rentals and tunings of the instruments. These fees are non-refundable.
Flash photography is not permitted during the classes, as well as text messaging, phoning, emailing, computer work, reading, or any other activity other than listening with great care and involvement to all performers. Parents are expected to be interested, supportive, and involved with the entire studio.
Requirements, Guide-lines, Expectations, and Goals
The Young Artist Class (YA)
- Students must meet the guideline for a minimum amount of practice time per day. For students five to twelve years of age, amount of time is determined by one’s age, multiplied by ten. For example, a twelve-year-old must meet and sustain the minimum requirement of two hours per day (twelve hours per week). Students twelve to eighteen years of age, must also meet the minimum of twelve hours per week. Any additional practice time beyond the two hours per day will be determined by the individual student’s desire, will, fortitude, and capacity for work.
- Students must prepare a minimum of one, sixty-minute lesson per week.
- Students must reach the level of professional concert repertoire, encompassing significant contrapuntal works of Bach, the concerti and sonatas of Haydn, Mozart, and Beethoven, the etudes of Cramer, Moszkowski, Chopin, Liszt, and Rachmaninoff, and forays into the romantic and contemporary repertoire. Technical studies must include a mastery of scales (single and double notes) and arpeggios (simple and mixed) of all major and minor keys.
- Students are expected to prepare and enter local competitions such as: The St. Paul Piano Teachers Association (SPPTA) Concerto Competition; The Minneapolis Music Teachers Forum (MMTF) Mozart Concerto Competition; Thursday Musical Young Artist Competition; The Schubert Club Scholarship Auditions; and The Young Peoples Symphony Concert Association of the Minnesota Orchestra (YPSCA) Concerto Competition. Preparation and entrance in additional regional, national, and international competitions will be determined by Dr. Zins and Dr. Link, based on an individual student’s qualifications and preparedness to do so.
- Students are expected to attend, annually, our Young Artist World Piano Camp and Festival. The Camp and Festival must not be viewed as an “extra” or “add-on” musical event – it is the climax of our students’ year of study. It is an unparalleled opportunity for students to hear and work with world-renowned guest artists, to have numerous and prestigious performance opportunities, and to form lasting friendships with young artists of like mind. It is an intense, exuberant, and passionate experience that will remain with students for the rest of their lives. This camp embraces all levels of artistry from some of the top players in the country to very young students at the sonatina level.
- Entrance into the Young Artist Class is not determined by age, grade, or years of study. It is determined by reaching the above requirements and by an individual student’s potential for absolute excellence as a young artist performer.
The Repertoire Builder Class (RB)
- This class is designed for students (generally, grades three through six) who are striving to meet the requirements of the Young Artist Class (see above). These students are in the process of developing the technique, repertoire, and performing experience needed. Students must meet the guidelines for a minimum amount of daily practice time (age x 10).
- Students must prepare a minimum of one, sixty-minute lesson per week.
- Students must reach the level of advanced intermediate/early advanced repertoire, encompassing the Inventions of Bach, the sonatinas and easier sonatas of Haydn, Mozart, and Beethoven, the etudes of Czerny, Heller, Cramer, Moszkowski (Opus 91), and forays into the romantic and contemporary repertoire of this level. Technical studies must include a mastery of scales and arpeggios of all major and minor keys.
- Students of the Repertoire Builder Class are expected to attend, annually, our Young Artist World Piano Camp and Festival (see # 5 above). This is a necessary and allimportant
- step in reaching our top class.
The Young Artist Prep Class (YAP)
This class is for young students (generally grades 2 through 5) who demonstrate, at an early age, outstanding abilities and the capacity to work with focus, maturity, and meaning.
The Young Performers Class (YP)
This class is designed for very young students (generally grades K through 5) who arejust beginning their musical journey.
