While I was in college I discovered the joy of attending the student recitals. They are, for the most part, free. They are also generally speaking very good performances (as it is a self selected group of people who take their music very seriously, and at those recitals they are playing for a grade.) The performances also tend to be fairly standard, (depending on what kind of student is performing*). And unfortunately, often the only people attending these recitals are close friends/family of the performer(s), or other students meeting a class requirement.

Even if you don’t have a group of 8-12 year old girls to entertain, it would be a good idea to look into attending a student recital- they make for great dates.

The area we’re in is within driving distance of ASU. Nearly any university or college with a music program will have student recitals, especially near the end of semesters. With a little bit of searching I was able to find a Piano Ensemble recital for us to attend.

This activity was wonderful for so many reasons.
The girls liked it because:

• It gave them an opportunity to dress up, especially in things they may not be allowed to wear to church, or school (ie makeup, jewelry etc).
• It was different from the sorts of things they normally get to do.
• The car ride there and back gave them plenty of socialization time.

I liked it because:

• All I had to do was get all the girls there and back, which was pretty easy. (I did, also, give them a lecture on basic concert etiquette.)
• It met one of the goals from their booklet: Developing Talents- Visit an art museum, or attend a concert play or other cultural event.
• It gave me all sorts of warm fuzzies to show the girls what could be a glimpse of their future in the form of the highly skilled young women that performed that night.

I was slightly concerned that the girls would be seen as a nuisance by the other audience members, but I got nothing but smiles of approval from people glad to see kids being exposed to the arts. As the concert wore on 5 of the 7 girls fell asleep, so we left at intermission. The woman seated behind us whispered in my ear that they looked like dominoes falling asleep one by one.

I even got a little misty-eyed watching the youngest girl in the group, literally sitting on the edge of her seat, slack jawed, watching the performers and wiggling her fingers as if she were playing the piece herself. Little moments like that are what make me enjoy doing this so much.

* I attended one where the performer was a conducting student and they performed Schoenberg– probably not a good choice for a first foray into concert going.