The snow is falling outside, the house is warm and cozy, and you just heard “Deck the Halls” on piano for the hundredth time in two days. It might be time to create your video for the December Video Challenge and share the joyful music with loved ones across the country, or even the world. Here are some ideas on how to get started.
First, you will need to record a video of you or your student. Here are some options.
- Spend a practice session at home making the video. Often times students feel most comfortable playing and singing at home, which makes this option ideal for many. After warming up – record the song, watch the video, assess, make adjustments, and record again until satisfied. Want to keep the self-assessment practice going all week? You can when recording at home. Make a video at the end of each practice session, and use your assessment to guide rehearsal the next day.
- Ask your Music Artistry teacher to record the video during lessons. Sometimes things can get a bit hectic at home, especially during the holiday season. While one person in the house is practicing, another may be vacuuming, and another may be playing a very loud game of make-believe in the next room. At least that’s what practice sessions in my house look like at times, and I love it! However, it’s not always conducive to recording a video. In this instance, it may be easier for your teacher to record a video during lessons and then send it to you via text or email.
- The third option is a combination of the previous two. Record the video yourself at the end of your student’s lesson. This allows you a quiet space and time to record while also providing the convenience of immediately having the video on your phone or camera. This is also the primary choice if you are recording your student playing or singing a duet with their teacher.
Now that you have the video, here are a few ideas on how to share it.
- Send it to family and friends via email or text. Sometimes the simplest option is best. Even email and text can allow for personalization. Ask your student what message they would like to include with their video. Let them choose the font, text color, and what emojis to add. You’d be surprised (or maybe you wouldn’t) at how much joy a younger one can derive from choosing emojis.
- If your family is a social media family, then sharing the video via Facebook or Instagram may be the option for you. Much like a text or email, you can include your student in the creation process for the post. Don’t forget to tag us in the post, we would love to see and hear your student sharing their music.
- It may be that you go through the process of making a video and you realize that not only is your student benefitting from self-assessment – they are also LOVING it. He or she is motivated to practice often, and the practice is focused and directed. This might be a great time to consider making a YouTube channel for your student. Then creating and sharing videos, and the benefits which are coming along with this process, do not have to stop once the December challenge is over. Of course, you will want to customize your YouTube channel to make sure you feel comfortable with how secure it is.
- Finally, does the holiday season have you feeling especially creative? I know this seems to happen for me every December. If you want to personalize the video even more, find an app, website, or program that can serve as a vehicle to do so. I personally enjoyed customizing my daughters’ video using Adobe Spark this year. It allowed me to add pictures and text to the original recording, giving the entire video a sort of eCard feel. Here is my daughters’ video if you would like to see an example. (I used the “create a video” option underneath the “start from scratch” section at the bottom of the creation page.)
I hope this article gives you some ideas for the December Video Challenge as well as a vision for how to get started. I also hope your family gets as much joy out of practicing and creating the video as mine did. I know that whomever you choose to share your video with will be feeling that joy! Thank you for helping us change the world through music!
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