Music-School Recital Running Order: A Template with Changeovers

The pieces may add up to 17 minutes, but that does not make a recital a 17-minute event. Someone still has to adjust the bench, move the stand, introduce each performer and wait for the applause to finish. A useful running order gives those jobs a place in the schedule.

What you need: confirmed repertoire, a stopwatch, the venue’s access and finish times, and a named stage lead. The two PDF downloads below are free, need no account and open in a normal PDF viewer. Print them to write on, or copy the fields into your existing spreadsheet. No event-management subscription is required.

Collect the information that changes the order

Ask each teacher for the exact work and movement, composer, arrangement credit, performer’s preferred printed name and a timed run-through. Include repeats or cuts as they will actually be played. A recording is useful for confirming what was timed; MTNA’s performance-preparation advice also recommends a studio pre-performance recording.

Keep a separate equipment note: bench setting, footrest or pedal extender, music stand, score or tablet, page-turner and any additional chair. Record the setting that was comfortable in rehearsal. Heights chosen for one piano or bench may need adjustment at the venue.

Confirm the people before fixing the sequence. Find out when the accompanist can rehearse, be ready backstage and leave. An accompanist who is performing elsewhere at 18:30 cannot be treated as available until then without allowing for travel and packing up. LSU’s recital-planning guidance explicitly puts checking collaborators’ availability into the booking process; the same check is useful for a small studio event.

Accessibility needs may change the entrance route, seating or transition time. Agree those arrangements privately with the performer and venue. The public programme does not need the reasons behind them.

Give each transition its own allowance

For each performer, use three durations: incoming setup and introduction + music + applause and exit. Keep that convention throughout the sheet. If the previous student’s exit is already in their row, do not count it again as the next student’s entrance.

Separate the welcome, closing remarks, interval and contingency reserve from those rows. This example has no interval. Its allowances produce the following total:

Music only

17:00

Ten hypothetical performances, timed separately.

Planned event slot

34:30

Music + 8:10 setup/intros + 3:20 applause/exits + 3:00 welcome/close + 3:00 reserve.

The reserve is unassigned time for delays, not a compulsory pause at the end. It also does not cover the audience leaving, photographs, moving equipment or returning the room. Add those to the venue plan outside the performance slot. If the hall must be empty by 19:00, working backwards from that deadline is more useful than choosing a convenient start time and hoping.

A ten-performer running order

Here is a fictional 18:00 recital with eight solo pianists and two violinists. All names and timings are illustrative; the pupil compositions by Ada, Gia and Hugo are invented examples. Sam Reed, the fictional accompanist, is available at the piano from 18:15 to 18:28. The two violin items share one setup.

18:00–18:02: welcome and practical announcements. Each clock below is the start of that performer’s incoming setup, not the first note. The printed staff sheet also gives the calculated first-note time. Allowances should be replaced with your own rehearsal timings.

1. 18:02:00Slot 1

   Ada Lin · Piano
   Morning Bells · Ada Lin

   Setup/introduction 0:45 · Music 1:00 · Applause/exit 0:20

   Set rehearsed bench mark; fit Ada’s footrest; check feet before announcing.

2. 18:04:05Slot 2

   Ben Okafor · Piano
   Minuet in G, BWV Anh. 114 · Christian Petzold

   Setup/introduction 0:45 · Music 2:00 · Applause/exit 0:20

   Remove footrest; reset bench to Ben’s mark; place score.

3. 18:07:10Slot 3

   Cleo Shah · Piano
   Arabesque, Op. 100 No. 2 · Friedrich Burgmüller

   Setup/introduction 0:40 · Music 1:10 · Applause/exit 0:20

   Check bench and score; no pedal equipment.

4. 18:09:20Slot 4

   Dev Chen · Piano
   Melodie, Op. 68 No. 1 · Robert Schumann

   Setup/introduction 0:40 · Music 1:20 · Applause/exit 0:20

   Adjust bench; confirm opening page before introduction.

5. 18:11:40Slot 5

   Eva Costa · Piano
   Prelude in C, BWV 846 · J. S. Bach

   Setup/introduction 0:40 · Music 2:30 · Applause/exit 0:20

   Bench reset; confirm score or memorized-performance plan.

6. 18:15:10Slot 6

   Finn Malik · Piano
   Wilder Reiter, Op. 68 No. 8 · Robert Schumann

   Setup/introduction 0:40 · Music 1:00 · Applause/exit 0:20

   Bench reset; call violinist and accompanist to waiting position.

7. 18:17:10Slot 7

   Gia Rossi · Violin
   Two-Note Dialogue · Gia Rossi

   Setup/introduction 1:30 · Music 1:30 · Applause/exit 0:20

   Set violin stand; Sam Reed takes piano; both check score, tuning and sightline.

8. 18:20:30Slot 8

   Hugo Evans · Violin
   Evening Walk · Hugo Evans

   Setup/introduction 0:50 · Music 1:20 · Applause/exit 0:20

   Sam stays seated; adjust violin stand; change both scores and check tuning.

9. 18:23:00Slot 9

   Isla Park · Piano
   Für Elise, WoO 59 · Ludwig van Beethoven

   Setup/introduction 1:00 · Music 3:30 · Applause/exit 0:20

   Sam exits; remove violin stand; reset piano bench and score.

10. 18:27:50Slot 10

    Joel Ahmed · Piano
    La Candeur, Op. 100 No. 1 · Friedrich Burgmüller

    Setup/introduction 0:40 · Music 1:40 · Applause/exit 0:20

    Final bench check; host ready for closing thanks after applause.

The final row ends at 18:30:30. One minute of closing thanks takes the planned finish to 18:31:30, with reserve available through 18:34:30. In this model, Sam’s playing block ends by 18:23; even a three-minute delay still fits the stated availability. Recheck that relationship whenever you move a performer.

The sequence is not a ranking of students. We have grouped the violinists to avoid moving the stand twice and placed the longer piano solo after the return to solo-piano setup. Elsewhere, balance length, style and each performer’s needs. Ask a nervous player about their position instead of assuming that first or last will feel easier; performance anxiety needs more individual attention than a running-order formula can provide.

Download the staff sheet and audience programme

The staff PDF contains the worked schedule and a blank ten-slot sheet. The second PDF contains a compact audience programme for the same example, plus a blank version. Both can be printed without an account:

The audience version keeps the event name, date, place, start time, performers, works, composers and accompanist credits. Those core details are consistent with LSU’s programme checklist, though your school may have its own format. Leave out bench settings, private contact details and individual target start times. A delay is easier to manage when families have an order to follow rather than ten advertised appointment times.

Check spelling and pronunciation with the performers before printing. Confirm any arrangement credits against the scores. If something changes afterwards, give the host a short correction to read; do not leave the accompanist and stage lead working from different versions.

Rehearse the entrance and exit as well as the music

At the venue, try the slowest transition first: in this example, the change to violin and piano. Have the actual people walk in, place their music, check the stand and prepare to play. Time that sequence once with the introduction included. Increase the allowance if it is too short.

Assign the jobs by name. The host announces, the stage lead confirms the setup, and a waiting-area helper calls the next performer. In a tiny studio one adult may cover two roles, but they should not also be expected to play an accompaniment while moving a stand. Rehearse the cue that means “ready” before the host begins.

For the music itself, build a few performance-style run-throughs into preparation. Our Practis Programs & Performances view can hold an ordered repertoire plan with durations, headings and breaks, then a reflection after playing. That supports musical preparation; keep the multi-student stage cues and event logistics in the staff sheet.

Date the final staff copy and give the same version to the host, stage lead and accompanist. Then walk the first performer from their waiting place to the bench. That small rehearsal will tell you whether the opening two minutes on paper are actually enough.