Student Recital Policies & Procedures

Certificate in Performance/MPP Minor Required Recitals: Production staff will be in touch early in the Fall semester to provide available Spring semester dates and times, and facilitate booking. 

When you are asked to submit your proposed repertoire for faculty approval, you’ll be asked to indicate any production support requests you may have. These might include the use of large instruments that will need to be delivered to the recital location, soundcheck time, click-tracks, audio playback, amplification, audio processing, and more.  Students are welcome and encouraged to provide these details to the Production Manager earlier, if possible. If these needs arise after your repertoire is approved, please make sure to contact production management as soon as possible; it may not be possible to accommodate some or all last-minute requests.   

Dress Rehearsal: If you would like additional time during which to familiarize yourself with the concert venue, piano, and acoustics, please make note of this in your original request, or email at least four weeks prior to your requested rehearsal time. Additional rehearsal time will only be made available after October 1 each year, and based on venue and staff availability. Therefore, it may not be possible to accommodate every request for a dress rehearsal. 

Day of Recital: The house opens to audience members 30 minutes prior to the recital start time. Students can warm-up/sound-check for up to 30-minites for classical recitals or 1-hour for jazz recitals prior to the house-opening-time. 

Seniors in the Certificate in Performance/MPP Minor programs are encouraged to advertise their required recital by creating and distributing their own printed poster.

The marketing team will provide professional printing services and print a total of 50 copies. Posters will be mailed to Woolworth 310 for student pick-up. Other marketing services provided include adding posters to the Department’s screens at the Woolworth Center and Lewis Arts Complex; event listing added on Music Department website and newsletters; and social media promotion.

Poster Design Guidelines:

Unless you feel comfortable with design software, please use Canva, a free online design platform, to design your recital poster. After making a free account on the site, click on the “custom dimensions” box on the upper right corner of the homepage. Set those dimensions to 17×11 inches (horizontal poster) or 11×17 inches (vertical poster). Choose one; this will be your printed poster size.

All posters advertising Department-sponsored events must include the following:

• The Music Department logo, with the text “music.princeton.edu” under the logo.
• Proper name of venue, including both auditorium and hall (e.g. Taplin Auditorium, Fine Hall).
• Full date (day of week, month, date, year).
• Full name, class year, and instrument(s) of all student performers.
• A list of the composers you’ll perform on the program.  You can list specific pieces (optional).
• The poster must specify that the event is “Free, Unticketed.”

Posters that do not follow the above guidelines will not be approved and may be removed. 

When you have designed your poster, save/download it as a “PDF Print” and check the box “crops & bleeds.” (This will be the file sent to the printer).

If you want your poster to be displayed across screens/kiosks on campus, you’ll need to resize your poster to 16×9 inches (horizontal) and 9×16 inches (vertical). Once resized, save each of these files as a JPEG file. To have your poster displayed on all campus screens, you’ll want to submit both poster sizes.

The poster draft must be submitted for Department approval and printing no later than four weeks before the recital using the form below. Posters sent later than four weeks before the recital dates will not be printed by the Department, and may not be posted/distributed. 

Please use this form to submit your poster design:

Students presenting required recitals for the Certificate/Minor in Music Performance programs:  

• Are required to submit their intended recital program in performance order, with approximate timings no later February 26, 2024. 
• Repertoire for required recitals must be approved both by your assgined Studio Faculty Member and your relevant Program Director.  More information about this approval process has been provided by the Program Manager in Performance Activities, who can answer questions you may have.   
• These students are required to write program notes for each piece on their recital, and vocalists are also required to provide song texts and translations, including of works in English. 

Seniors are responsible for drafting and editing their own programs to be professionally printed. The Department covers the cost of printing 50 copies of the program booklet.

Visit this document for a detailed how-to on creating your program in Canva.

The final program using the Canva template (including a list of works to be performed, bios for all recital participants, and program notes) must be submitted for Department approval and printing no later than four weeks before the recital using the form below. Programs sent less than four weeks out will not be printed by the Department. 

Please use the following as a reference:

For classical recitals:

For jazz recitals:

All required recitals and relevant Music Major Senior Thesis performances taking place in Music Department venues are audio recorded by an audio specialist employed by the Music Department. If you are interested in recording at an alternate venue and/or live streaming your performance, please bring this to production management’s attention during the recital booking process so staff can assess your request.   

Students who would like to record a non-required are welcome to make their own arrangements. A list of recommended recordists is available upon request, and a video camera is available for students to borrow. (Visit the Student Resources page for available equipment). 

All Music Department recordings will be archived in the Mendel Library at the Woolworth Music Center.A digital copy of recordings of required recitals will be provided to the recitalist.

Please note that any such recordings are for personal use only. University restrictions and U.S. copyright law do not allow distribution or sales of these recordings.