MCs or no MCs?

Our end of year concert, ‘Patana Primary’, is this coming Thursday. It features performances by all of our extra curricular groups, the presentation of the Music Awards and a few soloists too. It is bound to be jam-packed full of wonderful music-making.

Jam-packed is the relevant phrase here, as it is likely to last for more than an hour. This is a very long time for our youngest performers to listen with attention.

We do, however, need to enable the audience to navigate the concert, so should we help the concert flow nicely and use student MCs, or to keep the concert short should we forgo this element, and instead use projected slides to share with the audience which children are performing which pieces?

There are pros and cons for both

MCs

Pros

• Help the concert ‘flow’
• Provide an opportunity for student voice and expression
• Can cover the gaps where large groups are entering or exiting the stage (our choirs each have around 60 children)
• Can provide interesting and pertinent information about the music, the music department and ‘Music’ in general, especially where the script is well written
• Can add humour and interest to keep the audience engaged

Cons

• Need to be well prepared in advance by adults and students
• Can detract from a concert if not well prepared
• Can add length to a concert
• Could be bland to listen to

No MCs

Pros

• The concert can be more slick especially where entrances and exits have been well planned and rehearsed
• Nothing detracts or distracts from the concert, “The music speaks for itself”
• No extra time needed to write or rehearse a script
• Lighting, microphones and staging are all a little simpler

Cons

• Can be dry or boring
• There can be pauses or silences when equipment or students are entering/exiting the stage
• There needs to be a screen with visual links that everyone can see

Patana Primary Solution

The solution we are using for Patana Primary combines projected slides, short informative videos and some MC announcements. Performances have been grouped so MCs are not announcing each item separately. The MC slots have been carefully inserted where the larger transitions are.

We are also using two videos: one will be a promo video for our upcoming Primary Musical targeting the very students and parents who are likely to be most interested in getting involved.

The second video is YoYo Ma speaking about Arts Education in a particularly poignant way. This is an opportunity to ‘educate’ our audience about music and its value?

So I guess each concert will be different and present its own challenges of length, transitions and details.

What are your thoughts on MCs or no MCs?

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