Creating a Performance
A performance in Octavia is a record of a concert, recital, or exam event. You create it first, then add the students who are participating. Performances can be in person or online — the online option unlocks video recor
What a Performance Record Contains
A performance has a title, a date, and a type — in-person or online. In-person performances can also have an optional end time. Everything else (which students are in it, what they're playing, which teachers need to attend, and any recordings) is added after the performance record itself exists.
The distinction between in-person and online matters because online performances have additional functionality: you can upload or request video recordings for each student, and families can watch those recordings through the Family Hub. In-person performances create a shareable programme but don't have a video component.
Creating a Performance
From your performances list, create a new performance and give it a title and date. At this point you also set whether it's an online or in-person event — this determines which features are available for the performance going forward.
Once created, the performance appears in your performances list and you can open it to start adding students.
For an in-person performance, add an optional End time in the performance details when you know how long the event will run. Octavia shows that duration in the calendar for everyone involved. If the end time is earlier than the start time, it is treated as finishing after midnight.
Adding Teachers to a Performance
In multi-teacher schools, use the Teachers panel in the performance detail view when other teachers need to be in attendance. Select Add teachers, then choose the teachers to include.
Each teacher you add sees the performance in their own calendar, including in a subscribed Apple Calendar or Google Calendar, and in their performances list even when the performance is not school-wide. Teachers who are included can also see who else is involved. The person who created the performance is shown as the organiser and is included automatically.
To remove a teacher, select the x on their badge. The organiser remains attached to the performance. The organiser and studio admins can manage the teacher list.
Simple and Advanced Planning
Use the planning toggle beside the Teachers heading to choose how you plan the event.
- Simple planning keeps the teacher list as compact badges. It is useful when you only need to record who is attending.
- Advanced planning shows one row for each teacher, where you can add their arrival time, role, planning location, and further notes.
The advanced-planning fields save automatically. A small status indicator confirms when changes are saving or have saved. Press Enter to save a field quickly; in Further notes, Enter adds a new line instead.
Each teacher sees only their own planning instructions in their calendar event. The shared performance details still appear for everyone. The same teacher-specific instructions are included in the description when they subscribe to their Octavia calendar in Apple Calendar or Google Calendar.
Emailing and Exporting the Plan
The organiser and studio admins can use the actions in the Teachers panel to prepare communications and planning documents.
- Email teachers opens your usual email app with all assigned teachers in the BCC field. The message includes the shared performance details and a summary of each teacher's arrival time, role, and planning location.
- Export Word downloads an editable planning pack. It includes the performance details, teacher planning information, and the student programme.
- Export CSV lets you choose Teachers only, Students and programme only, or Both as two files. These files can be opened in spreadsheet apps such as Excel, Numbers, or Google Sheets.
What Comes Next
A performance record on its own is just a container. The work of building the programme — adding students, entering their pieces, and (for online performances) managing recordings — all happens in the performance detail view.
See Adding Students to a Performance for the next step, Your Calendar for how scheduled performances appear in the calendar, and Online Performances and Video Recordings for the full detail on how recordings work.