accompaniment Options

[Bass Clef]

Aaargh.... I've agreed to accompany a friend's pupil for a grade 1 exam. I'm not a great pianist, but I thought I could do it and wanted to. My friend gave me the first two pieces a while ago - they were pretty easy and I can play them well. However, she has only just given me the third piece with two weeks to go and having had a practice just now, I'm really starting to panic. It's an arrangement of a tune from a film and there are lots of chords with big stretches necessary to fit the chords and melody in RH and tricky fingering going from one chord to another. I really can't imagine that I'll be able to do it...
As I see it, I have three options: 1) Tell my friend I can't do it and help her find someone else - don't want to let her down though and have already spent time practicing the other pieces and rehearsing with the pupil
2) Man-up and learn to play it somehow (really don't know how though!) 3) Make an easier arrangement of the piece
I'm considering 3 as the most viable option and was wondering if anyone could give me any tips. There are a lot of 7th chords in the piece (e.g. D7, Am7) is there a particular note that it is best to leave out and a note to definitely leave in? The piece doubles the vocal melody in the RH all the way - could I leave this out? One of the other pieces she sings doesn't have the melody in the piano and she copes fine with this... Also, most of the time there is only one note in the bass (e.g. two minim As in the bass). I experimented with putting some of the RH notes into the bass but it sounded a bit weird. Is there a way round this?
If anyone could answer any of my questions about arranging, I would really appreciate it. Also if you've ever been in a similar situation then feel free to give any general comments/moral support.

x Bass Clef

[porilo]

I have never been an accompanist but as far as I know you are not allowed to make an arrangement of the piece. As it is an exam situation they will expect you to play it as written. Having said that, with regards to 7th chords, the best note to leave out is normally the 5th. Certainly don't leave out the 7th otherwise it wouldn't be a 7th chord. (IMG:style_emoticons/default/laugh.gif)

[Bass Clef]

I have never been an accompanist but as far as I know you are not allowed to make an arrangement of the piece. As it is an exam situation they will expect you to play it as written. Having said that, with regards to 7th chords, the best note to leave out is normally the 5th. Certainly don't leave out the 7th otherwise it wouldn't be a 7th chord. (IMG:style_emoticons/default/laugh.gif)

On the syllabus it says 'candidates may use any edition'.

[sbhoa]

Simplify it.
Remember that playing with the soloist will be a totally different thing from playing alone anyway.
How many sessions have you had with the student so far on the other two pieces? Has the student played with the accompaniment before or is it going to need time for both of you to learn how it works together?

[linda.ff]

I have never been an accompanist but as far as I know you are not allowed to make an arrangement of the piece. As it is an exam situation they will expect you to play it as written. Having said that, with regards to 7th chords, the best note to leave out is normally the 5th. Certainly don't leave out the 7th otherwise it wouldn't be a 7th chord. (IMG:style_emoticons/default/laugh.gif)

But the accompanist isn't being examined. As long as they provide adequate support for the candidate, I can't see the problem in paraphrasing the printed accompaniment. It's not even a public performance - are exams included in performing rights issues?

I used to play a lot of the accompaniments for my singing pupils by ear. Sometimes I didn't even take the copy in. For grade 3 we often did Try To Remember. I played it in whatever key was best for the pupil, which was often not that of the one printed copy I had.

[andante]

D1s first clarinet teacher was a truly dreadful pianist, used to crash around and miss bits of the tricky parts out , to the point where he asked an examiner once if he shouldn't attempt to accompany, but the examiner told him he was fine, and that it was the soloist that mattered. As long as the candidate knows what to expect so you don't put her off you should be ok.

[Bass Clef]

Simplify it.
Remember that playing with the soloist will be a totally different thing from playing alone anyway.
How many sessions have you had with the student so far on the other two pieces? Has the student played with the accompaniment before or is it going to need time for both of you to learn how it works together?

I've had 2 sessions (I each for piece A and B) so far. We're meeting up again on Monday, although I'm not sure how much progress I will have made with piece C by that point, and we're meeting up again just before the exam. She's sung the pieces with backing tracks before, so she knows how it all fits together. However, she's quite nervous so I'm just worried about putting her off with any wrong notes!

Andante, I'm feeling a bit better after your dreadful pianist story! That will definitely be me!
Thanks everyone for replies so far.

[Roseau]

She's sung the pieces with backing tracks before, so she knows how it all fits together. However, she's quite nervous so I'm just worried about putting her off with any wrong notes!

Not an exam but a concert.
Last year my teacher accompanied a piece I was playing. It was a piece I knew very wel,l because I had listened to it a lot, but he was unfamiliar with it before I turned up to my lesson with it. He couldn't play the piano part properly and kept apologising for playing wrong notes and/or missing bits out (and he ended up playing a simplified version of it in the concert) but I found the fact that he was making mistakes (and likely to make them in the actual performance) hugely reassuring. It took the pressure of me to be perfect (IMG:style_emoticons/default/smile.gif)

[jm-hamilton]

Would just like to agree with what's been said - simplify it. The accompanist is not being examined. Of course you want to do your best for the soloist, so play a version that you are happy with. If it's possible, in a 7th chord keep the 3rd and the 7th in. I'd also leave out quite a bit of the melody if it's exactly what the soloist is singing. Incorporate just bits of it to help support the soloist. Good luck

[Alicia Ocean]

Work on the intro, any piano solo bits and also the last four bars. Everything else can be busked - just know what the chord progression is. (Says someone too scared to accompany exams but who doesn't mind in lessons).

[sbhoa]

However, she's quite nervous so I'm just worried about putting her off with any wrong notes!

How much you might put her off depends on the level of her musicality.
A clarinet student of mine who I've accompanied in exams on sax as well as clarinet admits that he just plays his part and has no idea what the piano is doing..... That is in the process of being fixed since I took him on for clarinet....

[Scooby Doo]

I'd agree with what has been said so far. Your singer needs a steady beat and enough harmonies to feel supported and be able to pitch her own notes. Anything more than that is icing on the cake. Which song are we talking about? Might be able to be more specific about what to cut if we know the piece..

[Bass Clef]

Thanks everyone! I feel loads better.
Scooby Doo, the song is 'Truly Scrumptious' from Chitty Chitty Bang Bang. I think I might leave out some of the melody, as people have suggested and leave out little things like repeated notes in the melody. I'll probably write it all out on manuscript paper so that I don't confuse myself - I'm assuming this is fine for an exam accompaniment...

[linda.ff]

Thanks everyone! I feel loads better.
Scooby Doo, the song is 'Truly Scrumptious' from Chitty Chitty Bang Bang. I think I might leave out some of the melody, as people have suggested and leave out little things like repeated notes in the melody. I'll probably write it all out on manuscript paper so that I don't confuse myself - I'm assuming this is fine for an exam accompaniment...

It's still going to be an infringement of copyright, unfortunately. Can you busk/vamp? By that I mean follow the chord symbols, if there are any, and play the bass with chords mainly on the offbeats but also along with the bass line if necessary. In a song like this, I would guess there ould be chord symbols written above - what sort of edition is this?

[Youngpianoteacher]

To echo some earlier points the role of the accompanist is enhance and support the main instrument, to add to their musicality and to not detract or distract from the overall musicality of the piece.

This also means, therefore, that you can omit certain elements if they are not detriment to the overall style and mood of the piece and that it doesn't destroy any melodic line or 'call and response' type passages.

Quite often when pieces are transcribed for concertos for example, the piano part becomes very dense as the piano tries to make up for an orchestra. Much of these arrangements are often not pianistic in nature and this leaves the accompanist having to play something that is very heavy and can sometimes detract from the purpose of accompaniment - to accompany...not overshadow.


Use your judgement and simplify where needed. Also takes your queues from the person you are accompanying, as you may find they rely on the piano section in certain elements and it is therefore more important that these parts are played fluently. Above all, keep time, and help to keep the piece moving along.