I've just been through a total nightmare trying to find an accompanist for my son's sax exam next week. The woman who originally agreed to do it let me down at the last minute. He's doing Guildhall and the nearest centre is 12 miles away. Finding an accompanist who doesn't work all day and is prepared to do a 24-mile round trip - aaaarrggh!!!

None of the people I would normally use were available that day.
One person quoted me £100. I pretty much told him where to go. I finally found someone last night prepare to do it for £50 (aarrgggh) including one rehearsal - his going rate apparently.

I know the distance problem is because there's no Guildhall centre in my home town, but does anybody else here have problems these days finding accompanists? And what do they generally charge?

I'm so relieved that my teacher sorts all that out!

I pay my accompanist £20 for two quite short rehersals and the exam, and although he used to terrify me,(and still does to a point) I'm finally getting used to him and his perculiar SoH. Its only taken 5 years!

When i had an accompianist she said she charged only £5, and once I'd done my exam she told me not to worry about paying her. £50 just to have someone accompany you is way to much. You're paying more than you did for the actual exam.

For my violin exam I'm paying my accompanist £15.00 for 2 sessions and the exam, that appears to be the going rate as there is another accompanist that my violin teacher uses who charges the same. This is the Torbay area in Devon.

QUOTE (tamsin @ Jun 23 2004, 06:01 PM)

I pay my accompanist £20 for two quite short rehersals and the exam,

That seems really cheap. It must work out at an hourly rate of about £10.00 an hour which doesn't seem much.

Violinia what grade is your son doing? I was just wondering in relation to the prices that you were quoted for the accompanists. I should imagine for some of the Grade 8/ diploma pieces the accompaniment could be very advanced and so would involve the accompanist in quite a lot of work learning the part. Therefore presumably it may be more expensive for the higher grades. I assume they include their practice time in the price.

What would you charge to give two one off lessons, one 12 miles away which might be delayed leaving you sitting around?

i'm paying my accompanist for my diploma £25 an hour, and so far I've had 4 hours rehearsals! i have another 2 hours rehearsal, but he is oh so kindly ( ) doing the actual exam for free- that's still £150!!!!it's extortionate but the accompaniment for the pieces im doing is so difficult he is actually the only pianist in northern ireland that can play them.

my piano teacher does it for free

I don't pay my accompanist anything as he goes to my school, we're in the same year, and we're friends so we just play together for fun.

QUOTE (Lucia @ Jun 23 2004, 06:28 PM)

QUOTE (tamsin @ Jun 23 2004, 06:01 PM) I pay my accompanist £20 for two quite short rehersals and the exam, That seems really cheap.

My accompanist is a sixth former at my school and he doesn't charge for exams becasue he likes the experience! (And he reherses every day for 30 minutes during break and assembly and an hour at lunch and 1/2 an hour after school in the month run up to the exam)

I paid £20 in March for an accompanist for my daughter's grade 5 exam and that included one rehearsal. There was no difficulty with travel as the venue and accompanist were both local - I would expect more rehearsal time for a higher grade and then to pay more as well.
I recently had to rearrange an exam for a pupil to a different venue in order to avoid an awkward date and then had great difficulty finding an accompanist for the new venue. I did find one eventually and the parents were charged £25 for one rehearsal and the exam(grade 3).
£50 might seem a bit steep but as has been mentioned if there is a lot of travelling and rehearsal time the price will go up.

As an accompanist (but only as a hobby!) I have one teacher whose pupils I regularly accompany for their singing and music theatre exams (ranging from Grades 1 - 7 as of the present).
We have a rehearsal at the venue (2 1/2 miles away from where I live) a couple of nights before for each pupil. The rehearsals last 15-20 mins on average depending on the grade. We then have the exam. For this service I charge £25 per pupil irrespective of grade. I have three licentiate diplomas in piano and organ performance as well as the DipABRSM in piano and am awaiting my results for the LmusTCL exam. I accompany classical through to jazz and pop music. I think £25 is reasonable for each pupil in light of my qualifications and experience.

I also accompany classical diplomas and recitals etc. for which service (depending on the pieces) I would charge a minimum of £75 for e.g. a 30 minute recital/exam.

Hgirl, I would be interested in knowing what pieces you are doing. I'm from N Ireland (Belfast) as well....

Dangermouse

Thanks for all the replies; there seems to be quite a large range of prices being charged out there.

My son is doing Grade 5 jazz saxophone, and the accompanist I got in the end is the piano teacher on the music degree course at our local university. He's very good, which may be why he charges so much.

In the past I've only used accompanists who charge £20 for 1-2 rehearsals plus the exam. £50 seems a bit outrageous to me, but I was desperate and had no choice - I just couldn't find anybody else who was available and willing to travel the 12 miles. It's not just the 12 miles - it's into and out of a big city as well, so the time factor will be mega - probably 3 hours on the exam day plus the rehearsal - 45 mins, so I guess it works out about £12 an hour all told - perhaps not so much when you think about it.

But I still never expected to have to pay that much.

Perhaps Guildhall will establish more centres now they're merging with Trinity.

Thanks again

Violinia

I don't know about £20 being cheap, it certainly isn't from my limited pointy of view!

Perhaps it could be explained however because he does the rehersals and exams for all my teachers students back to back, which limits journey times etc, and of course, if there 5 students, it mounts up quite quickly.

I'd like to sidetrack a bit please.

I have done some very limited accompaniment. A friend who was singing at a fueral, my niece when she brought her flute to my house... that sort of thing. Have also a couple of times played for a choir I was in.... sometimes not so successfully, but it was good to have the chance

Anyway, the point is I really like accompanying (when it goes well).
How do people generally start with it?
As far as I can see you need to be pretty good at it before you can start, if you see what I mean.
I mean you couldn't really accompany early grades unless you are already good... but if you don't do it how do you get good?
I don't really have any friends or family who can work with me on this, but I would really like to be able to do some exam accompaniment (early grades... I know my limits).

Sbhoa
I did accompany 3 grade 1 pupils a couple of years ago and I was definitely as nervous as them.
I am sure that I also spent far more time practising the accompaniment than they did their pieces!
I have decided not to do this again as it took up lots of time practising the piano when I have other instruments to be practising!I didn't charge them either.
All of the accompanists that I now use through the music service do not need to see the accompaniment before the rehearsal (quite often they have played them before)- this grades 1-5 mostly. They are all very good.
Maybe you could link up with a local woodwind/brass teacher and offer practices with the piano for experience?
Then both sides would be getting something out of it.

QUOTE (sbhoa @ Jun 26 2004, 03:37 PM)

I don't really have any friends or family who can work with me on this, but I would really like to be able to do some exam accompaniment (early grades... I know my limits).

Which part of the country do you live in? I'm sure there are people like me who have trouble finding an accompanist, and would be delighted to have you.

I'm in the Greater Manchester Area (Tameside to be more exact).

But as I mentioned before I have very little experience.