Today one of my pupils was taking her grade 4 exam and 2 others were taking grade 5. The lovely accompanist I always use was accompanying the grade 4 girl and one of the grade 5s. The other grade 5 candidate was using her own accompanist who is also her piano teacher.

The parents of this girl picked me up this morning to go and pick up their accompanist and then go on to the exam. I always go if I can for last minute scales run-through, tune violin etc. We were meant to pick the accompanist up at 9.00am. At 8.55 he rang the mother to say he had 'lost the piano music'. The exam girl started wailing: 'oh no, this is soooo stressful!!!' When we arrived at the accompanist's house he rushed to his car (broken down) to see if it was in there. Wrong car keys! He then rushed back into his house to get his other set of keys. The music wasn't in his car. He got in our car with all of us, seemingly unfazed.

As it happened, I had another copy of the piano music for one of the pieces with me but it was the other version (the AB specified two possible publications). Trying to stay calm for everyone's sake I asked him if he was a good sight-reader. 'So-so', he replied. Then I remembered the other accompanist would be turning up (but later) with the grade 5 music so all was not lost..

We arrived and the other accompanist arrived with the other student just 10 mins before the poor (first) girl had to go in. This left just enough time for her to run through the 3 pieces very quickly with her accompanist, but it meant the other grade 5 candidate couldn't run through his pieces with his accompanist as the piano parts were soon in the exam room with the other child.

When the 'lost music accompanist' came out, he seemed chipper and unapologetic. Everyone was trying to stay as calm as possible for the sake of the two children but inside I was wanting to murder him.

My thoughts: why didn't he check the night before that he had everything he needed? And why was he so chipper and unapologetic? Yes, I want to murder him.

Comments, anyone?

Cross him off your list of accompanists (if you haven't already done so!) Edit: just re-read your post. Obviously he's not even going to make it on to your list of accompanists!!!

Accompanists should appear to be professional at all times and should be sensitive enough to realise that, although this may be "just" a grade 5 exam, it represents a lot of work for the candidate whose nerves are probably fairly taut anyway. Flapping about/forgetting stuff is not professional, and tells the pupil that s/he is not important to the accompanist.

Perhaps the pupil will be wondering about his professionalism when it comes to piano teaching now?

(We have had some experiences of accompanists - fortunately none quite as bad as you describe.)

Oh crikey - unbelievable!

Has your blood pressure returned to normal yet?

I always take copies of EVERYTHING to every exam session and round up as much as I can from other teachers in advance. Not quite the same but this session we had a corker - a piano candidate turned up with no music. "Oh, are you playing from memory?" asks Bag with a sinking feeling in her stomach. She replied in the negative and said (get THIS) "my teacher told me not to bring it"..............yeah ri-ight. Needless to say I grassed her up to the teacher in question.....

Poor you, Violinia. I'd go and have a lie down if I were you.

Bx

I have a friend whose 9 year old daughter was taking her first cornet exam. She arrived at the exam to meet an acompianist she had never met, her teacher never having mentioned that she would be playing with a piano, let alone that one of her pieces had a two bar piano introduction. Pleased to say that she passed the exam, the acompianist obviously doing a good job of easing her through I think. Sadly it put her off taking any more exams and she stopped playing not long after.

Lou24 - that poor girl! What was her teacher thinking of, not telling her she would be accompanied, and didn't the teacher know the girl should be able have at least one run-through with the accompanist in the run-up to the exam?!

Yes, I wouldn't be surprised if the Grade 5 girl goes looking for another piano teacher after this experience. There's more to the story: a couple of weeks ago the parents came to get me to take me to their house so I could listen to her rehearse with the very same pianist. We waited, and we waited - and he didn't show up. Neither did he answer his mobile; next time they saw him he said his car had been pranged and he had left messages (which the family never found) but frankly I didn't believe it and I believe it even less now. They arranged another rehearsal with him - (I couldn't go that time) and he turned up 20 minutes late. I think the mum was beginning to have doubts about him then and I see she posted some cross comments about the scenario on her Facebook page after the exam.

I just wish they'd taken my advice and used my favourite accompanist - she's wonderful and never, EVER messes up. And I just hope the upset didn't affect the girl's playing in any way and impact on her result. That guy may be a good pianist but as a professional, forget it!!!

If it were me, I'd be more pro-active and say to the parents of the girl something along the lines of :

"I'm not happy with the accompanist you chose. I'd prepared Daughter as well as I could for her exam, and take pride in doing a good, professional job. But your accompanist made it very stressful for her and probably meant she didn't play as well as she could and certainly meant that she didn;t enjoy it as much as she could. And that makes me cross.The accompanist that I recommend does an excellent job - could you please use him/her in the future ?"

Exams are stressful enough without what this scatterbrain did! He certainly wouldn't be getting anywhere near my students.

Definitely talk to the parents.

Definitely don't use this one again! I accompany my own grade 1-7's and have 2 very reliable accompanists for grade 8s and diplomas. Even with my own pupils taking exams in my house during special visits I have all of the music in order at least 2 days beforehand, with post-it notes and pupils names written on the relevant pages. I wouldn't dream of being unprepared in this way and see my job on the day as making things as calm and easy for the candidate as possible.

Yes Allegro and Catey you are both right. Also, the other grade 5 student was affected as I had to ask him to lend his copy of the grade 5 music to this prat at the time he would have been having his run-through with his accompanist. This meant there was only literally 5 minutes left for him to run through the pieces with his accompanist (as she didn't know her part by heart - why should she?) while the other candidate was doing her aural tests, scales and sight-reading.

I still feel quite angry and I think he owes a big apology to the girl he was accompanying, to her parents for the stress caused to them, to my accompanist for involving her in having to lend what was effectively her music, and to the other grade 5 candidate for cutting short his run-through time. I don't think he has any idea of the stress he caused!! And I don't know if he's apologised to anyone!!! My plan is to ring the parents who hired him, tell them my feelings and suggest that they ask him to write to the boy who had his run-through time cut short and also to me as I was running up and down the stairs the whole time (the rehearsal room was upstairs) trying to make everything alright for everyone, while he just sat there on the sofa looking gormless the whole time he wasn't actually in the exam.

AAAARGGGHHH!!!

that's not really fair on the other grade 5 student. That idiot accompanist has a lot to answer for and I hope it didn't affect the boy's result. I'd be furious with him too. As the girl had chosen to provide her own accompanist, I would have let her do without! I certainly wouldn't have asked the boy to lend his book unless his exam had finished. There's little enough time at exam centres to practice before an exam without causing him undue stress by reducing his rehearsal. A letter would be a nice gesture at the very least.

Yes, I'm beginning to wish I hadn't asked the boy to lend his book to the other accompanist. But at the same time I needed to think on my feet about what was best for both students and if the girl's performance had suffered from being unaccompanied I would have felt dreadful for her.

Earlier this evening I phoned the parents of the girl to ask them what their accompanist said about it on the way home (they ran him home). They said he didn't apologise and seemed nonchalant about the whole thing throughout. This has made me even crosser and I now feel as if I want to write to him and suggest he writes a letter of apology to the other family.

As it was, the boy was very well prepared and didn't need to run through all his pieces with his accompanist as he had done this at her home a few days earlier, but that's not the point is it? The point is that they now couldn't run through all the pieces even if they had wanted to. And that's what I feel cross about, that this guy just doesn't seem to realise what he could have caused.

I'm not sure if I should do anything or not, but if I run into him in the street he will certainly get a piece of my mind - grrr. Bearing in mind that I wasted an hour the previous week going to the girl's house when he just didn't turn up, and he hasn't apologised for that either. The girl's father said 'he's just like that' and that he personally would have been mortified if he had caused all that hassle but that the accompanist just didn't seem bothered about any of it. Well we could all go through life like that, couldn't we? Not being the slightest bit concerned if we inconvenience other people! But we don't! Frankly I don't know how this guy gets away with it - well he probably doesn't as the family of the girl are always telling me his time-keeping is appalling (he always turns up late to lessons). They didn't even trust him to turn up to the exam on time (9.10 for 9.30) so that's why we went to pick him up! An accompanist with a car who can't be relied on to turn up to an exam on time so he needs to be collected?!? This is a man in his 30s!!!

What do you think I should do, write to him? Or put warning signs all over my home town for him to keep out of my way?!?

I wouldn't write to the accompanist.

His professional standards, or lack of them, are not your concern.

But I would tell the parents of your pupil that you do not want them using that person again and explain why.

And when you have the discussion with the next bunch of entrants, I would do the same.

This reminds me of a time when OH couldn't play for a ballet exam session. I got a tearful phone call from from the dance teacher. The accompanist had turned up without the exam music - assuming the dance teacher would have copies. I had to search through his music bag to find the music while she drove over. The examiner was NOT happy. Suffice to say - teacher always check when OH is available before making entries now as he is always organised.

To OP. I suspect in your place I would have borrowed the music for the grade 5 student, though from the comfort of my computer chair I think "No way! Her parents booked that idiot, they should sort it out." You did what felt best in an impossible situation and hopefully the outcome for the pupils will be good.

I would speak to the parents about using your accompanist in future. I have to say - when I read your post I thought their pianist was some cocky, disorganised kid, not someone who should know better.

"Frankly I don't know how this guy gets away with it" - he gets away with it because they let him. Picking him up is just enabling him to behave like that.

I agree with d@p.

And if you see him coming in the street, give him a wide berth. He's not worth wasting your energy on.

I hope that he's buying new copies if he's lost the music....

Thanks for your responses. My reason for considering writing to the accompanist was that his downright incompetence impacted on both my students, with whom I've worked very hard over the last few months to prepare them for last Saturday. Everything should have gone perfectly smoothly, but in the event this guy's haplessness caused one student to become very stressed an anxious in the half hour leading up to her exam and one of the others to have his rehearsal time shortened. I could have accepted this as 'one of those things' if he'd been mortified and apologetic as soon as the exams were over but he did and said nothing at all, which is actually the main reason I've been so angry.

Today I spoke to the mother of the girl who used him as an accompanist and she reassured me they will never use him as an accompanist again and will go back the very lovely lady I always use. Oh, and this guy charged them ?20. Not a lot I know but for that what did they actually get? One rehearsal he turned up 20 minutes late for, the need to be picked up and taken to the exam on the day as the family weren't sure he'd get up in time if left to his own devices, and the lost music scenario.

I've calmed down a bit now having been told they won't be using him again (I don't honestly think I could take it if I had to sit in a room with him again), and the grade 5 girl had a lesson with me today, telling me she 'wasn't at all nervous' in the exam so let's hope she (and the boy) got a good mark despite everything.

Thanks for all your advice and support!