I've spoken to a lot of people, and they've all said I should be accompanying lots of instrumentalists and singers, but particularly singers. What I want to know is What's so good about you lot!? Why is it that the best way to improve your accompanying skills is to work with Singers?

Bit of a random question, but I'd be interested to hear your thoughts on this

Jacob.

If it's anything like some of the 'singers' I've accompanied in my time, it's probably because you'll learn a whole new world of rubato and 'interesting' intonation, whilst you're desperately try and find out where they've suddenly jumped to in the score....

True, but I've also accompanied quite a few instrumentalists like this who like to "keep you on your toes"!

Jacob.

I think the difference between accompanying singers and instrumentalists is the text. As an accompanist you cannot assume, for instance, that the singer is going to follow the written dynamics, especially if the song is strophic and the verses are written one underneath the other. The dynamics for one verse won't necessarily be appropriate for another. There is also the challenge of foreign languages. When I was at music college accompanists had to attend language classes and were required to know exactly what each and every word meant (just like the singer), so that they could express the words in their playing as well. It's not just a question of playing the notes and following the singer, it's also about knowing the text inside out and being at one with the singer in your expression.

Can piano accompanying be studied at Undergraduate level, or is it only Postgraduate. I ask because i'm very interested in studying it at university or music college. I didn't realise you had to take language classes, but that's fantastic, because apart from Music, I love Languages, and was concerned I wouldn't be able to continue my French If I went to a music college. I'm going slightly off topic on my own topic, but do training accompanists have to study the main 3 languages of French, German and Italian, or can you specialise in a certain language?

Going back to the topic, would you really need to understand every word yourself as well as the singer, I would have thought thatr like accompanying intrumentalists, you just follow them, and if you're musical enough and experienced enough you'd be able to react to what they do and "feel" what is happening instead learning the song yourself.

Jacob.

This is but the thread took me back years to a summer school I attended when I was in 6th form.

On the summer school I met a lad called Anthony (no idea of his surname) who really wanted to become an accompanist. He'd brought a book of Faure songs with him and persuaded me to sightread through them with him in the evenings. I still remember what a happy time it was, though for some reason the one which sticks in my mind is "Au cimetiere", which sounds rather morbid! I wonder whether he ever made accompaniment his career?

I hope you continue to enjoy accompanying, Jacob; good accompanists are worth their weight in gold - though musicians are too poor to pay that much, so you'd have to settle for less!

My limited experience is that the accompaniments tend to be much more difficult form an earlier stage.

That is so true!

(with apologies to all "proper" singers - esp. kj)

Often you find yourself in the position, as accompanist, of needing to help a singer get up to concert standard, and you can often make useful suggestions regarding word/phrase emphasis, rubato elements etc. Unless you get into a fictitious world where you are dealing solely with professional singers, in most instances the accompaniest is generally more musically accomplished and technically proficient than the singer.

So, singers have intonation, breathing and timing issues (which other instruments do have to varying degrees). But one very significant difference is that the singer is relying on the accompaniment for pitch, its not like on an instrument where you can pluck/blow etc a specified note out of thin air. ie: If you mess your accompaniment up you're more likely to throw a singer than an instrumentalist.

You would probably be able to do a module in accompaniment at undergrad, but it most likely won't be as specialised as postgrad.