I am quite excited as I have just ordered the Rutters Suite for Flute with the piano accompaniment so that I can try and learn to play the piano accompaniment of Chanson whilst my son plays his flute. It is such a beautiful piece that I hope that I learn to do it justice. I have also order the piano accompaniment for Saties flute too. It is quite good I think that my son is around the same standard on the flute as I am on the piano, so hopefully I will be able to manage it ok.

Anyone else tried Chanson piano accompaniment and if so what do you recognise is it hard?

ET

I'm afraid I haven't accompanied that movement. The one I have though, is the Waltz. Apparently - or should I say, understandably - the Waltz can be tricky for flautists and I know that when we played this last October for our school's Prize Giving, I had to try and accommodate the flautist's slight fluctuation in tempo as she tried to fit in all the notes!

As for the Chanson, enjoy its lyricism, by which I mean, allow the music to breathe and avoid the temptation to rush. Accompanying is not just fun, it's rewarding, so do enjoy yourself in the process.

I have yet to buy a copy of the score myself but I usually end up doing so after being introduced to such a piece. That has caused me to buy the Poulenc Sonata, Summer Music by Richard Rodney-Bennett, the Lennox Berkeley Sonatina, the Widor Suite and a few more ... and that's just the result of accompanying flautists.

I haven't ever done the Chanson with the piano, and can't comment on what the piano part is like as I'm currently at work and my music is at home. I played the Aria at the Leeds event in January and that seemed to fit together with the piano quite easily, but I'm not sure what standard the piano part is.

If you want something to give you a gentle introduction to accompanying, then it might be worth looking at Faure's Morceaux de Concours (make sure it's the flute one not the violin one!). The flute part is around grade 5-6ish in standard - it's pretty easy note-wise (notes could be managed okay by a grade 4 player) but slightly more demanding in terms of interpretation and musicality.

I'll have a look through my music at some point for things with easy-ish piano parts for you.

Thanks for all the other suggestions, and if the pieces are around Grade 5 for flute then they will be great as son is Grade 5.

The reason I wanted the Chanson is that it is so beautiful when I hear my son play it and more so when his teacher teaches him here and I hear her accompanying him on the piano.

My teacher will help me with the accompaniment in my lessons and it kills 2 birds with one stone, I get to learn to accompany and my son gets more experience of being accompanied. However, he is very good with that much better than me, and does get cross that he ends up following me rather than the other way around. This is why I thought if I can learn this properly then we can make a great team.

Also I did think if I managed to get "Chanson" under my belt then the lovely Barri Clari may let me have a go at accompanying him at one of our London Piano Gatherings, as I know he plays the flute as well as the clarinet.

Hopefully the books will come in the next couple of days.

ET

Hi ET,

The Chanson accompaniment isn't too difficult as I recall: lots of running arpeggios in the accompaniment. It's in E major. I would say the Faure Morceau mentioned by Flossie is a little tricky for a Grade 5 player - it's previously been set at Grade 7 - but it's a good one for the future and an easy accompaniment. You also might like to try Gluck's Dance of the Blessed Spirits or the Siciliano from J S Bach's Eb major sonata.

Actually son has done the Siciliano last year and I did try to learn the accompaniment for this. I wasn't doing bad, but perhaps a little too slow. I went to have another go recently (as I have come a long way since last year) but we seem to have lost the piano score for it. I keep meaning to ask his teacher if she has 2, if by any chance she picked ours up by mistake.

I learnt the Chanson for the TG grade 5 piano accompanying exam.
Took me a while to learn properly but it fits together reasonably easily.

My son is doing Chanson as one of his studies for the TG Grade 5 flute exam. I just think it is so lovely, and I hope that it doesn't take me too long to learn properly.

ET

I sight read it at the last minute for a performance on Friday, and it wasn't very difficult, it shouldn't take long to learn. It's some of the other pieces in the book that don't look so friendly!

Low and behold, I have been asked to accompany the Aria and Waltz on Tuesday. Still no copy available in local music shop though, so this time I have ordered it - but too late for Tuesday. I'm hoping for a call today to go in for a practice with the flautist, otherwise yet again she'll be leaving it a tad late!

Oh dear, good luck with getting the music, I ordered it from musicroom.com and had no problems. In fact if I had been in I would have received in on Tuesday, I think I ordered it over the weekend. Have had to ask the royal mail to re-deliver to me on Saturday.

ET

I wasn't too concerned about the immediacy of having my own copy, since the flautist will lend me her's when I see her. I like to support this local shop whose owners have ties with our school - I taught his daughter 'sums' and they've always supported school concerts etc. They deal primarily with Woodwind and Brass. I look for my piano music elsewhere.

It's the age-old problem of leaving rehearsals unnecessarily late, that's all. 'Twas ever thus!

Oh I see, lol, well I hope that you get it sorted.

Well, she didn't turn up (see also the scream thread ) so I still haven't seen a copy of the Aria, nor, for that matter, the as-yet-unknown-to-me third piece - a jazz one apparently! God help her if she leaves her Diploma rehearsal this late!