For reasons I can't elaborate on here, I 'd like to ask singers if they prefer accompaniments played on a piano as opposed to a clavinova.

If you are singing at a festival/concert or doing an exam, would it make any difference if you were accompanied by a piano or clavinova? I know this might be influenced by preference, but objectively, does it make any difference in an exam when the voice is being assessed?

Thanks!!

Quite honestly, I wouldn't have thought so.

It may make a difference to the accompanist's comfort level (I gather that some pianists don't like playing clavinovas, my accompanist included) which may make an infinitesimal difference to their playing. I'd be very surprised if it made enough difference to "show" though.

I suppose there's also the sense of theatre engendered when one takes one's place in the bow of a grand piano, which may have some small effect on performance, but again I don't believe it would be enough to matter.

Logistically, performing when accompanied using an upright piano is a bit of a pain, because you can't really stand in a place where you can achieve eye contact with the accompanist and develop your rapport. In that case, a clavinova (which the accompanist can see over) would be preferable, in my view.

Cheers

Katyjay

(Clavinova owner whose accompanist won't touch the machine!)

Thanks for that Katyjay. I don't know much about singing but I didn't think it would make much difference in an exam when the singer is more important than the accompanist.

I would also say that the biggest difference is for the accompanist. However, I have been in a situation where I was accompanied by a clavinova and it was difficult to get it loud enough so that I could actually hear it while singing. From the audience's point of view the sound balance was fine, but it was very directional, and I wasn't in the right direction from it. In this case I don't think it was a very good quality clavinova, but that might be something you would need to check out if you were using one. And warn the accompanist! As Katyjay says, some of them really don't like it and might need to prepare themselves for the shock...

If I feel comfortable and know the music really well, it really doesn't make a difference to me. I would rather choose whichever accompaniment-ist was better aquainted with the music. It depends on the peice.