Most of it is the travel, the bad back, the carrying a million books with you, sometimes having to run on as little as one or two hours of sleep if you’re in a different country. Because you see people applauding, you see the nice concert halls and whatever, but that’s like a half percent of what goes into it. That’s the thing that non-musicians don’t quite understand. (Sometimes you don’t need more than a handful of hours just to touch up something.)īut most of what I do never meets the eye. On any given day, I’ll be with between five to twenty people for rehearsals of varying lengths. My typical day will start at 9:00am and won’t end until 9:30pm.Ī lot of it’s rehearsing, a lot of it’s taking calls from the car, being super, super, super organized, and making sure to write everything down. ![]() There are days where I started my day in Manhattan, I worked my way to Philly, then over to Jersey, and then down to Delaware, where I finish my day. So there’s also that extra element of needing to understand that the soloist is always going to get that extra little benefit of the doubt.Īs an example, my car is four years old. If something goes wrong and the audience doesn’t know the piece backward and forwards, it’s going to fall on me. The better the person you’re working with, the more benefit of the doubt they get, and the less benefit of the doubt you get. ![]() When you do it enough, and you’ve dealt with enough chaos on stage, it becomes a thing you can almost sense before it’s going to happen. We have to be prepared, we have to know the music better than they do so we can make the jump. I also oftentimes describe a Pianist-an Accompanist-as another musician’s secret service detail, meaning that if they make a mistake, or jump the beat, or miscount, we have to take that bullet. If it’s chamber music, it’s to create the best texture and to let the musicians that we’re accompanying play with whatever kind of sound, texture, and dynamic they want, giving them as much leeway, within reason, to do whatever they need. Whenever I’m coaching or teaching a young Pianist about this, the way I describe it is that it is our job to frame the person we’re accompanying. Ray Wong (The Juilliard School, Manhattan School of Music, Harvard University) Rita Sloan (University of Maryland, Director of Collaborative Piano Program).Alex Maynegre-Torra (Staff Accompanist, University of Texas – Austin Butler School of Music) Mark Livshits (Franklin and Marshall College, University of Delaware) Warren Jones (Manhattan School of Music Collaborative Piano Faculty).In this piece, you’ll be hearing from the following experts: In this piece, we use the term “Accompanists” and “Collaborative Keyboardists” interchangeably simply because some readers are more familiar with the older term.) (Note: “Collaborative Keyboardists” is the term preferred by those in the profession. Their work may find them accompanying ballet or theatrical rehearsals, backing performers for auditions, or performing with small chamber groups. Accompanists work with a wide range of people–from church organizations to schools and individual performing artists–so their employment network often contains Choir Directors, Opera Singers, University Music Teachers, Cantors, Church Organists, Copyist, students, and musical theatre Actors. ![]() They work hard behind the scenes and on stage to make the music shine for each and every rehearsal and performance.įreelance Accompanists also end up doing a lot of administrative work in order to find new clients and coordinate with existing clients for rehearsals and performances. Nonetheless, Collaborative Pianists must have superior skills and talent, be familiar with a wide range of repertoire and musical styles, be able to sight-read and learn new music quickly, enjoy making music with other people, and be able to travel.Ĭollaborative Pianists usually work as freelancers, but there are also salaried staff positions available in schools, community choirs, orchestras, and churches. Performing as a Collaborative Pianist is very different from performing as a soloist, since the focus is on playing music together with a group and usually in a supportive role. In ensembles of all sizes, collaborative Pianists can serve in both a support role and as an integral part of the group. Today, Accompanists who play the piano generally prefer to be called a “Collaborative Pianist” or “Collaborative Keyboardist,” since they will often perform as part of a group, for example in an orchestra or a chamber ensemble. In modern contemporary popular styles, including jazz, Accompanists might be musicians playing other instruments like drums and bass in a rhythm section or as a backup band for a Singer. While most Accompanists play the piano, there are also Accompanists who play other instruments, such as guitar or harp. Accompanists play music for and with Singers and instrumentalists in lessons, rehearsals, juries, recitals, concerts, and on recordings.
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