Harmanny Music Education

Throughout my musical career, I’ve have plenty of opportunities to be a regular “solo” performer. Whether that was singing solos, playing my trumpet, playing the piano or most especially, the organ, those opportunities have always been there. But just as often, I’ve had opportunities to be an accompanist for others. Whether that was back in high school goofing around with friends as we went through songs for fun, or even in college or out on my own accompanying soloists, I’ve had the opportunity to spend time accompanying. And the truth is, while there is some overlap in skills, there is a different set of skills needed to accompany.

Who knew Liam was an accompanist!

It is solo season in my area, and over the past few weeks, I’ve had the opportunity to work with string and instrumental soloists. The first thing that I tell them is that they’re in charge, not me. You can probably picture the look of panic on a middle school student’s face right now, can’t you? But it’s true! They’re the ones getting the feedback from the judge, not me. And that’s not a cop-out on my part by any stretch, as you’ll soon see. But that is one of the wonderful, challenging and frustrating parts of collaborating as musicians. Working together. And one person needs to take the lead!

OK, so what makes accompanying different than performing, outside of you’re not in control? Well, you’re not in control! I could tell you horror stories of having to figure out where a performer is in their music. Once, accompanying a vocal soloist, she jumped 2 pages ahead of where I was! Furious flipping through music, while at least trying to keep somewhat of a steady beat. Or, I just spent time this past Friday accompanying middle school band students. One student, playing a Gigue (a fancy French word for….jig) which goes fast…..well, he went even faster. There was smoke coming from my fingers trying to keep up, and lots of notes being dropped on my part to keep up. That got some feedback from the judge, because it was too fast!

I mentioned dropping notes. One of the things that I’ve learned in accompanying is that while it is always important to attempt to play all the notes on the page (as that is what they’re there for!), the ultimate goal is for the soloist to perform competently and be well supported! If that means leaving notes out in a chord or simplifying, then by all means make sure that happens! One of the upcoming pieces that I am accompanying in a few weeks is a cello solo, that, for the first 5 or so pages, is fairly calm, straightforward and adagio. Wonderful! I get to the 6th page, and chaos ensues in the accompaniment. It’s basically 32nd note chords, but as I work on practicing that, I have to keep in mind not my abilities, but how what I play supports and balances the soloist. If I am fumbling with those notes, they may be distracted at my incompetence and that would lead to a less than perfect performance. You better believe that I’m going to practice and try to do my best to play what’s on the page, but I know my limitations! Playing the piano for 43 years will do that for a person! 

My approach in accompanying is always to attempt to bring encouragement and confidence to the soloist. So, lots of smiles, lots of positive talk is important! Especially as I find myself working with middle school students. Tomorrow, I’ll be accompanying 6th grade orchestra students, and for many of them, this is their first time performing. The accompaniments are quite simple for me, and while I know nothing about playing a string instrument, I’m encouraging them on the musical details, being complimentary (when deserved) on tone and musicality, helping them to feel comfortable and confident in their abilities and the work that they have put in. 

And ultimately, there’s sometimes the “well, that was something” performance. I had a student on Friday that I hadn’t rehearsed with. His name wasn’t on the list to rehearse with, but he was scheduled for me to accompany. I asked the director about it, and shock of shocks, a middle school boy didn’t say anything to his director about not rehearsing with his accompanist! So the first time we went through the piece was….you guessed it, at his performance. He played fairly well, and I kept with him for most of it, but it was quite obvious that there was not the time put in, even once or twice, to prepare for it. 

Not every pianist can accompany. It’s a skill that is acquired and honed with time. For me, it’s become something that I absolutely love and I know that with my background and training in teaching, I approach it differently than many other pianists. And I think and hope that gives me a different perspective in my approach. 

If you’re ever in need of accompaniments, check out the Work with Craig Outside of Lessons tab!