Looking for piano accompanist for violinist
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I just came across this website which may be useful: http://www.pianoaccompanists.com/
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Pen88n:
Would appreciate if can share piano accompanist info with me too. I'll be looking for one if DS wants to take his exam next yr. Thanks
Hello Pen88, where do you stay? -
Interesting website.
Ran thru the list of accompanists and only see one familiar name, Immaculata Setiadi, 2nd Prize winner of 2009 NVPC.
Impressive playing. -
A good accompanist need not be a good performer. Of course he/she has to be competent but at the same time, he/she needs to be a good listener, able to follow and support the soloist. When accompanying younger kids/inexperienced soloists, need to know how to pick up and “help” when soloist is in a lost.
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peanut_butter:
I just came across this website which may be useful: http://www.pianoaccompanists.com/
Peanut Butter,
Thank you. The website is really useful. Will know where to look in future when need arises. Really appreciate your help. -
No worries.
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Pen88n:
Wah so many. How to know which is good? Better to have recommendations in the end, I'd think?peanut_butter:
I just came across this website which may be useful: http://www.pianoaccompanists.com/
Peanut Butter,
Thank you. The website is really useful. Will know where to look in future when need arises. Really appreciate your help. -
Instrumental teachers will normally have their own preferred one/ones.
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Depending on needs, check for qualification - eg. may want a pianist who can guide aurel if kid playing violin not exposed to aurel / do not need pianist to guide aurel as kid has exposure with piano aurel. Maybe arrange for a trial lesson to test and decide - chemistry? able to contribute and guide song coordination? etc.
The teacher will have preference, but a lot really depend on the chemistry and coordination between the 2 players. I feel very strongly that for accompanist for kids, it is very important that the accompanist is caring and has kid’s interest at heart and want to help bring out the best in the kid. I just had a bad experience with a selfish one and felt held at her mercy till the very last minute. -
Any one knows the nafa piano accopanist ? Do you think he/she will like to accompany non-nafa ?
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jce:
A good accompanist need not be a good performer. Of course he/she has to be competent but at the same time, he/she needs to be a good listener, able to follow and support the soloist. When accompanying younger kids/inexperienced soloists, need to know how to pick up and \"help\" when soloist is in a lost.
Pen88n:
I feel very strongly that for accompanist for kids, it is very important that the accompanist is caring and has kid's interest at heart and want to help bring out the best in the kid. I just had a bad experience with a selfish one and felt held at her mercy till the very last minute.
Not easy to find a good accompanist. Not being able to get any references, as a last resort I engaged a piano teacher through a music school as accompanist. Music school claimed that that particular teacher has experience in piano accompaniment. I found out otherwise from the teacher after a number of lessons - it was her first time! Too last minute to do anything except keeping my fingers crossed.
Can't even count on her to \"help\". That piano teacher was obviously panicky before entering the exam room, looking all stressed up & nervously flipping and reading the piano scores. Worst, teacher made a boo-boo & played wrong notes during exam itself :shock: -
Sleepy, I thought normally violin teachers will have a list of accompanists for reference. I am quite surprised you actually had to find one yourself.
If you realise the accompanist is poor, can still quickly locate one fast before the exam. Experienced ones just need a few days notice unless we are talking about difficult stuff like franck violin sonata. -
Dreamaurora:
Sleepy, I thought normally violin teachers will have a list of accompanists for reference. I am quite surprised you actually had to find one yourself.
If you realise the accompanist is poor, can still quickly locate one fast before the exam. Experienced ones just need a few days notice unless we are talking about difficult stuff like franck violin sonata.
dd's string teacher doesn't have any reference for accompanists because teacher is not a local. Didn't forsee this problem upfront when engaging teacher
We've been trying to look for an accompanist on our own for months to no avail. So as a last resort, I have to turn to music schools & sign up one of their accompaniment packages once I know the exact date of exam & accept whichever teacher music school assigned whose schedule is open on exam day. Changing accompanist will be another lucky spin as it means walking in to another music school & start all over again. There wasn't sufficient time as we are required to follow music school's inflexible schedule.
However, I didn't expect a piano teacher who is teaching in a music school can't even play without mistakes, whether with or without prior experience in accompaniment :faint: -
Hearsay examiner will sieve out bad accompaniment so examinee will not be unduly penalised. Afterall, the examinee is the one being graded, not the accompanist. Not sure how true though.
But as mentioned by other parents earlier, an accompanist is supposed to “help” & not become a burden instead -
sleepy:
I've spoken to an examiner before about this and yes, examiners are aware that many accompanists are not professionals and they try their best to evaluate the soloists' performance regardless of the accompanists' capabilities. However, unfortunately what the examiners see are only the end results and an accompanist might actually affect the performance of the soloist quite significantly.Hearsay examiner will sieve out bad accompaniment so examinee will not be unduly penalised. Afterall, the examinee is the one being graded, not the accompanist. Not sure how true though.
But as mentioned by other parents earlier, an accompanist is supposed to \"help\" & not become a burden instead
A less than capable accompanist may actually prevent the soloist from realising his/her full capability as a musician. For example, an accompanist who cannot 'take breath' or 'follow' will in turn cause the soloist to not be able to do this as it will cause the piece to sound out of sync. The other common complaint is that some accompanists are incapable of playing the accompaniment up to speed; but in exam there is no way to convey to examiners that you play under tempo because of the accompanist. Some accompanists may also play their accompaniments as if they are playing their solo pieces and drown out the soloists' playing; someone I know actually found out this the hard way after auditioning for an orchestra (the music director told her the accompanist was too loud and he could not hear her playing clearly).
I do agree with Jce that you do not need to be a very good solo performer to accompany well, but you do need to be competent technically and confident. I accompanied strings and did chamber works quite extensively in NAFA and I can say the skill sets required in chamber works is quite different than solo playing. Being able to communicate, listen and adapt to other people definitely ranks higher. That is why some very good solo pianists are lousy chamber musicians. And vice versa. And good accompanists can do more than just 'help', they can actually even help to improve the intepretations of the piece by giving some suggestions.
Speaking of music schools, it is quite a common misconception that music school teachers are all capable pianists as most music schools employ teachers who just start their career (hard to go full private at start without any reputation or good portfolio). In fact, not even all private teachers are. A common issue that plague many teachers are that once they get the certifications they want, they stop practicing and just teach. Practicing is hard work and yes, I do sometimes drag myself to practice, often past midnight because I could not put in enough time during the day. For many teachers, there is no simply no motivation whatsoever to practice since you cannot make a living concertizing here and there is no more cert to aim for. This is why even if you get a degree holder teacher, there is no guarantee he/she is still able to play like his/her prime. This does not mean someone who do not practice cannot teach well though. Best example of this is Prof Yu Chun Yee. He does not practice piano anymore but yet his teaching is still stellar enough that he can produce very capable pianists who win national competitions. -
Thankfully DD1's teacher is also her accompanist. :please:
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wow!! wats the qualifications to b accompanist actually? i am taking dip in piano performance tis year…
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Sleepy… mebbe in future can consider asking accompanist to come over your place for a few paid trial runs prior to exams? This; if you hv ur own piano at home… or else can book studio for the sessions as well.
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luckystar:
Any one knows the nafa piano accopanist ? Do you think he/she will like to accompany non-nafa ?
NAFA does not have a full time accompanist, unlike Yong Siew Toh. Student accompanists are assigned to each individual instrumentalits, but the accompanists are not obligated to accompany them because it is not compulsory for pianists to accompany and there is no mark involved.
NAFA only source out external accompanists when instrumentalists could not find accompaniments last minute (happened more often than necessary). And then the BA students were given a choice also to do section accompaniment or sing in the choir choir (at least during my time, I don't know about now). Most chose choir though because learning accompaniments are tedious work and our solo repertoire are so heavy already. For my case I chose to do string accompaniment in my final year although I was fully aware of how 'peculiar' Volker Hartung was :evil: . In hindsight, maybe it was not such a good idea since I needed more time for my solo repertoire and paper, but hey, I had a great time of my life and I got to learn quite a lot string repertoire. And Hartung is a really good musician, learnt quite a lot from him. -
maykenth:
wow!! wats the qualifications to b accompanist actually? i am taking dip in piano performance tis year..
There is no qualification needed, you just need to start accompanying (start with the lower grades one first) and the instrumental teacher will give you pointers on how to do it. Then the more you do, the easier it becomes. If you do want to be certified, I believe Trinity offers grade 1-8 piano accompaniment.