ARTICLES ACCOMPANIST’S CORNER

READING

music –how important is it?

Is it really so difficult?

by Monika Laczofy

Why do our young pianists seem so reluctant to move into the area of ensemble music?......

Graduates in piano performance surely would be more than competent to accompany and be greatly appreciated by instrumentalists needing a partner for rehearsals, exams, concerts, auditions etc.

Few can make a living as solo performers – even established professional concert pianists spend time in ensemble work, not only for income, but for the enrichment of musical understanding and experience that comes from meeting and sharing the wider repertoire.

If we search online for the requirements in professional accompanying, we find a very comprehensive list:

Accompanists’ are highly skilled instrumentalists with a deep interest in collaboration and education. The job requires immense adaptability and comfort with the unpredictability of live performance. In addition, they must possess the ability to work together with almost anyone, and to take direction quickly and quietly…………..………………………..

1. Strong technique is expected, also the

2. Ability to take the solo spot where appropriate

3. Broad musical repertoire and knowledge

4. Collaboration (rehearsed and on-the-spot)

5. Great ears for musical nuance (tempo, phrasing, tone, etc.)

6. Coaching / networking / punctuality of reading – many solo performers have achieved stardom by largely aural learning and sheer technical prowess – Pavarotti, for one, couldn’t read music until quite advanced in his career!!! - but in ensemble playing, skilled reading does become a necessity.

All this looks quite daunting, so perhaps it’s not surprising that young pianists are wary and prefer to go into another career path, or into teaching as a safer and perhaps less challenging occupation. Sadly then, many of our very able graduands find their student numbers growing, the hours become tiringly long, they lose the energy to keep up the personal practice needed to continue solo performing, and gradually stop playing ….so we lose many good potential accompanists!

If we dig deeply enough for the real reason, it becomes clear that the biggest apparent stumbling block is the lack of early interest in the most necessary skill i.e. ease in reading music, which leads to faster learning.

Slow readers take longer to learn something new; often I’ve referred the occasional ‘would-be accompanist’ to instrumentalists needing a pianist, but most have refused the ‘job’ as too difficult/too short notice/not enough time to prepare etc.

Many of our younger students learn by rote, copying tutorials on you-tube, memorising by ear and preparing only exam material…..all of which are useful of course but they don’t encourage musical exploration or any initiative in learning to personally interpret a work.

As children we learn to read words, sentences, books in English or any other language, which makes us what we call LITERATE. As music lovers, shouldn’t we do the same to become musically literate? – learning early in our music study to decipher the symbols on a stave and reading music as another language? – so that we can eventually pick up a score and discover how it sounds?

Another quote from online :

“At its very simplest, music is a language just like you’d read aloud from a book….. Learning how to read music really does open up a whole new world to explore! “

Music uses only seven letters of the alphabet for pitch, ten lines/spaces to hold them and mostly only five or six different note lengths to organise the rhythm – it’s hard to believe that for centuries music has been composed with no more than these few tools!

AGSA has confronted this issue for many years. Looking for a solution, we’ve invited quite young pianists to prepare more than exam repertoire, encouraging ensemble playing in two projects, the JEMs (Junior Ensemble Musicians collaborating with their peers) and YAS (the Young Accompanist working with professional soloists). Presenting a public concert each year, participants in both have a lot of fun preparing programs with help of their teachers/tutors. They look forward to continuing the experience and several have gone on to accompany their schools’ musical activities…….a good sign for the future!

Playing duets, an excellent way to stimulate confidence in reading, rhythm and flexibility, used to be a common ‘recreation’ activity in homes and schools. Today, given our ongoing lesson timeconstraints, are we now just too busy, or is the need to gain certificates and scholarships a more pressing priority?

If we as teachers could place greater emphasis on early reading, we’d have more ‘accompanists’ to fill the needs of our instrumentalists and we’d hopefully generate more pianists who are confident enough in their self-teaching, to add to their solo playing the joys and rewards of musical SHARING! Monika.