At the two schools I attended, I had access to high quality student
accompanists. Why? Both of those schools had accompanying/collaborative
piano programs of an extremely high caliber.
At the University of Michigan, the accompanying department was headed by
the incredible Martin Katz -- all of his students were not only available
but also enthusiastic to work with singers. Even Mr. Katz's so-called
weakest students were wonderful, and they were as eager to work with
accomplished, well-prepared singers as we were to work with them. As for
pay, each voice studio was assigned a certain number of hours of free
accompaniment, and the teacher decided how to allot it. I was very lucky
because my voice teacher took into account financial need as well as
musicianship and matched me up with an amazing pianist, Alan Darling. (Of
course I paid Alan for non-school things such as auditions and
competitions, and I was happy to take him out for lunch or ice cream when
the opportunity came up.)
At The Cleveland Institute of Music, the collaborative piano department was
headed by Anne Epperson -- another wonderful chamber pianist. Because the
school was so small and Ms. Epperson's department was so strong, every
student had an accompanist for every school event, free of charge. (Well,
tuition was pretty high but there was no charge over and above.) We were
expected to fill out an accompanist request form detailing the repertoire,
estimated time commitment, performance dates, etc. and Ms. Epperson
miraculously did the rest. I think she required a certain number of days'
notice as well. She coordinated everything and by and large she was a
pretty good matchmaker. My first year, I had the opportunity to work with
a very gifted pianist who was inexperienced in collaboration; it was a good
experience for me to teach him about working with singers, and he learned
well. The second year, I got to work with several different people because
I was doing many projects. Each one taught me a lot -- and, I like to
think, vice versa -- and I remain friendly with one, David Riley, who is
terrific! I miss working with him but our schedules have so far been
incompatible.
I think it's worth keeping in mind whether there is an accompanying program
when choosing a college. It certainly helped me!
Naomi
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