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From:  "omtara" <cantare@p...>
Date:  Tue Jun 4, 2002  4:59 am
Subject:  Re: [vocalist] What I Learned From My Audition (long)

Hi John -

> Yes, but isn't it also the job of the soloist to follow the
accompanist?

Nope! It is the accompanist's job is to follow the singer. That's
just one of the ground rules of being an accompanist. If the
accompanist is doing his or her job, they will follow my tempo. (I
explain why this is so toward the end of this post.) A really good
accompanist can even accomodate for mistakes the singer makes, or
memory lapses - I've sung with wonderful musicians like this
supporting me, and it feels so great! I am so grateful and
appreciative to someone who can do that.

> Louis Armstrong was once asked how he could sound so good night
after > night, no matter who was in the rhythm section (piano, bass,
and > drums). He replied that while travelling to the gig he would
imagine > playing with the best rhythm section ever. When he arrived
at the gig > he would continue to play with the imagined rhythm
section if the > actual one didn't measure up.

That sounds like what I'm saying, playing with the imagined
accompanist who knows how to play my song ;)

> When Herbie Hancock was playing piano for a Miles Davis trumpet
solo > he once played a horribly wrong chord. Miles heard what
Herbie had > played and responded by playing a phrase that fit
Herbie's chord, > making it sound as though it had been planned.

That works great for jazz, but in classical, you're not
improvising. You spend hours and weeks and months and years
learning how to sing things exactly correctly as written and/or as
prescribed by tradition or current performance practice.
Improvisation really has no part in classical music at this point in
time.

> Are you sure that you want to do that? What about the idea of the
> soloist and the accompanist as a partnership? What about the idea
of > an ensemble?

In classical music, there must be some point of order to keep all
the parts synchronized as precisely as possible. There must be a
leader to keep the ensemble together, and usually that leader is the
conductor. In an opera, or a symphony orchestra, all members of the
ensemble are led by the conductor. When there are only two people in
an ensemble, and no conductor, there still has to be a leader in
order for the ensemble to take shape. And in the singer-pianist
relationship, it's normally the singer who is the leader, because a
singer has a lot more variables going on with their instrument than
does a pianist, and they need to have the flexibility to change
things if necessary or desirable.

I think the points you bring up are probably very valid for jazz or
other freer forms of music, but classical music just doesn't play by
the same rules as jazz.

Karena





  Replies Name/Email Yahoo! ID Date  
19267 Re: What I Learned From My Audition (long)John Link   Tue  6/4/2002  
19268 Re: What I Learned From My Audition (short)Reg Boyle   Tue  6/4/2002  
19271 Re: What I Learned From My Audition (long)Karen Mercedes   Tue  6/4/2002  

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