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
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