I hate the term accompanist

Tuesday Tunes

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I hate the term accompanist,” continues Burnside. “You can’t deny there are connotations that it’s a secondary entity. But unfortunately I can’t think of a better one. If you insist on being called a pianist then people think that you’re comparing yourself to Sviatoslav Richter. That’s not what it’s about: you’re just asking to be taken seriously in your own right.'”

Who are Roger Vignoles and Anna Tillbrook? I didn’t know either.  They are musical accompanists– unsung heroes.  Read the stories of famous accompanists in this article here.  

Tilbrook says there are times when she has saved singers from embarrassment. “The real art is to have that sixth sense, knowing when they are going to have a memory lapse, when they’re going to come in a bar early or even skip a whole verse. You have to be able to cover all that in your playing, so smoothly that no one notices.”

 

 

 

Tuesday Tunes: more awareness to those people making music!

Tuesday Tunes

Tuesday Tunes

 

Continuing our Tuesday Tunes focusing on dancers and accompanists, here’s another interesting article.

This article talks about the relationship between the accompanist and a dance teacher, including the communication that is needed for the relationship to succeed. Composer and musician Christopher Hobson, who began accompanying music when he was 17 , goes into depth about what it means to accompany dance.

Read More here 

Dancers and Accompanists

Tuesday Tunes

Tuesday Tunes: Dance Teachers and Accompanists

Tuesday Tunes

While some teachers use CDs and iPods, many use live accompanists. As we know, the successful communication between accompanist and teacher is essential to the class. According to accompanist Richard Maddock, it’s the job of the musician to pay close attention while the dance teacher is marking it with their students to find the right tempo. He also says that it is important for him to pay attention to the first 8-16 bars of the exercise, so he can spend the rest of the time to get the perfect melody.

If you would like to read more about the interaction between accompanists and dancers, check out these cool articles:

Ballet accompanist equals ballet dancer in importance.

An interview with a ballet accompanist on Dance Advantage.

Building students musicality.

Also, check out our interview of our own Kirk Suddreath here!