Play with a terrible accompanist

[Pippap1]

Dear all
Thank you to read this tread.

My DD is 9 and going to play three pieces at a concert soon. She just had a rehearsal with her accompanist and it was terrible.

The standard of her pieces are all grade 8 and we gave him the music three weeks before before, so he had a plenty of time to practice.

It was clearly the pieces were far beyond his ability. He showed how he played the piano to DD and asked her to play in the half speed! The pieces have very good contrast of Allegro, Vivace and Largo etc but his piano kills everything. He asked DD to change Allegro and Vivace to Andante speed. She was invited to play at the concert and the organiser arranged the accompanist who plays piano as his hobby and no skill to accompany. Even he played too loud and tight and the piano killed everything. He also made lots of mistakes and dropped many times. They had two hours rehearsal to force DD to adjust the tempo so that they can play together. DD was asked another two rehearsal in this week. It is a nightmare.

At the end of the rehearsal, DD smiled him and said good bye but she cried in the car. She was upset and frustrated. She says she practiced hard and she can play well but she is now required to play badly and piano interupt all beautiful aspects with loud rough sound. But she says she will play with him at the concert because there is no time to find the solution.

DD has played with many accompanist and some of them were not really good but it was the worst. I am considering what I can do for her now. Is it better to compromise this time to play with him? If so, how I can cheer her up? If you were me, what will you do?

Sorry for many typo.

I think I would find another pianist, or not play the concert. Does your daughter's teacher have any suggestions?

It is pretty should-destroying just to have to play with someone who is insensitive, (even if they are competent which this person clearly isn't).

Find another pianist.
It's not the pianist's fault that the pieces are beyond him; accompaniments for grade 8 pieces can be fiendish, and it doesn't matter how many weeks he's had the music if it is beyond his capabilities. Perhaps he wasn't expecting a 9 year old to be playing such difficult pieces when he agreed to play for her? - grade 8 at her age is pretty unusual. He'll probably be relieved not to have to play for her!

Yes I agree with Floot that he won't be able to learn how to play the piano in 3 weeks. The only thing is that he should have immediately known he couldn't play this music and not agreed to do it.

This sounds like a very low-key concert if the pianist playing with people is so amateurish, and the organiser is so unaware. You could ask your daughter's teacher if there is anything she could play on short notice without piano. Perhaps she could play a couple of movements of solo Bach (if she has any Bach in her fingers at the moment), or perhaps a duo with another string player, if you don't have another pianist available.

Thank you very much for your comments.

I agree with Floot and Clara. It is mainly the organiser's fault or miscommunication between them. DD had played other grade 8 level pieces at other concerts and competitions, which the same organiser hosted, so they must know about DD's standard. I just wished the accompanist could tell the organiser or me that he won't be able to do it when he received the pieces.

DD will play exactly the same pieces at another audition in a couple of weeks, so I am scared that practicing in wrong tempo affects her future performance.

DD was so pity this morning. She came to my room at 5am and claimed she could not sleep.

Clara, unfortunately, the concert is on this Sunday and she has not learned unaccompanied pieces recently, so she does not have enough time to start new unaccompanied pieces.

Maybe all I can do is to claim this to the organiser and try to find another professional pianist, otherwise not to let her play at the concert...? I just emailed to her violin teacher. I will wait for her reply.

We went to a school concert recently, where the head of music had to apologise in advance for his poor accompanying because one of the students played a diploma standard piece, but the head had only been given the part an hour before and it was particularly challenging.
In my opinion, that student should have considered whether his choice of music was appropriate for the circumstances; an easier piece, played really well as a partnership between soloist and pianist would have made more impact.

If the pianist can't teach your DD's standards, maybe she could step down to his with easier pieces?

No of course she shouldn't play new pieces... I just thought that if this was a low key sort of concert, a few simple duets with another string player might be a possibility, as a way to join in without too much stress. I definitely wouldn't have her play with such an incompetent pianist though.

DC has played with a handful awful accompanists but for fairly low key concerts so we were OK with it. The focus was to enjoy and gain the experience of performing for the audience. However, we would be more selective for something more important/serious. We once used one who was an experienced pianist/accompanist yet insensitive and loud, and had negative influence on DC's playing. We asked her as we knew her personally and knew she was experienced. It was for exam so we wanted to make sure of having a good accompanist. After working together with someone we know, it may be natural to ask her again for the forthcoming audition but we won't. We would rather go without accompanist if we must use her for something important.

Huge sympathies here; dd has a terrible rehearsal with a new accompanist last year and decided to play unaccompanied in the end. Is that an option? Far better to go that then be forced into strange tempos etc etc? Whilst not ideal many pieces can survive as unaccompanied pieces if needs must

Thank you very much for all your comments!!! I asked DD's teacher and she disagrees to have another rehearsal with the accompanist and suggested to ask the organiser to find someone else if possible. I emailed to the organiser but he said he cannot find any replacement. DD still wants to play but not with him. Thus, I decided to let her play unaccompanied if the organiser allows it. Otherwise, she will not attend the concert.

clara, this concert is hosted by our local county and all performers were selected from the prize winners in under 18 section of the past local competitions. The required standard of the competitions were grade 7.

Floot, wow I feel huge sympathy with the accompanist who was given the diploma piece just one hour prior to the concert. It is just a nightmere! I checked the concert program and found many children perform grade 8 pieces. So, I believe the selection of the piece should be right.

Inakosokide and stringchild, I totally agree with you. If it is a low key, it is ok. But now she even represents her school, so it is not acceptable for us. We finally decided to play unaccompanied. It is a bit disappointing because DD might be only one who will play unaccompanied at the concert but it is much better than playing with unexperienced accompanist.

I think that at this level, you really can't think of the piano part as "accompaniment". Most of the music is probably sonatas, in which the piano part is just as important as the violin, and even the show pieces or concerti don't make sense if you are not thinking of the harmony and the other voices.

Obviously, in this situation you should do whatever will make your daughter feel ok, and help her to gain some performance experience, but really it would be great to find a good pianist who would work with her. Are you anywhere near a conservatoire? They would be able to help you find a pianist, if you get through to the right person.

Finding accompanists is so difficult . I know that ds has to think now about what he will play for different things as it’s not fair to turn up with something with a crazy fast piano part if there’s not going to be time for the pianist to practise properly ( and for them to put it together ) sounds like bad organisation on the organisers part as I reckon lots of the pieces are going to be really tricky to accompany . Though not ideal it sounds like you’ve come up with a good solution . Good luck to your dd !!

clara, thank you for your comment. DD will be the only performer who will play unaccompanied at the concert. Unfortunately, the nearest conservatoire is an hour away. So, now we are stick to play unaccompanied. DD is now feeling better after she decided to play alone but DD is very sensitive. I just hope she will not feel isolated or embarrassed when she saw all others performing with accompanist.

Trumpetboysmum, yes, I totally agree with you. Finding an accompanist is difficult. Some concerts and competitions provide official accompanists but their standard is varied. Some are good and others are not really. I always hope DD can play well regardless who accompany with, but being asked to halve the speed was unacceptable. Anyway, thank you very much. Good luck to your son's future, too :)