How to accompany a soloist

When I was an undergraduate, piano majors were funneled into two separate paths: soloists and accompanists. It was understood—albeit never stated—that the better pianists were groomed to be soloists and the less accomplished players settled for accompanying. Thankfully, due to the efforts of brilliant collaborative pianists everywhere, this sort of narrow thinking no longer plagues accompanists. Today, many of the world’s best solo pianists also enjoy collaborating with other musicians, and world-class instrumentalists and vocalists respect their collaborative pianists as gifted co-creators, not backup musicians.

Collaborative piano—aka accompanying—is difficult. Sometimes, when working with a nervous or unprepared musician, accompanists are called upon to keep the ensemble together by rescuing the soloist from a mess of their own making while simultaneously playing their own notes cleanly. Collaborative piano is also intensely rewarding. Freed from the loneliness and pressure of being on stage alone, the pianist shares not just the limelight, but also the joy of creating shared moments of musical beauty and companionship.

Traditional piano lessons rarely prepares one to be a collaborative pianist and when pianists first begin accompanying they learn that the job requires different skills than playing a solo piece. Solo pianists focus on the music and the instrument. Accompanists focus on the music, the instrument, and the needs of the other musician. If you are eager to accompany another musician but are unsure of how to start, here are some tips that may help you feel more comfortable and confident.

Know your own notes

Prepare to accompany another musician the same way you would practice for a solo performance. When you know your music really well, you’ll find it easier to stop thinking about your own playing and focus more on co-creating a joint performance with the other performer.

Make space for breathing

One of the biggest crimes a pianist commits when accompanying is failing to give the other musician time to breathe at the ends of phrases. Relax. Listen to the soloist. Put aside the internal metronome and take time where needed.

Let the soloist choose the tempo

Playing too quickly or too slowly can make or break a soloist’s performance. This is why, when it comes to tempo, the soloist is always right (even if they’re wrong). There’s little more frustrating for a soloist than having to chase or drag a pianist through the music.

Don’t play the melody

Unless the soloist is struggling to find notes, stay off the melody line. This not only avoids staggered note landings, but also gives the soloist room to be flexible with their line.

Listen and follow

The soloist’s job is to shine.The collaborative pianist’s job is to provide the musical support to help the soloist shine. If the soloist changes tempo, so does the pianist. If the soloist gets louder or softer, the pianist does as well. Ditto for tempo changes. Learn to intuit what the soloist is going to do and support them as they do it.

Play softer than the soloist

No matter what’s marked in the score, the pianist’s job is to remain one dynamic level softer than the soloist so that they never have strain to be heard over the piano. Pay special attention to any notes that fall within the vocal or instrumental range of the soloist; this is where we need to play even softer.

Match tone

Each instrument or voice has a unique tone. Listen to the timbre of your soloist and try to imitate their sound on the piano. Experiment with touch and the una corda pedal. Use your ear and imagination to get as close to the sound of the soloist as possible.

Know when to lead and when to drop back

A truism to remember: the player who has the moving line is responsible for keeping the musical momentum going. When the soloist is active, let the soloist lead. When they are holding notes or not playing or singing at all, the pianist must move the music forward. In this way the music never becomes static.

Develop a “hive mind”

I’ve written about this in my post Plays Well With Others but it bears repeating. When collaborating with another player it can be helpful to imagine that the performers share a joint consciousness. In this place both players learn to trust the intuition of the hive mind and to create performances that are greater than the sum of their parts.

Photo by Wan San Yip, courtesy of UpSplash