I would just add one item from MY experience: The last three times I've had a "crap accompanist," he/she turned out to be the music director! (Regular accompanist got sick/got stuck in traffic or on Muni/had to play a funeral/whatever.) Inasmuch as I can't afford to hire an accompanist for every audition, I just try to keep my cool and be perfectly professional. And thank the accompanist when you're finished, ESPECIALLY if he/she is good!
Elizabeth Finkler San Jose, California mightymezzo@h... http://home.earthlink.net/~mightymezzo "This would be a better world for children if the parents had to eat the spinach." --Groucho Marx
>From: Karen Mercedes >>A BAD ACCOMPANIST ALWAYS MAKES THE SINGER SOUND/LOOK BAD. Unfortunately, >there always appear to be those people who sing the right aria, or who sing >their aria in exactly the way the accompanist is used to playing it, who >make the accompanist look better than he/she is. So that by comparison, >those of us who bring in arias the accompanist has never played before, or >who sing their arias faster - or more rubato - than the accompanist is used >to, get crappy accompaniment. And I hate to say it, but I have come to >believe strongly in the unjust fact that no matter if the accompanist is >100% at fault for making your audition aria "jump the tracks", YOU will be >blamed in the mind of most auditors - even if they know LOGICALLY that the >fault wasn't yours, the GUT impression they >>Auditions are high-pressure enough. Singers don't need the added pressure >of a crap accompanist! > >Karen Mercedes http://www.radix.net/~dalila/index.html
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