Re: Practicing with accompanist

On Tue, 2 Dec 2003 07:47:33 -0800, "Karl Perry"
<[EMAIL PROTECTED]> wrote:

>I'm starting to do more solo work with piano.  The woman who has accompanied
>me is very good has limited experience accompanying violin - basically, I'm
>it.

Unless the accompanist is a champ sight reader, I give her (mine all
happen to be female) the part in advance and I usually will give her a
CD-R of the piece. (Fair use?)
>
>>From those of you who have done this a lot, do you have any tips about how
>to get the most out of practice sessions?

We usually try first to go through a full movement as much as
possible, just so the accompanist can learn the piece and see the
pitfalls. I like to think we both know our parts before we play, but
that is not always possible...after all I am playing parts I studied
for years, the accompanist is playing something at sight (for the
better ones) or maybe a week's head start.  We only one exception, I
have found my pianist friends to be blissfully ignorant of the
violin/piano repetory. It's just not something they do in their
studies unless they have been to an accompanyment program at a
conservatory.
>
>One question: how to "teach" the phrasing I use in a piece.  Solos are not
>strict tempo. 

I first go through the piece in fairly strict tempi, of course
following printed ritards and accels.  I don't get into the nitty
gritty of how I want it done until both of use can get through without
stumbling.  Working on matching phrasing and other little details
generally comes later since much of it has to be talked to, or
negotiated between partners.  I pieces in which the piano part is
clearly an accompanyment (say a Sarasate piece), I as the violinist
take the lead.  If the piece is more of a collaborative thing, my
ultimate goal is that both pianist and violinist will have significant
input into the interpretation.  That said, I will always find it
diplomatic to suggest rather than tell the pianist what to do. I do
find that most of them will defer somewhat of my specific knowledge of
the violin repetory.
I might add that I do much the same thing in quartets where I am the
first violinist.  I prefer that orchestral conductors do the same.  I
really hate it when conductors try to dissect a piece (particularly if
I haven't played it before) before the orchestra has some sense of the
whole.  If we can't play the whole thing at first, I still like to
play large chunks of it uninterupted.  There is at least one
conductore with whom I have worked where on some occasions, the first
time we ever played through a whole movement without stopping was at
the performance.

Jon Teske

Since I play the piano with a certain amount of facility (but I would
never perform on piano) I do try to play through the piano part myself
so that I have a better knowledge of what my partner has to do.  I
obviously have to play "air piano" on the more virtuistic passages,
but at least I have some idea of what my partner is trying to do.
 Do you generally play a piece through once in its entirety so
>the pianist can get a feel for the phrasing, or is this useful?
>
>Any ideas are appreciated.
>
>TIA,
>
>Karl Perry
>