THE ACCOMPANIST.
Reading edition
I FIND that only about one in every hundred, who study voice culture, are able to accompany themselves on the piano. Nearly all know the keyboard and can get along after a fashion, therefore it is necessary that the student of voice culture should secure a first-class accompanist.
Your voice teacher here, or abroad, is always in a position to furnish you with one. You must arrange for his services at least twice a week. You can have no idea of the progress this will mean in your work. If you are asked to sing at an entertainment, do not take anyone's word that "there will be a good accompanist on hand," but see to it yourself. If it is not possible for you to have your own accompanist, be sure that you have ample time for rehearsal, and if the accompanist present is not a good one, do not sing.
A poor accompanist has been the cause of the failure of many young singers who are anxious to get before the public.
The young and inexperienced singer cannot be too particular on this point, and I would suggest that amateurs during their first few appearances before the public sing only with an accompanist with whom they have become accustomed to sing. All young singers are more or less nervous; in fact, I know very few old ones who are not, and this is where your own accompanist proves of the greatest value.
One of my pupils who made her debut said, "I had a sensation as of a lump in my throat, and felt that at the end of the pause I must swallow or choke. My accompanist had played for me before and seemed to anticipate my predicament, so gave me a little more time on that 'pause' and I was saved. With a strange accompanist, I would have gone to pieces."
Because a singer is an amateur, their parents and friends seem to think that anyone can play their accompaniments. The truth of the matter is, the less experienced the singer, the better the accompanist must be. Good accompanists are born, not made.
To be sure, practice makes perfect, but I know of many fine pianists who read well, have time, rhythm, technique, execution, and yet who will never make good accompanists. It takes all of these and more.
Nothing makes failure more certain than the blundering of an inexperienced and unskilled accompanist.