How to Accompany Other Musicians on the Piano

You can really understand different facets of ensemble playing by watching the accompanying video.

Playing piano with other musicians can sometimes be a challenge. There is plenty of music written for multiple instruments and the piano is an extremely popular accompanying instrument. There are a couple of challenges that every pianist will face when playing with other musicians: playing at the right level and playing with synchronization. I’m going to cover these topics in this article for you.

The first thing I want to address is cueing. You might hear some musicians perform a countdown and while this works in some musical styles, it is not standard in classical fare. You’ve probably seen a conductor move his or her arms cueing a large orchestra and everyone comes in precisely together! How is this possible? The motion he/she performs is precise – the upstroke will indicate the speed and the downstroke will let you know when to start. If the conductor raises his hands quickly it will indicate a faster tempo. My wife Florence Estrin provides an excellent example of how cueing works in the above video.

The secret to giving a correct cue is to count in your head. You must know the speed you’re going to play before your first note and you must share this visually with your fellow musicians.

There are a number of things you must do when playing piano with other musicians to ensure that everything sounds cohesive. One of the biggest challenges is not playing too loud, particularly with softer instruments like flute or viola. For example, in the video above I play a forte selection with Florence on the flute. If I were to play a true forte as I would as a soloist, I would overwhelm the sound of the flute. A great way to approach this is with an accented approach – have a bigger sound on the first notes and letting the flute line sing out above as the notes sustain.

On the other side, I’ve seen a lot of pianist play too timidly with other instruments – like a true accompanist instead of a collaborator. After all, if the music is written for two instruments they will both be intended to share the spotlight. You must learn to play with them, not against them. You will make the sounds fit with each other and practice together until it sounds like you are truly performing as one.

Another thing to be aware of is timing. Many times people will instinctively follow the soloist and they will find themselves getting lost. You must anticipate the timing of the soloist and play with them, not follow them or you will fall behind.

Hopefully, this provides some useful information for you. When you watch the video you will see examples of cueing as well as balancing with a soloist.

Thanks again for joining me, Robert Estrin Robert@LivingPianos.com (949) 244-3729