Content area
Abstract
A half-century has gone by since the creation of the first collaborative piano degree program. Today these programs are woven into the fabric of most American music schools and conservatories. Good collaborative programs serve both the collaborative piano majors and the needs of the school. Yet the old attitude that the performance is all about the instrumentalist or singer lingers on in music schools, with adverse consequences. Administrators, faculty, and students often view the collaborative program as a service to the institution, rather than a program with the primary responsibility of educating its collaborative majors. As a result, collaborative majors do not always get the education for which they came to school.
This study explores the essential components of both the collaborative piano curriculum and a school's accompanying service system. It discusses how these two separate programs can productively interact and how to prevent them from being confused.
Interviews and online surveys provide the research data. Six leaders in the collaborative piano field were interviewed, and three online surveys questioned collaborative piano majors, instrumental and vocal majors, and staff pianists regarding the accompanying service system in their schools. One hundred seventeen people participated in the surveys. The institutions are not identified, as surveys were not intended to evaluate schools or their programs.
The interviewees and the survey results show that the primary aim of a collaborative piano program should be educational , not service, and that there is a need to protect collaborative majors from overuse in the servicing area. An effective accompanying service system is so central to the educational mission of a school, that schools need to confront these issues squarely: (1) Adequate funding, (2) fair and clear policies with reasonable working hours, (3) rates for, and supervision of, services, and (4) school-wide distribution of accompanying resources.
The collaborative pianist is indispensable to both the concert world and to the music school. As long as there are vocal and instrumental performers there will be a need for collaborative pianists. But the labeling of soloist and collaborator blurs the nature of the collaboration between two highly skilled and experienced artists.
This research will be helpful to administrators, collaborative piano chairs and faculty, and instrumental/vocal department chairs and faculty.
Keywords: Collaborative Piano, Collaborative Piano Degree, Collaborative Piano Curriculum, Accompanist, Accompanying Program, Accompanying Service, Studio Accompanying, Instrumental Accompanying, Vocal Accompanying.
