Hi Ryan,

 

I have many thoughts about this on several levels.  I am blessed with a wonderful, sensitive accompanist for my chamber choir......but I gave birth to him----he's my youngest son---but will have to look elsewhere when he finishes his performers certificate program.  He's all you could ask for and I can say, quite happily, I had a big say in forming him.  Who ever gets him after me.........you're welcome!

 

That being said, you mention a university----are there piano majors (or teachers) who would be interested?  If you begin with someone who has studied piano on a university level, most likely they will have been expected to accompany as part of their degree program.  That's a start for all of your wish list.  I would also look at your list and decide--before any interview/audition--what is most important to you--is it the ablity to play avant garde or Baroque or Jazz or open score?  What one thing is the least important (hint: you can practice playing open score and sight reading but those stylistic things are harder to grasp if you don't already have it in your repertoire)?  I would also think that pianists who play organ or harpsichord as well would be helpful in your wish list. Not mandatory, but helpful with Baroque and Classical and Romantic rep.

 

I would give the applicant repertoire---well in advance--of their interview/audition.  They would not be expected to sight read during a concert cycle, so why do that in the interview process? Sight reading that kind of thing also puts them in a less likely position to do well.  The piece you would have them sight read should not be awful--be nice--but should be challenging and use same thing for all your interviewees.  You want  good applicants and to see what they can really do.......don't make it an obstacle course or some sort of hazing. 

 

During the interview portion, I would ask them what they think their weaknesses are as well as their strengths. When they play, you can see if they are accurate in their assessments.  Watch out for anyone who tells you they don't have any weaknesses!  One concert cycle is long enough for a probationary period---any longer, and it's tougher with your choir because they get used to accompanists.

 

The music we do is a university level and has ranged from Josquin to Poulenc (I've brought altos to tears with Poulenc!) and everything in between, plus some Hohvaness and others, including Brahms Liebeslieder Op. 52 and some other crazy stuff for the accompanist. With my son and with the other, very good accompanists I've had in my work, I try to make it as easy for them as possible by giving them music well in advance, giving them a well planned out rehearsal plan in advance and cut down on the spur of the minutes things when I can.  As a result, I have well prepared accompanists who always do the best they can for me.....and it shows....and when I have to throw something at them, they are not resentful.  When I realised Ben was going to be a pianist and would probably accompany, I vowed to treat all my accompanists they way I want him treated.  Doing difficult, worthy chamber choir music is the mission of my group, I've never held back and I've never had to. I can give anything to Ben and he can play it but........he can get snippy if he doesn't feel he's as prepared as he would like because he cares about the quality of our group. You want someone who cares, as well.  It will be difficult to replace him.....he begins the certificate program this fall, so I have two years....you've got me thinking....thank you! And hope my thoughts help.

 

Marie Grass Amenta, founder and music director

the Midwest Motet Society

Ryan: I would suggest that when you try out an accompanist, you are looking for several DIFFERENT things, and there's no one-size-fits-all tryout that will answer every question.

 

For straightforward playing technique, I would certainly ask for a prepared piece from the piano repertoire, since even the choice of such a piece will give you valuable information on the level of playing expected. And in your case you might ask for a second piece that's more avant-guarde. And of course if Gospel and jazz (two different things) are important to you, you should ask for prepared demonstrations for those as well.

 

For rehearsal skills, yes, some moderately difficult open score for sightreading could be good, but the best test might be reading the orchestral score reduction for a major choral-orchestral work, which are often enough quite un-pianistic but which are typically required. Good sightreading often requires faking your way through something without falling apart, which is a very valuable skill.

 

A trial period is always a good idea, if it is practical. If someone is moving into your area for the job, however, it should be your responsibility to make a firm decision that the candidates can count on. Conductors are often enough tried out on one concert each during a season. If it's practical, you could consider the same thing for an accompanist.

 

I know that one of MY most important criteria would be not just technique, but musicianship. And perhaps the best way to check that would be to ask a candidate to run a short rehearsal on a prepared piece with your singers.

 

In other words, figure out exactly what you are looking for, to the extent that you could put it into a job description. Then WRITE that job description!!!

 

All the best,

John

 

I would absolutely reiterate what the first responder said, this should not be a test of sight-reading ability!  I would most certainly send the music ahead of time.  That having been said I would also select one piece from the typical repertoire of the group, a piece which is not terribly difficult, and have them sight read it, having indicated in advance that part of the audition will include sight-reading. 

 

Do they need to be able to read open score?  I think this is an important skill in choral accompanying, and not all good pianists can do this well. 

 

Will the position include anything aside from accompanying, such as leading sectional rehearsals?  If so then you will want to directly address that and be sure it is clearly stated as one of the expectations of the position. 

 

When I have auditioned accompanists I have done so within the setting of a typical rehearsal, with my choristers present.  This concept proves to bring with it some challenges, but at the same time you will see exactly what you are getting; not just how well they play, but also how well they are going to respond to your direction, how well they interact within the group, etc. 

 

Julie Ford

  

Thank you to those who replied. One person sent their reply privately to me for anonymity. I have excerpted some of this person's comments for everyone's benefit:

 

--

Colleagues,

 

As a follow-up to my original post, I thought I would outline how we proceeded with our accompanist search.

 

I knew that if I just posted an "accompanisted wanted" ad, I would get a slough of candidates with perhaps decent-looking resumes but without the chops to play the repertoire our chorus performs. Therefore, I chose 3 pieces of our chorus' repertoire for this coming year that had the most difficult accompaniments our pianist would have to play the whole year. Even for a good sight-reader, they were un-sight-readable, requiring someone with significant skills to perform. (One piece was a big romantic accompaniment, one piece was an almost-virtuosic 20th century accompaniment, and one was a Gospel accompaniment that would make it obvious if the candidate "felt it.") I scanned about the first 8 pages of each of these selections and saved them to a PDF, with the intent to e-mail them to candidates for them to prepare for a potential interview.

 

Our search was posted and advertised. After receiving many inqueries (far more than we anticipated, which was wonderful), each candidate was e-mailed a full job description, season description with dates, and the excerpts of all three pieces--along with performance tempos for each. Candidates were requested to review the job description, the season description, and pieces, and were asked to confirm their interest in the position with a confirmation e-mail, plus resume/CV and a reference list. This gave candidates a gracious way to back out; should the music be obviously beyond their capabilities, they could respond and say so...or just say that the schedule was too busy for them.

 

Our candidate list dropped about 40% at that point, which was fine. Good candidates (by resume appearance) still confirmed their interest, committed to preparing the excerpts for their interview, and we then selected those we wished to interview. We scheduled interviews, reminded candidates that they would be asked to perform those 3 pieces, and would also be asked to sight-read, and do some open score reading in the interview. I should also mention that the candidates had about 3 weeks to prepare the excerpts. Fast-forward...10 persons were interviewed. Some were just not able to perform the selections (to say it kindly), some did a decent job, and 1 knocked a home run out of the park. This person turned out to be the obvious "best fit" for our chorus for many reasons, not just technical facility.

 

Certainly, technical facility is not the only deciding factor in a hiring decision like this. But, one thing that was very important to me was that our accompanist have not just the technical facility, but the DESIRE to have the job coupled with the DILIGENCE to get the job. Of the 10 persons we interviewed, 7 didn't have either the time, energy, ability or desire to prepare those difficult excerpts up to the tempo requested of them. Two did a 90% good job, but were a bit flippant, saying things like "I could have done this better if I had spent some more time with it..." This reminds me of the student who has a "take-home open-book exam" who gets answers on the exam wrong. If I give you a take-home, open-book exam, I expect 100% of the questions to be right, not 9 of 10! Of our top three candidates, all who had probably about the same level of talent (and accompaying skills, etc., the whole lot)--only  one wanted the job enough that they obviously poured their TIME into perfecting those excerpts. It was amazing, after hearing a day's-worth of candidates doing okay (some of whom could have done better), to hear someone who sold themselves by saying, figuratively, "This is the kind of person I am--I put 110% of myself into what I do, no excuses." That's the accompanist I want...and that's the accompanist we hired.

 

(I could tell other stories, of a candidate (very talented) who in the interview said, "I don't like this piece at all...if I didn't have to prepare it for an interview, I would have thrown it in the trash!" Yes...thank you for telling me my repertoire choice for the chorus is trash-worthy. Next! Or the candidate who, when asked "What motivates you to be a successful accompanist IN REHEARSAL" (hoping to hear an answer along the lines of, "I love helping the choir improve, so I listen and adjust my playing to help them, etc., etc."), they responded in all seriousness, "Well, I hope you don't do much a cappella music, cause then I'll be bored." I'm not kidding!)

 

The moral of the story...

 

For accompanists: There is no excuse to get a 90% on an open-book exam. If given advance notice on repertoire before an audition, it should be polished, up to tempo, and musical--no excuses.

 

For conductors: Consider this process as perhaps part of your hiring process. It certainly offers you the opportunity to see a candidate in a real-life situation. How seriously will they take this job, their music, their personal performance, and their image at performance time? You might get a glimpse here.