Keeping Accompaniment Pieces Alive
Found in: Accompaniment, Practicing & Playlists
Stephen R., California
Do any other teachers have any ideas on how to keep accompaniment pieces alive and fresh on a student’s playlist? They seem to be given the least attention at home, because there’s no “tune”! I give students several suggestions:
- singing along if able and willing,
- have family (friends) sing along, playing along to cd,
- teaching someone the melody on piano as a duet
Sometimes I wonder if these options are being pursued at home, but I don’t want to feel like I’m nagging them, either.
Mary R., Michigan
I’ve come to think the best motivator is to bring in some outside song they are bound to know/like (the three note wonder “You Don’t Know You’re Beautiful” is my current favorite) and get everybody playing and/or singing it and then look them square in the eye and say “See how much FUN we’re going to have playing YOUR favorite songs as soon as you learn all the chords by playing NEIL’S favorite songs?!?!”
For older kids who have finished accompaniment, Robin’s technique is also great—she grabs their iPod and then finds a song or artist they clearly like and makes that the class project.
Nicole O., California
It’s my understanding that once an accompaniment piece is learned, it can be removed from the playlist or rather, replaced with a new project. I think it’s important that students get lots of experience with a variety of chords. Once a student has learned a piece (usually a piece that is not in the book), I suggest it as a possible recital piece, and only in that situation do they keep it on their playlist until after the performance.
I think about accompaniment in terms of keeping the chords alive. Occasionally, I’ll put a brand new piece in front of a student and have them sight read it without any attention on singing (the Songs for Children book is great for this). I love navigation games for this as well!
As for singing… I’ve got lots of students who struggle with the singing. Listening to the audio recordings and playing along with that is very helpful. It may take a couple weeks to get the song down (for example Danny Boy), but as a class we sing it during the lesson and over time it becomes a very normal part of Accompaniment – to the point that I need to ask that they DON’T sing a brand new song until the chords are comfortable in the hands.