Relevance of Accompaniment Variations
Found in: Accompaniment
Cindy B., Illinois
I’ve been evaluating the relevance and contribution of the accompaniment variations, and a few of the conclusions I’ve drawn are… The AV’s are vital in helping you get very familiar with: the keyboard itself, rhythmic (?) use of upbeats, on sight as well as improvisational ability to play off the beat, compositional and arranging skill tools for making your own play more interesting. I know there are many more valuable ways that the AV’s contribute to a musician’s abilities and would really appreciate your input on what you’ve found.
If I remember correctly, one of the reasons the variations were developed was because the leap between acc level 1 and acc level 2 being rather challenging for a student. But when explaining to a student (adults only so far) what their relevance is, I’d like to develop a more comprehensive perspective about them. To many, the variations feel like “drills” which get rather tedious, and up to now I’ve been insisting on a student getting comfortable with each but not needing to maintain each one as we move forward. Is this correct?
Dorothy H.
I always make sure that each AV is applied to one of their accompaniment songs other than Amazing Grace, Auld Lang Syne etc. For example, in Australia there is a marvellous song called “I Still Call Australia Home” that is the perfect song for applying all the Amazing Grace AV’s.
The AV’s should therefore definitely be maintained and constantly referred to, since the idea is for them to apply these variations to any of their ongoing accompaniment projects.
Sue C.
I have one adult student who is just completing Accomp Variations. She is a very meticulous student and comes in a category of her own. As she enjoys taping herself, I am thinking of asking her to tape herself playing an example of each variation. She has learnt them all mechanically, but as she started with me as a complete beginner, the ease and expression which only comes from lots of playing experience, is of course lacking slightly. I think taping will extend the variations experience and help her to keep working on playing them for a longer period of time. By that time I am hoping they will be part of her musical expression permanently.