A Summer Mini-break

I had originally planned on launching the Collaborative Piano Forums series today, but coming in the middle of a busy (but extremely satisfying) week examining in Hamilton for RCME, I find that I have very little creative energy left at the end of the day. Then next week Wendy and I are going to the Dominican for a two-week holiday in early July, so I have an excellent excuse to take a well-deserved blog holiday.

When I get back, I'll be working on creating a fully linked Degree Programs list, cleaning up the ongoing disaster that is my blog's label system for a planned drop-down menu at the top of the sidebar (the final part of Helen Hou's CPB redesign), as well as launching and moderating the Collaborative Piano Forums over the rest of the summer. In the meantime, if you have any queries you would like me to ask the community in order to glean input on certain issues, you can leave them on the previous call for questions and I can add them to the forum when it launches here in mid-July.

Poll Results: Should Accompanists Charge Clients For Practice Time?

A big thanks to everyone that both voted and commented on the previous posting on the question of whether or not accompanists should charge clients for practice time.

The Results of the Vote

Yes: 28 (52%)
No: 26 (48%)

My Thoughts on the Subject

I'm all in favor of pianists being reimbursed for their time, effort, and collaboration with others. In the freelance market, pianists often have to pick and choose what type of work they would like to do based on experience, preference, timing, and personality of potential clients. However, I don't think charging for practice time is a good idea. Here's why:

• There are works that require a lot of preparation before rehearsals, and there are those that don't. Charging for practice time makes difficult projects more lucrative, often to the detriment of soloists who are preparing standard but equally important important (ie. Mozart violin concertos).
• How are a pianist's potential clients to know truthfully if the pianist is actually practicing in the time that they have charged for? Under this system, an experienced violin specialist may hypothetically charge for several hours of practice in order to relearn the Franck Sonata when in fact they could probably pick it up and play it without any practicing at all.
• This ironically makes inexperienced pianists more expensive to hire than experienced ones. I like to think that I can perform most difficult violin sonatas with minimal preparation in the event of an emergency (this might be wishful thinking on my part). This would differ from a pianist who has to learn the work from scratch, thus being able to charge more.
  
• I feel kinda iffy about telling my clients how much I practice for their engagements. On the one hand, there are pieces that I can sight-read, but there are also pieces that require an incredible investment of time on my part in order to play at a competent level. Either way, my practice time is my business and mine alone.
• Most of all, this type of practice tends to label accompanists/collaborative pianists as a kind of skilled tradesperson working for a service industry. Correct me if I'm wrong, but I think that billing for practice time may give that perception to what we do. I want nothing more for the profession of the pianist in ensemble to be comprised of people who care about great playing, great music, the art of collaboration, and optimal professional conduct.
  

Readers' Thoughts on the Subject

Opinions were mixed in the comments of the previous post. Some hybrid approaches to billing practice were suggested by some. Helen Hou sez:

In the end, I have general figures that I work from depending on the amount/difficulty/newness of repertoire that includes a specific number of rehearsals/lessons depending on the purpose. I also charge more when it is a last minute request. For example, your average 10 minute jury would include 1-2 rehearsals and be one fee, provided you ask enough ahead of time. A jury involving a complete work that is new for me would be more. A jury being asked about less than a week before would also be more.

KB brings up the issue of transparency in her support of the idea:

Yes they should :)At least those who are trying to do it for living.
More interesting to me is how that should be presented to the "client". Should it be some kind of hidden charge or "fair"?

Liz sez:

In general though, I'd say no. All musicians have to practise, that's part of the deal. However, if it's some crazy-ass plink-plonk new music thing that's totally complicated that involves a click-track thingie in your ear and complex rhythms....and involves extra rehearsal time with the soloist...then yes.

But in general, no. Practise is part of the collaborative pianist's deal, and I'm sure some of the practise time involved is part of the fee overall.

Gerrit brings up the issue of hiring vs. partnership and how pianists should wish to be perceived in this respect:

As a singer my inclination would be that, if you're involved in the artistic process, want recognition for the work as an artistic partner, or are interested in billing of any sort, then I don't know if charging for this kind of practice time is appropriate.

I would also like to mention the limitations of my question, which mentioned the word "accompanist" rather than "pianist" or "collaborative pianist". I wished to have a question as direct as possible (my choice did prove to be provocative, as the comments show!), although the question seemed a little service-industry-oriented the way I worded it.

The Last Word

I would hope this poll and the ensuing discussion give a wide spectrum of choices of how a freelance collaborative pianist/accompanist can bill for one's time with a view towards fairness and transparency, at the same time making sure that they are fairly compensated for their work in a project. Look for more questions of best billing practices in the upcoming Collaborative Piano Forums 08.

Collaborative Piano Forums Start July 21: Leave a Comment With Questions for the Forum

Starting on June 23rd July 21 I'll be starting Collaborative Piano Forums 08, a new series here on the Collaborative Piano Blog about aspects of the art and business of collaborative piano. Here's the catch: the series will be an ongoing discussion-each posting will consist of questions and issues which are open to the community to discuss at length in the post's comment section. Some of the subjects will deal with matters of repertoire, career paths, goals, freelancing and highlights/lowlights of the CP/Accompanying life.

The big question for everyone is:

What questions do you have for the Collaborative Piano Blog community about life in the collaborative arts?

Leave a comment below if you have a question for the forum. I will be collecting all the queries at the end of the week in mid-July, which will then appear over the course of the next few weeks after that. Let the discussion begin!

The Lang Lang Adidas Shoe

As first mentioned by Opera Chic and Jessica Duchen, Adidas has just come out with a trademark Lang Lang shoe. From the press release:

The successful adidas Originals iconic model Gazelle was first released in 1968 as an athletic training shoe. The highly elegant black and golden Lang Lang special edition includes the Lang Lang name in Chinese at the heels as well as a silhouette of the pianist in typical concert pose. Moreover the inside of the sneaker links to Lang Lang’s music in having golden piano pedals printed on the sock liners.

Typical concert pose? (see left) I wasn't aware that piano playing was about striking poses, but will take it under consideration. I like the golden pedal idea--I'll need to talk to my technician about having them installed.

Some questions I have regarding the newfound practice of pianist-branded footwear:

• Are they optimized for flutter pedalling?
• Will they become popular among pianists?
• Will they be seen on stage by aspiring pianists?
• Do they come in size 15? I have large feet!
  

And above all, will other pianists follow Lang Lang's lead? It's not hard to imagine a world with other types of these shoes (ie. an Andreas Schiff Cole-Haan oxford, or the Nike Air Brendel.)

Wearing this ill footwear, Lang Lang should perhaps consider writing a piano transcription of the king of footwear songs, Run DMZ's My Adidas...

Quote of the Day

To search for a pianist, it is very difficult; sometimes you find one.

-Victoria de los Angeles

Free Ebook on How To Connect With New Media

Many of you may remember Drew McManus' memorable How To Connect With New Media series on Adaptistration, which looked at how individuals and organizations in the arts can successfully navigate and connect with the minefield fascinating, yet challenging world of new media.

For the recent National Performing Arts Convention in Denver, Colorado, Drew has kindly reformatted this entire series into a free ebook. For anyone that hasn't read the series already, here are some of the topics covered:

• What constitutes new media sources and how to identify them
• Participating in blogs, forums, and wikis
• Creating genuine relationships
• Writing press releases and marketing materials for bloggers
• Do's and Dont's of how to contact bloggers

The document is in .pdf format, so you can open and read it with a variety of programs, as well as save it to your computer.

How To Connect with New Media by Drew McManus

Should Accompanists Charge Clients for Practice Time?

This post is in response to a reader's question (Thanks, Toto!) regarding the issue of whether pianists should charge for time spent practicing the music in order to prepare for rehearsals and recitals.

Imagine yourself in this situation (many of you won't have to imagine it)...

You get a call from a soloist that is doing a recital in the next few weeks. You are available and the soloist is someone you would like to work with. The soloist asks for your fee for the engagement. The problem is that you don't know the repertoire and you'll need to spend an inordinate amount of time in the practice room learning the rep before the first rehearsal. Would you charge for practice time or not?

The above scenario is only one instance of where it might be possible to charge clients for time spent practicing. Then again, there are some pianists who charge for practice time as a matter of general policy. Take the poll on the sidebar just below the ad unit to register your vote on this question:

Should Accompanists Charge Clients For Practice Time?

Feel free to leave comments below as well.

Update:

A few quick clarifications: I'm referring to "practice time" as time spent learning the score away from "rehearsal time", which pianists do traditionally charge for. I used the term "accompanists" and not "accompanists and/or collaborative pianists" in order to have a more direct question without excessive verbiage.

And thanks for the comments so far--I didn't realize there was so much at stake with this issue.

169,647

That's the number of musicians in the United States, according to 2005 census data. You can read more about this groundbreaking study in an article in today's New York Times.

(Via Richard Florida)

Free Naxos Music Library Subscriptions Available Via the TSO Email Club

A big hand of thanks to Gerrit Theule for a comment on my previous posting about the Naxos Music Library with information about a huge promotion from the Toronto Symphony Orchestra:

If you join the Toronto Symphony Orchestra's Email Club to subscribe to information on upcoming concerts, you can get free access on the TSO's Naxos Music Library account, Beethoven on Demand. Beethoven on Demand looks almost the same as my account through the ME 100 Bloggers program (there are still 39 music-education-blogger-only spots left on this list). The only big difference I noticed is that the Playlist function is already populated with recordings that integrate with works programmed on the TSO season.

If you haven't experienced the depth of what Naxos has to offer through this service, it's definitely worth a look. You can subscribe here to the TSO email list and get both regular TSO updates and gain entry to the Beethoven on Demand/Naxos Music Library. Enjoy!

Sanctuary Song Reviews

Over the last few days, several reviews of the Tapestry New Opera Works/Theatre Direct/Luminato co-production of Sanctuary Song have appeared, mostly favorable. Here are links to the ones I've found so far:

Paula Citron in the Globe and Mail
Jon Terauds in the Toronto Star
Jon Kaplan in NOW Magazine
Beautiful Feet Toronto


Sanctuary Song runs until June 14 at the Berkeley Street Theatre. Click here for ticket information.

Teaching with the Naxos Music Library

For the last few weeks I've had full access to the Naxos Music Library given to all the authors on the 100 Music Education Bloggers project (Thanks, Joseph!). I've been scouring the depths of the Naxos catalogue listening to a wide variety of the incredibly diverse recordings. However, I hadn't yet figured out how to integrate the library into my teaching.

Until Friday evening in my home studio.

One of my piano students preparing for his Grade 9 exam later this summer is learning the Bach Sinfonia No. 11 in G minor BWV 797. He needed to develop a greater sense of baroque style into his playing. Normally I would assign students to listen to a few recordings to learn different approaches to the style.

Then I realized that with access to the Naxos library I could find and play multiple recordings during the lesson within minutes. Out came the laptop (I have a home wifi connection) and did a search for Bach Sinfonias. The results: there are no less than 8 recordings of the sinfonias available on the library. I then selected these recordings of the work and played them through the laptop's speakers:

• Evgeny Korolov on the Haenssler label
• a live recording of Glenn Gould on CBC Records
• Andre Laberge playing harpsichord on Analekta
• Elizabeth Joye playing harpsichord on Alpha
  
• Wolfgang Rubsam on Naxos

What we noticed in the lesson is that each of these keyboardists had their own style, often radically different than the others--Korolov with a straight-ahead performance but not without a great deal of transparency and simplicity, Gould with a much faster tempo and lilting feeling of 1 to a bar, Laberge with a rhythmically concise reading on harpsichord, Joye with a more rhythmically free reading on harpsichord, and Rubsam with extensive ornamentation. While our favorites were Korolov and Gould, it was certainly an eye-opener to hear this level of diversity of interpretation.

What I can't emphasize enough is that in the days before internet services like this, you would have had to either buy the recordings or take them out from a music library in order to hear the interpretations. I was able access the online library and find the recordings via the search function within a couple of minutes. Now it's back to the library to discover even more ways to use it in the studio.

Sanctuary Song Premieres This Weekend at Luminato in Toronto

An opera about an elephant?

That's precisely what Tapestry New Opera Works and Theatre Direct are producing this weekend in partnership with Luminato. Sanctuary Song, created by composer Abigail Richardson and librettist Marjorie Chan (and featured in a workshop I played in nearly a year ago), opens this weekend at the Berkeley Street Theatre, which chronicles the life of a remarkable elephant and her friendship with a dedicated zookeeper:

A remarkable 22‐year friendship between man and creature
culminates in a promise of freedom fulfilled and a joyful reunion when, after decades in captivity, an Asian elephant is brought to sanctuary.

Along the journey, her memories of childhood in the jungle, circus life and her solitary days in the zoo come alive through the emotional power of opera, evocative dance and stunning design.

Inspired by a true story, Sanctuary Song is the result of a dynamic collaboration between two award‐winning Toronto companies, who come together to tell a story from the point of view of a most unusual protagonist. An unforgettable opera for all ages. Sanctuary Song was commissioned by Theatre Direct , with support from the Laidlaw Foundation, and developed in partnership with Tapestry New Opera Works with support from the Canadian Opera Creation Program at Opera.ca.

Sanctuary Song features soprano Xin Wang, baritone Alvin Crawford, dancer Sharmila Dey, and actor Frank Cox-O'Connell. The production is directed by Lynda Hill with musical direction by Wayne Strongman.

Ticket information for the world premiere run:

PREVIEW: June 6 at 7pm

PUBLIC PERFORMANCES:
June 7 at 1pm (World Premiere)
June 8 at 2pm and 6:30pm
June 11, 12 & 13 at 7pm
June 14 at 2pm & 7pm

SCHOOL PERFORMANCES:
June 4 & 5 at 12:30pm (School Previews)
June 10, 11 & 12 at 12:30pm (School Matinees)

TICKET PRICES:
For Public Performances
$25 adults
$15 children & students
$70 family pack (4 people/must include one person under the age of 14)
For School Performances:
$8 for all School Previews (June 4 & 5)
$12 for all School Matinees (June 10, 11 & 12)
For the Gala World Premiere & Reception (June 7)
$150 Gala family pack (4 people/must include one person under the age of 14)
*performance‐only tickets also available for the June 7 world premiere

BOX OFFICE: 416‐368‐3110 / www.canstage.com
or in person at Berkeley Street Theatre, 26 Berkeley Street. Toronto, ON
Also available at www.ticketmaster.ca
For all School Performances 416‐537‐6066 x224 or education [at] tapestrynewopera.com

Sanctuary Song website
Facebook event listing
Full press release
Tapestry New Opera Works website
Theatre Direct website
Luminato website

David DQ Lee Sings Va Tacito at Cardiff Singer of the World 2007

One of the most talented singers that I coached in the time I was on the faculty of the Vancouver Academy of Music was countertenor David DQ Lee. David (who currently resides in Germany) represented Canada in Cardiff Singer of the World 2007. Here he is singing Va tacito from Handel's Giulio Cesare:

Top CPB Articles in May

One of the benefits of using Feedburner for RSS feeds is that publishers can track what the most popular articles are as rated by views and clicks. To see which articles my feed subscribers have been reading in the last month, I just checked the 30-day stats for Aggregate Item Use and came up with a list of the most popular articles among CPB subscribers in the last month:

• Atelier S Summer Academy Is Still Looking for Pianists and Male Singers
• Speedlinking - 28 April 2008
• The Growing Pains of Emerging Collaborative Pianists
• 15 Reasons Why Practicing Technique Can Improve Your Time at the Piano
• Anna Russell on How to Become a Singer
• Berlin in Light at the Academy of Spherical Arts on May 12
• Professional-level Singing and That Certain Je ne sais quoi
• Piano-related Photo Pools on Flickr
• Beethoven Action Figure
• Where Not To Put a Piano

A big thanks to all of the 250-odd people who subscribe to the Collaborative Piano Blog. If you're not already an RSS subscriber, you can receive regular updates either in your favorite feed reader or via email.