The Fall Collaborative Arts Reading List

I can't tell you how important it is for the collaborative piano field to have a healthy and productive blogosphere that expands the range and scope of information available not only to pianists but to the entire classical music and music teaching communities. I hope that the links below will put you in touch with some very important, worthwhile, and entertaining personalities from the top blogs in the profession formerly known as piano accompanying.

Billie Whittaker's Good Company is always an informative read, with essential information about the nature of freelance work in the field (as well as job listings from time to time). If you're looking to get a head start on next summer, check out What are you doing next summer? for useful summer festival contact info. One of my personal favorite posts is Billie's Many Roles of Collaborative Pianists infographic.

Kennith Freeman continues to write eloquently about his experiences and views in the profession in Collaborations. A good place to start is his series Music and Worship parts one, two, and three. He also frequently writes about teaching: take a look at When a student hits a proverbial wall, Keeping students motivated, and My continued adventures in teaching note reading.

I also recently discovered Geraldine Boyer-Cussac's Geraldine in a Bottle. How to get paid covers the basics of the invoicing process, and Should you ever play for free? looks at some realistic questions to consider when we're asked to donate our time. If you aspire to be a musical director, take a look at these two articles: What it takes to be a music director and 3 ways a music director matters. Geraldine also talks about the scope of what a performing pianist can accomplish with 19 jobs for pianists.

Gretchen Saathoff's Gretchen's Pianos is another essential site to bookmark. Two recent articles on collaboration include What rehearsal playing is NOT and The "sensitive" accompanist. Gretchen also published an ebook this summer, which I'll be writing about in greater detail in a few days...

(Image via JoshSemans on Flickr)