Friday, April 27, 2007

Stealth Piano

So it happened (again). I was coaching a student with a pianist.

Pianist plays interlude....trombonist misses entrance.

Counting problem? No, preparation problem.

Here's a game I sometimes pull: I tell the pianist to start at some random point in the interlude. The trombonist has to figure out when to come in by listening to the piano part.

Listening, what a concept.

Reminds me of an interesting story from one of our school's wonderful accompanists. Years ago, the sax teacher arrived at her house for a rehearsal. Before ringing the doorbell, he got out his horn. When she let him in, he just started playing from a random passage in the Creston Sonata. He wanted to see if she could figure out where he was in the piece and jump right in.

Yeah, she got it.