Accompany Me

(This is a musical event where students are playing duets with their family/friends)

A few years ago, I was a part of my college band. We played a few shows at college festivals. I met a lot of different musicians. A violinist trained in Indian classical music, a rock guitarist, a DAW (Digital Audio Workstation) specialist, a tabla player who had taken up drums, a lot of talented musicians who had no formal training, etc. We had to make music together as per the requirements of the show.

Playing with other musicians is a very enriching experience. For Accompany Me, my students had to collaborate with musicians around them. Perhaps your mother sings well, your friend plays guitar, your cousin is a pianist. We have musicians all around us! (My students usually play solo pieces from their method books or exam books, so this was an interesting activity for them)

Piano Accompaniment Exercises

Most of the pop songs use not more than 4 chords. I designed exercises for my students so they could get familiar with these chord progressions.

When you are accompanying someone else at your instrument, things change. You are no longer the person who needs to play everything. You have to now support your fellow musicians to make better music. Sometimes, it can mean playing less. You get a chance to decorate the musical fabric with beautiful textures and patterns.

As my students learned these exercises, I told them how they can be used in various songs.

Then came the next step- how to apply it.

Everyone had a favorite song they wanted to play. So many interesting song selections- from Bollywood to Billie Eilish.

Let me explain the process with a few examples.

For most of the students- we had to break down the song into parts. E.g., Intro, verse, chorus- each part having a different style of playing.

Aryan, Purvi, Lyla, Dhyanaa, Ishwaree, and Vidhisha decided that they will sing the song themselves. We worked by adjusting the song for their voice- found out the vocal ranges, learned how to do vocal warm-ups, adjusted the key of the song to suit their voices.

Aanchal Kartikeya and Risaa performed a song with their mothers. I really appreciate it when parents make an effort to support their children's musical activities.

Shlok and his sister Esha were planning to have a duet performance. In the first video he sent me, the audio was not right, the piano- too loud and the video too dark, there was a lot of noise in the background. They had to record again. They learned about planning, mic placement, video lighting in the process.

Paritosh had an idea in his mind from the beginning. He teaches his sister how to play the piano. So, he played accompaniment as his sister played the tune for ‘47 Ginger Headed Sailors’ from Jeeves and Wooster.

Trisha‘s friend was living abroad. She asked him to send a video of him singing from Germany and accompanied him on the piano. She had to learn video editing and audio mixing in the process.

Hiya and her cousin decided they will perform an Ariana Grande song instead of Adele's Someone Like You. She had to learn a new song in very short duration so that she could finish her assignment.

Priyanka could now play her song accompaniment, but she was still looking for a singer. She asked around and finally, her sister’s friend accepted. They played “Can’t Help Falling in Love”.

It was a lot of work for everyone but it was a fun process, with lots to learn.

I have compiled 9 performances for you to see. The videos will be premiered on YouTube at 12 noon on 12th December 2021 (Sunday). Please watch the performances and show us your support by encouraging the performers.

Video link: https://youtu.be/33F9_rtehp0

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See you again with more fun activities in 2022!