6 Ways to Accompany a Singer with the Piano

2024 Author: Samantha Chapman | [email protected]. Last modified: 2023-12-17 09:13

Have you considered accompanying a solo singer with the piano and want to learn how to do it on your own? The skills needed to accompany the piano are the same as those required by the other ways of playing, but there are elements that are very different from the solo piano. You will soon find that it is easier to accompany a singer on the piano than to play alone - if you have some basic knowledge.

Steps

Method 1 of 6: Accompaniment with Chords

Step 1. Practice with a singer on the piano

You will need to replicate what you would do with an accompaniment guitar. That is, you will have to follow the singer and avoid:

• Play the notes of the "melody" while the singer sings them.
• Decide the "tempo", because the soloist may intentionally slow it down and speed it up to give more emphasis to parts of the song.

• Decide the "rhythm" if the singer has his own interpretation.

  To sum it up, you won't be the one to choose the "style" of the song. Don't steal the singer's job. Talk to your soloist! Most singers will want you to follow them, but others will ask you to keep a steady rhythm (like a drum kit would), so that they have a point of reference. Everyone has different needs, so you just have to ask. An experienced soloist may be able to tell you what he prefers. Generally, you'll have to play accompanying - following the lead's interpretation of the song to the letter (in terms of tempo and overall style)

Step 2. As a basic technique, don't play too loud

Think of a band where the guitarist plays chords lightly and the drummer uses brushes or doesn't hit the drums very hard. Of course some singers prefer to have louder accompaniment instruments instead.

Step 3. Play the chords with an arpeggio, so they don't sound like repeated strokes, and try to play the rhythm part with one hand

Playing the piano as an accompaniment often requires both hands for the rhythm part, such as playing chord variations, circle of fifths, and to suit the soloist's style. You will probably need to do the intro and ending with two hands.

Step 4. Use one hand to accompany the piano

To become a good piano accompanist you need many elements. Start with the chords in the "Tips" section.

Just playing chords with one hand at low volume won't be enough

Step 5. Learn to separate chords in an arpeggio, ie "play the notes of a chord in succession and not together"

Don't play the whole chord at the same time

Step 6. Practice arpeggios by moving your hand and fingers:

test each chord by playing the notes individually.

This way the chords won't sound like "jumbled sounds"

Step 7. Use these mental images to help you remember chord shapes

• Three-note chords require a fork-like position of the fingers.
• Seventh (four-note) chords require a four-finger fork position.

Step 8. Practice playing "close" to middle C, and one octave up or down to match your singer's key

Step 9. Learn how to make chords from the score

You will see a scheme in the score and you will be able to analyze its progression thanks to the “circle of fifths”.

• Each key is a musical interval defined as a "fifth" with respect to the neighboring key.
• In keys that contain flats, the key name is the "flat to the left of the last flat". A key with four flats, B, E, A, and D for example, is an A flat.

Step 10. Write the chord changes above the words on the written text as you would for the guitar

You can do this professionally using Nashville sheet music notation. They are for the rhythm sections (usually consisting of piano, guitar, drums and bass). Musicians practice to be able to improvise and present chords along with other instruments. This numerical method allows musicians who know "keys and chords" to play the same song in "any known key" without a written score.

Step 11. Play different piano styles by ear, so you are able to change tempo and key as you please

You can download a program free created by the computer programming department of Harvey Mudd College for this type of notation.

Step 12. Let the singer play the melody, and use the chords intelligently and to give rhythm to the song

Remember to use the arpeggio technique. In short, this is the technique you will need to adopt.

See the diagrams of the "Circle of Fifths", which is based on the counting of "every fifth note". This count is not only valid from Do to Si, but if you think of the notes as a circle, after Si you can start again from Do, Re, Mi and so on. G and D, for example, are fifths, because between them there are three notes, forward or backward

Method 2 of 6: Helping Singers Harmonize

Step 1. Show two or more singers the harmony of the three simplest chords:

the "1, 3, 5" chords (ie the keys of C, F or G) that have no sharps or flats, etc. The 1 represents the root note. The 3 represents the "third" or two notes higher. The 5 represents the "fifth", that is 4 notes higher than the fundamental and 2 higher than the third. Each missed note is called an interval (and creates a nice separation between the notes you play).

Step 2. Show the chords to the singers and help them hear how the combinations of different notes sound together

It is easier to learn the basics of harmony by hearing the notes on a piano. The singers can then start singing along with the notes. They can then move on to play harmony with another singer.

• A good exercise is to distinguish 2 or 3 singers who play the melody one octave higher or lower than the other, that is, they sing in unison, but not harmonizing.
• For example: the male solo singer who sings the melody one octave lower "than" the female soprano, sings in unison (does not harmonize). Singing in unison means "layering" and can improve the sound, for example in a choir (a duet, trio or quartet does not normally sing in unison, except to reproduce particular effects).

Step 3. Harmonize by singing "the melody" but with slightly higher or lower notes to create a chord with the voices

If a soloist, on the other hand, plays a note of harmony and not of melody, it is a form of singing out of key

Step 4. Add a seventh for a fourth voice in the harmony, or the root note of a higher octave (to sing in unison)

Step 5. Learn the notes 1, 3, 5, 7 of the major chords (C7, F7, G7 - see "Tips" below), and you can then help singers harmonize by playing the notes in a chord for them

If they sing while playing the notes assigned to another singer, they will not harmonize properly.

If there are more than 3 people present, you can have two or more of them sing each note as in a choral group. Once you understand the basics of harmonization, you can experiment with other types of notes that contain sharps or flats

Method 3 of 6: Chords

Step 1. Chords generally consist of at least three notes, played together

Instead, only two notes to be played are defined as an interval.

The C chord, for example, is composed of the notes "Do-Mi-Sol". Double click on the photo to enlarge it.

• "Do" chord:

  

• "Fa" chord:

  

• "G" chord: Simple three-note chords are major chords, which can be achieved by pressing only the white piano keys, spaced exactly the same way.

  

  • Note that the chord of C is in exactly the same form as that of F and G in the photos.

  • These three-note chords are called "triads". Chords that have more than three notes (Not necessary for a simple accompaniment task) are called "tetrads, pentades and hexads" (or also "tetrachords, pentaches and hexads).

    Some chords can also be complicated by combinations of notes at different intervals called "perfect", "augmented" or "diminished"

  Method 4 of 6: Picture the Shape of the Agreement on Fingers and Hands

  Two simple fingerings will allow you to play all major, minor, seventh, major seventh and minor seventh chords

  Method 5 of 6: Three Finger Fingering for Major Chords

  

  Step 1. Number the fingers and thumb of the left hand "5, 4, 3, 2, 1" starting with the little finger (5)

  Step 2. Learn that the "hand shape" for the "C, Fa and G" chords is always the same

  This "shape" uses the fingers "5, 3 and 1". The other 3-note major chords use the same fingering:

  • Find the root note (Do, F or G).

    

    • With the middle finger go to the third note, on the ivory key
    • With your thumb go to the fifth note, on the ivory key.

  • Therefore, the formula for these three chords is simply left to right left hand, 5, 3, 1.

    

  • "King" Agreement:

    "A" chord: Note that the D chord uses exactly the same form of the A chord in the photo, but you wouldn't have the same impression on a score. The shape of the hand for the A and D chords is almost the same as for the C, F and G chords, but the D and A have a sharp on the middle note. Therefore both involve pressing a black key with the middle finger - from left to right of the left hand (5, 3 #, 1) where the symbol "#" indicates "sharp", which is the black key to the right of the note on the keyboard.

    

    • If there are two consecutive ivory keys (without a black one to divide them) in some chords and scales the sharp will fall on a white key.
    • The flats work the same way, but in descending order (left on the keyboard).

  • The combination for a chord of three or more notes played together at certain distances between the notes (such as a passage) is based on a formula, such as "5, 3, 1".

    

  

  Step 3. Number the fingers of the right hand "1, 2, 3, 4, 5" starting with the thumb (1)

  • Play the same chords with your right hand using the "same kind of shape" as your left hand, but remember to start with the thumb (1).

    You can think of the numbering of the right hand as the inverse of the left hand: "1, 3, 5" if the left was "5, 3, 1" (of course also "1, 3 #, 5" if the left was "5, 3 #, 1 ")

  Method 6 of 6: Four Finger Fingering for Major Seventh Chords

  

  Step 1. Seventh chords consist of four notes:

  the following fingerings allow you to play all major and minor seventh chords (the little finger plays a seventh) on one piano, skipping the ring finger.

  • For example: you can find the G7 chord by considering G the first note of the chord and then counting 1-3-5-7, or G-Si-Re-Fa, noting that all notes have a range of one.

    • The left hand fingering of this chord is 5-3-2-1 (skip the ring finger). Little finger - G, middle - Yes, index - D and thumb - F.
    • The right hand uses the same "inverted" fingering, that is 1-2-3-5 (again skipping the ring finger). Thumb - G, index - Yes, middle - D and little finger - F.

    Advice

    • If there are facilities in your area that offer free music courses, take them to improve your technique and learn music theory.
    • You can start helping a singer if you can play the "C, D, F and G" chords, and later you can add the A chord and others that contain sharps and flats as you become more proficient.

    Warnings

    • Make sure you don't decide the tempo, for example by playing too slow or fast compared to the singer's voice: remember that you will always have to try to follow the singer.

      If the singer accuses you of making a mistake, remember that he is probably nervous. Keep calm and tell him that you will correct the mistake right away