In terms of my level of concerns?
>> There's, there's other things you need to worry about.
>> Well down the stack.
>> So you reference the piano at that point.
Will you reference it for melodic issues?
How?
It seems like I've seen before group that uses a
piano, can you, piano can you please double the, the alto's.
>> Yes, yes.
>> And then you take the al, or you take the
piano away, or can we just hear soprano bases, piano double that.
>> Yes.
>> Is that a reasonable process or?
>> Totally pro, totally reasonable process.
I think the problem with playing the piano is,
if you're, if I'm the only person there, if, if.
I don't have a full-time accompanist.
Then, I have to concentrate on playing the piano, and
unless you're extremely adept at playing the piano, then what
you end up doing is paying attention to what you're
doing as opposed to paying attention to what they're doing.
And that's a fatal flaw.
If the pianist, if your hired accompanist doesn't understand that you want them
out more than you want them in so that the doubling is .
Purely a matter of egicsey not of religious practices not canonical.
We're not going to do this just because it's morally
correct, we're doing it because it's only practically necessary.
Then they can double too loud or they can whatever you teach people the opposite of
what you want them know which is how
to become independent thinking musicians in their own right.
So if you would watch what I actually do you'd see me
start them and run in three or four notes and bail in three
or four measures later where I anticipate a different, a difficult leap or
a particularly difficult rhythm and I may even do it well in advance.
So if we're functioning in a certain key and I know that a certain note is
coming and I can play it as a common tone, I just play it well in advance.
The other thing I think is wise to do, if you're
doubling a part, double it not in the octave that it sings.
So if you're doubling the altos and they perennially flat,
not that altos ever flat, but if they did, then you'd
play it in the soprano octave, so that they hear the
pitches relative to each other, and the notes, but they don't.
>> So it pops out of the texture once it gets lost.
>> Comes out of the texture.
Otherwise it becomes part of the texture and they just begin to accept it.
Though the real reason why I layer so much is
because, in my view, the problem with ordinary, traditional approaches
to literacy is that people learn to sing their part
as though it were dots being connected on the page.
So they sing it in a linear fashion without realizing that.
They have to insert it into the texture in
time and harmonic place and that's a whole other problem.
So the reason I text you so much and the reason why I say
that I refer to the piano for harmonic texture for time to time is that.
I want them to see it as sort of a correcting context
to the effect the dot to dot to dot effect where you can.
Successively sharp every single pitch and
individually they don't sound hugely wrong.
>> Vertically they do.
>> But vertically they are massively wrong.
>> And what you are mentioning in terms
of the accompanist over time you can develop a
good rapport with an accompanist where they kind
of know exactly what you want and can anticipate?
>> Yes.
>> Oh yeah, they're going to want me to drop out.
>> Yes.
>> And oh yeah, that g sharp is problematic.
>> Yes.
>> And they can pop in.
>> Yes.
>> But that takes time, of course.
>> Yes, you prize those people [LAUGH].
>> Yeah.
>> They're worth their weight in gold.
>> Yeah.
Great.