Supporting Material
Christmas Song Classroom.pdf (244.2 KB)
Thank you both for another great seminar. It provided valuable insights into song structure, but I was hoping for more coverage of the interaction aspects.
I have a few questions and comments:
- What aspect of comping do you think is most beneficial for the singer?
- What indeed Thilia finds most disturbing in a comper ?
- I noticed in your enjoyable performance in A tonality that the only moment that did not go well was when you (Tuomo) was searching for a chord and was late. It seems to me that, more than complex reharmonization or complex voicings, the rhythmic aspect is fundamental in comping. Am I right?
- Is comping for a singer different from comping for a soloist or a band?
- Who do you consider to be the best comping pianists from the past and present? For example, Tommy Flanagan, Sullivan Fortner ( and of course, Tuomo Uusitalo
).
Thank you!
Hi Alessandro! Thank you for your great questions and observations.
For me personally I think it’s helpful to get to work with a pianist/accompanist for some time to get to know their style. I can swim through quite a lot of confusion if the pianist is heavily doing their own artistic thing but I enjoy it the most if we both listen to each other and adapt to ideas from both sides.
What can be challenging to me is 1. someone plays too loud over vocals, 2. someone does rhythmically/harmonically too complex things for too long (and maybe even gets lost themselves) and 3. they play songs in a way that really doesn’t fit the story at all.
We are doing a lesson about rhythmical aspects soon, hopefully that will give you more answers regarding that topic!
As for your observation about Tuomo being late: I trust him so much I myself can be thrown off for a second if that happens BUT I do want to remind everyone mistakes are a part of the learning process and it’s best not to get stuck on them but to have a sense of humor when they happen. In my opinion no one is at fault if music is being created in the moment together (and taking risks here and there does keep it interesting!).
One thing I want to add is: In most cases if someone were to comp in a way that’s not helpful to me I might just subtly ask them to play differently (more bass notes, clearer rhythm etc).
The pianists you mentioned are amazing examples and in general I think it is good to also listen to different genres to get an broader idea of good comping. I myself listen a lot to soul and r&b because I appreciate the rhythmic approaches many musicians on that field have. Musical tunes can also offer wonderful mood settings which could give some inspiration on how to play keeping a certain story or mood in mind.
I hope this was helpful!
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Hi guys, and thank you @alessandro for the questions!
@Thilia answered perfectly to all the other questions, so I’m just going to take this one:
- Is comping for a singer different from comping for a soloist or a band?
In general it’s not at all different, although stylistically there are many more ways you might need to know how to comp with for example horn players.
However, the foundation is always the same; keeping a good time and rhythm as well as having good, logical choices in voicings and playing in general are essential things that must be there no matter what.
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