Accompaniment

What accompaniment does

The melody is the succession of notes, the accompaniment supplies the simultaneity. In folk songs the melodies came into being before the accompaniment and move almost exclusively in notes of the scale that belong to at least one of the three main triads. Tonic, subdominant and dominant can therefore accompany a great deal already. If a chord symbol is written above the third beat, the accompaniment changes there, not only in the next bar. If you sing the upbeat as a full beat 1, you are a beat off for the whole song, and the accompaniment fits nowhere.

Guitar and piano

On the guitar the capo is the quick tool for accompanying singing: it transposes without the shapes changing. For accompaniment in a choir, in a group or round a campfire that is the difference between “can't be done” and “right away”. Two guitars with one capo give a two-part accompaniment with a real difference in sound instead of a doubled unison.

In art songs the piano part is not mere accompaniment but the second half of the piece, as the page International Song Sheets stresses. To practise it, first play only the left hand through the whole song, then only the right, then the vocal line on the piano as well, while reading the accompaniment. This fourth step shows where the accompaniment leaves the singer alone and where it gives them the next note.

Accompaniment in the score

Voice with chords

• Leise rieselt der Schnee Eduard Ebel · melody, text and chords · 1 page

  6/8 with one sharp. The chord symbols G, C, Am and D7 are written above the melody. The ending is on G.

Voice and piano

• Es hat die Rose sich beklagt Robert Franz, op. 42 No. 5 · voice and piano, with chords for guitar · 2 pages

  The vocal line is on top, below it the piano with a part of its own in both hands. The performance direction is “Innig und zart” (heartfelt and tender).

Common mistakes

• Singing the upbeat as the first beat: The accompaniment is then shifted by a beat.
• Changing chords too late: The change happens at the place above which the symbol is written.
• Reading the piano part only as an extra: In art songs it carries half the message.