Accompany a Singer on Piano

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Have you considered accompanying singers (soloists) on piano keyboard and wanted to learn that mostly at home. Piano keyboarding skill for accompaniment includes any other piano skill, but there are things that are very different from playing a solo. You may soon decide that it is easier to accompany a singer on the piano/keyboard than to play a piano solo -- using some fundamentals.

Steps

Accompaniment Using Chords

  1. Practice with a singer on piano -- much as it is often done on guitar like strumming. So, you will follow the singer's lead and not:
    • Play the notes of the "melody" while the singer is voicing them,
    • Or set the "tempo" as the soloist may have slow and fast parts for emphasis, etc.
    • Or decide the "rhythm" if the singer has an interpretation,
      • So, you do not decide the "style"... Don't do the singer's job. Talk about it with your soloist! Most soloists want you to follow them, but others may need you to keep a steady beat (a little like a drum might do) so that they have something to keep them on track. Everyone is different as to what they need, so simply ask. A trained soloist may be able to tell you what works best for him or her. Generally, you play "accompagnato" -- following everything that they do (tempo, and overall style) of the soloist's interpretation of the song.
  2. Play non-obnoxiously (not too loudly) as the basic technique. Think about accompanying in a group with a guitar player who can lightly strum chords while the drummer may use brushes or soft drumming style, etc. but of course some singers, as an alternative, may have a style where the instruments are pretty loud...
  3. Break up the chords (arpeggio [ar-pe-szhe-o] like strumming, harping) so that it is not like "clump, clump..." and lighten up as a piano accompanist, and even just use one hand to play the rhythm -- explained in more detail below. Using the piano for accompanying will often involve both hands for turn around parts, left hand or right hand Write and Compose a Rockabilly Song variations, ideas like the Circle of Fifths, and adapting to what your soloist does by recognizing the style and responding to the tempo, rhythm and style by ear. You probably (but not necessarily) need to do an introduction with both hands and do an ending.
    • Once you get more advanced and start using both hands, it is okay to not play chords as arpeggios and instead play all the keys at once. However, playing an entire song without arpeggios can get repetitive to listeners. Try to vary your playing; analyse the song and figure out where you should aim for arpeggio playing and where you should not.
      • If you are a beginner and plan to only use one hand, arpeggios are to recommend.
  4. Use one hand to accompany on the piano. Sure there is more to learn to be a good piano accompanist. See chords in "Tips" below.
    • It's not just playing chords with one hand lightly -- mostly using 3 tones called triad chords (see Chords, and Picturing the "Shapes of Chords" On Your Fingers and Hands -- in the "Tips" section below)
  5. Practice rolling the notes by rocking or swaying your hand and fingers: going through each chord to play the notes separately.
    • You don't make the chords as clumping sounds.
  6. Think of a mental picture of the fingers as forming the same "shape" of
    • each three note chord like a 3 pronged fork or tripod and
    • a four note chord (7th) as a four pronged fork.
  7. Experiment playing "near" middle C, and down an octave (or maybe up) from there to fit your chording to the singer(s).
  8. Learn to get the chord from the key signatures. You will see a pattern in the key signatures as they progress by every fifth lettered key/note in the "circle of fifths".
    • So, each key is in a musical interval (spacing) referred to as fifth from its neighboring key (just counting, not fractions).
    • In the key signatures that contain flats, the name of the key is "the flat to the left of the last flat." A key signature with four flats, B, E, A, D, for example, is the key of A flat.
  9. Write the chord changes above the words on a written or printed page like it is done for guitar. There is a studio-professional way to do that using Nashville lead sheet notations. It is for a rhythm section (usually consisting of piano, guitar, drums and bass). The musicians practice to be able to improvise to present the chord in a blend with other instruments. That numbered method of notation allows musicians who are familiar with keys and chords to play the same song in any key that one knows without written sheet music.[1]
  10. Interpret various piano styles by ear, and so you change tempo and the chord like for changing the key up or down as necessary. This is not an amateur trick: there is a free downloadable software created by Harvey Mudd College computer programming department for this kind of notational work for orchestras to use, etc.[2].
  11. Leave the melody for the singer to do, and so you chord cleverly and rhythmically during the vocals (something like strumming, playing rhythm). So you hit individual notes of the chord as mentioned using a form of arpeggio (also called broken chords). That's the technique in short, as the essence of the idea.
    • See the pattern of the "Circle of Fifths" is based on counting every 5th note. In any part of "A" through "G" -- then notes can be thought of as starting over forming a circle. After G, think of a, b, c, D, and so look at the circle and "G and "D" are fifths because there are 3 notes between them (counting 1, 2, 3, 4, 5) backward or forward.
    • So you can count five in the musical alphabet: ignoring the three notes between the 1st and the 5th one. Then look at the circle and see "D and A are fifths": D, e, f, g, A. That is how the key signature pattern works, and that shows how the circle got its name.
  12. Play bass notes with your left hand. Once you get comfortable playing chords with your right hand, you can start using your left hand. Most commonly you will play the keynote of the chord (so you will only play one note with the left hand, do NOT play entire chords) one or several octaves below your right hand playing the chords.
    • The keynote in a chord is always the same note as the chord's name. So for instance, in the C chord the keynote is C, in the F chord it is F. So when playing a C chord in the right hand, play a C (only the note, not the chord) with your left hand one or more octaves to the left of your right hand.
      • Sometimes chords will not have the keynote as the bass note, this is notated via the chord's name, a slash, and then the note that should be the bass note. For example: C/E means that you are to play a C chord with your right hand, but play the key E with your left as a bass note. (Note that E is the third in the C chord, and you should avoid doubling thirds, so when you play a chord with the third in the bass, you may leave out the third in the chord that you play with your right hand.)
    • When starting out, you can simply play and hold the keynote with your left hand every chord change or at the start of each measure, while your right hand plays chords normally.
    • If you're more advanced you can let the left hand have it's own rhythm and even create your own bass line.

Help Singers Learn to Harmonize

  1. Show two or more singers the harmony of the three most basic chords: "1,3,5" chords (which are just the key of C or key of F or key of G) which have no sharps, no flats, etc. The 1 represents the "root" (fundamental) note. The 3 represents "the 3rd," or the note 2 places up. The 5 represents "the 5th," which is 4 places up from the root and 2 places up from the 3rd. Each note skipped is called an interval (creating a pleasing separation between the ones that are sounded out).
  2. Demonstrate chords to the singers and help them to hear how the different note combinations (chords) sound when working together. It's easier to learn basics of harmony by hearing the notes played on a piano. Then one can start to sing along with the piano notes. Then they can move on to singing the harmony with another singer.
    • A good step is to distinguish 2 or 3 singers each singing the melody an octave higher or lower than the other which is just singing in unison but is not harmonizing.
    • For example: the male lead singing the melody an octave low "versus" a female soprano are in unison (not harmony). Singing unison is "layering," and may enhance sound as in a choir (but a duet, trio or quartet is not normally unison, except for some special effect).
  3. Harmonize by singing "to the melody" but in a slightly lower or higher pitch to create a chord with voices.
    • But, if a soloist sings a harmony note instead of the melody, that is a form of singing off key...
  4. Add a 7th for a fourth voice in harmony and/or the 1st (or root) note, up one octave (for unison).
  5. Learn the basic 1,3,5,7 major chord notes (C7, F7, G7 -- see "Tips" below), as a group, and then you can help singers harmonize by their consistently carrying one of the chord notes; after they learn to hear them in the chord (and so they hear harmony) among voices. Bad harmony is being inconsistent, and so traveling from ones note to the note of someone else (off key).
    • If there are more than 3 people you can have 2 or more singing each of the notes as in a choral group. Once you have a sense of the basics of harmonizing the "1, 3, 5 and 1, 3, 5, 7" you may experiment with other kinds of notes in other chords which have sharps or flats.

Chording

  1. Understand chords generally consist of at least "three" notes/pitches/tones (Let's call them notes.) sounded together. If you speak of only two notes that are to be sounded then that is known as an interval (like a distance).

    The C chord made of the notes "C-E-G" some indicated sharps and flats -- which would make whole different chords. Double click the photo to see it larger.
    • "C" chord:
    • "F" chord:
    • "G" chord: The simpler three note chords shown above are major chords in order "C, F, and G" that are made up of only white keys spaces exactly the same way.
      • Notice that C chord is exactly the same shape (same fingering) as F and G chords in the photos using sticky notes on a keyboard above... but C shown as three notes on lines of sheet music also shows that concept
      • These three note chords are called triads or triadic formed by a "formula" like a pattern. Chords may have more than three notes (not needed for this basic accompaniment work): for example, a chord of 4, 5 or 6 notes are called tetrads, pentads and hexads (also called tetrachords, pentachords and hexachords).
        • Also, some chords may be complicated by spaced out combinations of notes that are called "perfect," "augmented," or "diminished", etc. for more complex chords.

Picturing the "Shapes of Chords" On Your Fingers and Hands

Three Finger Major Chords Fingerings

  1. Number the fingers and thumb of the left hand "5, 4, 3, 2, 1" starting at the little finger (5) going to the thumb (1).
  2. Visualize that the shape of the hand for "C, F, and G" are all the same. That shape (like a formula) uses fingers "5, 3, and 1". The other 3-note major chords use the same fingering shape:
    • find the fundamental note (C or F or G), and
      • go across the ivory keys to the third note using the third finger and
      • to the ivory fifth note using the fifth finger (the thumb).
    • So, the formula for those three chords is simply left to right on the left hand (5, 3, 1).
    • "D" Chord:
      "A" chord: Notice that D chord is exactly the same shape (same spacing of fingers) as A in the photos... but D shown as three notes on lines of sheet music does not show that idea. The shape of the hand for A or D chord is almost the same as C, F, or G -- but A or D has the middle fingered-note "sharped" ("sharping" or "flatting" is really only a half step between notes). So, they both have a black key for the middle finger -- left to right on the left hand (5, 3#, 1) where the "#" symbol means "sharp" which is most often the black key "up", toward the right, on the keyboard...
      • But, where two ivory keys are together (without a black one between them) then a white key is the sharp in some chords and scales.
      • Flats work the same way but are moving downward (leftward on the keyboard) in the flow of the music.
    • The combination for a chord of three or more notes sounded together at certain distances between the notes (like one step) are based on a pattern (or formula) for the chord like "5, 3, 1."
  3. Number the fingers and thumb of the right hand "1, 2, 3, 4, 5" starting at the little thumb (1) going to the little finger (5).
    • Play the same chords on the right hand with the same kind of shape with the thumb and fingers again numbered left to right "1 through 5" but now you're starting from the thumb (1) to the right little finger (5);[3] and though hands look opposite -- just ignore the thumb and finger switching, and so it is still the same shaped tripod (Note: both hands left to right are "5, 4, 3, 2, 1 and 1, 2, 3, 4, 5.")
      • So you can think of the numbering with right hand: "1, 3, 5" while the left was "5, 3, 1" (of course, also "1, 3#, 5" compared to "5, 3#, 1", follow this kind of shape pattern).

Four Finger Major 7th Chords Fingering

  1. See 7th chords are four note chords: The following fingerings work for all major and minor 7th chords (the little finger plays a 7th) on the keyboard, skipping the ring finger.
    • For example: G7 Chord is found by counting G as 1st on The Circle then 1-3-5-7 makes that G-B-D-F see that all have an interval of one.
      • Left hand fingering for this chord is 5-3-2-1 (just skip the "ring finger"). Pinkie - G, middle finger - B, index finger - D and thumb - F.
      • Right hand is the same fingering "reversed" so it is 1-2-3-5 (again skip the "ring finger"). Thumb - G, index - B, middle - D and pinkie - F.

Tips

  • Surprise, you can do it if you know several chords and if possible learn to play an intro, play chords mostly note by note ("arpeggi" which means "to play on a harp") and do the ending without just stopping like hitting a wall.
  • If there is a community college or junior college, then they probably have on campus or online continuing education for "non-credit" classes to learn music and get instruction to improve your techniques.
  • You can probably start helping a singer if you can do chords "C, D, F, G" and later you can add in "A" chord and the other ones that have more sharps and flats, as you Play the Piano Without Lessons and generally improve your skills in any area of your musical abilities.
  • You could tape different colors of sticky notes on an electronic keyboard for each chord for fun in demonstrating or learning the 3 basic chords, "C, F and G". So, C is "C-E-G", F is "F-A-C" and G is "G-B-D" with 3 fingers skipping the note between the sounded notes, where the hyphen "-" is seen (all in the "1-3-5" shape).

Warnings

  • Make sure you are not setting the pace (tempo) like playing too slowly or too up tempo for the singers voicing: so then, you know you will always try to "follow" the singer.
    • If the singer makes a remark like "You messed up!" take it as nerves and butterflies for the singer. Keep your cool and just say, "I'll slow down!" or whatever it may be about.

Related Articles

Sources and Citations

  1. ↑ Wikipedia - Chord chart
  2. ↑ "Impro-Visor" - Leadsheet Notation, Open Source Free Software
  3. ↑ PianoByChords.com pictures - hand, numbered fingers, basics and helps
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