A couple of weeks ago I was approached on twitter by a girl asking if I knew of any pianists who could help a choir in Devizes. After I had got over the shock of someone actually finding me on twitter and wanting something useful (see previous post) I immediately offered my services even though at the time I wasnt entirely sure what I was getting in to.
I was then sent some music which put me at ease once I found it was all stuff I had heard of and would be able to play. At this point I still wasn’t quite sure of the set up, was I part of a band, was I expected to direct the choir or was i required as the accompanist? After a few more tweets it became clear that I was needed to accompany the choir at some rehearsals and then a few concerts. At this point, however, it transpired that I wasn’t actually free for all the concert dates being proposed. Fortunately Jemma (the client) had spotted that I am also involved in composing and recording so suggested I come along to the first rehearsal anyway and we could talk about how to cover the concert that I wasnt able to make.
Little did I know but in fact I was “on trial” during this first rehearsal – although to be fair that’s an entirely reasonable idea. After all, to this choir at least, I was just some random bloke they had plucked from twitter who claimed to be able to play the piano! Well I’m pleased to say that I passed the audition but this still left the problem that I couldnt actually be there at their final night of a 3 night run.
It was at this point, keen not to lose the deal as they seemed nice people and definitely worth working with, that I suggested I could record the piano parts as a backing track for them to use in the concert. This was immediately agreed despite the fact I had not submitted any evidence of my ability to do such a thing – although this is available on my website! At that point I was then issued with 6 pieces of music and took these back to the studio to get to work.
In the end it only took a couple of days as all that was required was a simple piano accompaniment rather than a full orchestral backing on this occasion (partly due to the time constraints!).
[mp3-jplayer tracks=”Moon River – Backing Track@Moon_River.mp3″]