As an accompanist, you will inevitably sometimes be in the position of having to learn a piece at short notice. This is also true if you are a solo pianist. This could happen for a variety of reasons including these:
- Being asked last-minute to accompany an exam, recital or concert.
- Being asked last-minute to perform at an occasion.
- Having a lot of music to learn so you have limited time to practise each piece.
- Needing to change or add repertoire last-minute because of a mistake.
- Having problems getting hold of the sheet music.
This can be stressful, especially when the music is difficult. In this post, I will be sharing my tips for how to learn a difficult accompaniment to the best of your ability in a short amount of time.
How To Learn a Difficult Accompaniment at Short Notice
Practise little and often
It’s more effective to practise in short, regular bursts rather than one long chunk. You will get more familiar with a piece by practising it in three 20-minute practice sessions spread out over a day than you would with 1 hour-long practice session. One reason for this is that the music goes round in your head between practice sessions, so you subconsciously learn it more.
Also, studies show that our concentration goes down after 45 minutes of working on a task. Therefore, if you practise for any longer than 45 minutes at a time, you will make slower progress and won’t remember as much.
Therefore, practising for 45 minutes every day will be more effective than practising for 90 minutes every other day.
Focus on the difficult bits
When I first get hold of a new piece, I usually sight-read it all the way through so I can see where the hard parts are. I would recommend doing the same. After that, don’t waste time practising the easy bits. Focus on the difficult bits first, and you can come back to the easy bits afterwards.
Correct every mistake
Whenever you make a mistake, always go back and correct it. (The exception is if you are deliberately practising playing it up to speed and carrying on despite mistakes.) Progress may feel slower at first because you have to keep stopping and correcting, but overall your progress will be faster because you will learn it accurately. You won’t allow yourself to learn it wrong and have to re-learn it.
Listen to the piece a lot
I have a playlist on Spotify that I regularly update with pieces I’m currently learning. I have this playlist on in the background when I’m doing other tasks. It’s much easier to sight-read or learn a piece if you know in your head how it goes. This is especially useful if you don’t have the sheet music straight away. You can start listening to the piece to get a head start.
Play along with recordings
Once I am fairly fluent with an accompaniment, I like to play along with recordings of it. This helps me to get familiar with the instrumental or vocal line and how it fits with the piano part. I recommend playing along to several different recordings so that you can get used to different tempos and interpretations, especially if you haven’t rehearsed with your instrumentalist or singer yet and you don’t know how they will play/sing it.
Use a metronome and gradually increase the speed
This is a useful method for getting a difficult piece up to speed. First, set the metronome at a tempo that you can accurately play the whole piece, even if this tempo is really slow! Play the piece along to the metronome at this tempo. If you manage to play it accurately, increase the metronome tempo a little. I usually increase it by 4 BPM at a time. The new tempo should hardly feel any different from the previous one. Continue in this way until you reach the desired tempo, only increasing the tempo a notch when you manage to play the piece accurately.
By using this method, I often surprise myself when I am able to play the piece at full speed when I couldn’t get it anywhere near before. The gradual increases are hardly noticeable but they force you to play it just a fraction faster each time. This method is time-consuming and repetitive but that is the key to its effectiveness. It really works and I recommend it!
Practice playing it at tempo sometimes, even when you can’t play it accurately yet
When learning a new piece, I would generally recommend practising it slowly and correcting every mistake. However, if the piece is difficult and you have limited time, you may doubt that you will have time to accurately learn it up to speed by the time of the performance. In this case, I would recommend sometimes practising it fast and getting used to carrying on even if you make mistakes. You may have to do this in the performance so it helps to get used to it and also figure out what shortcuts you might need to take.
Prioritise musicality over notes
Of course, it’s important to learn the notes. However, if you have limited time to get the notes secure, don’t get hung up on them when you get to rehearsal or performance time. Pay attention to the musical performance as a whole, including dynamics, articulation and phrasing. As long as you play musically, any wrong notes will be less noticeable than you think.
Simplify the music
It’s okay to simplify the music if you have to. For example, if there are octaves in one hand, you could just play the upper or lower octave. Likewise, if there are big chords that you struggle to reach, you could miss out some notes. Try things out to see what shortcuts are the least noticeable, yet make it easier to play. Chances are, nobody will even notice!
Add rubato in solo passages
Often in accompaniments, the most difficult passages are the bits where the piano is playing on its own. Where stylistically appropriate, you can add lots of rubato (flexibility of tempo) into difficult solo passages to give you more time and space, which will make it easier.
If you are learning a solo piece, this obviously applies to the whole piece! For solo pieces, you can also work out what is the slowest tempo you can get away with, and go for that. Listen to various recordings to see what other people do, and choose the slowest to imitate.
Look ahead in the music
This especially replies when you are rehearsing or performing a piece that you are still uncertain about. Always look ahead so that you are ready for what’s coming next!
Write on the music a lot
There’s no shame in writing notes and reminders on your music, even silly things like ‘get ready’ if there is a difficult passage coming up. I often do this because it reminds me to look ahead so I am not taken by surprise. I also write in note letter names, especially when there are ledger lines, because I find it quicker to just glance at the note names rather than working out what the note is every time. This doesn’t make you bad at reading music – it’s just a shortcut for your brain!
I also emphasise dynamics by circling them, and tempo markings by drawing wavy lines for ritardandos and forward arrows for accelerandos. This helps me to take more notice of them instead of focusing only on the notes.
In some sheet music, the dynamic and tempo markings are only written in or above the instrumental/vocal line but not in the piano part. Check for this and write them into the piano part too, because otherwise they can be easily overlooked and end up taking you by surprise.
If you keep getting any sharps, flats or naturals wrong, write them into the music. Also, circle any chords that you keep getting wrong. I do this, and even just circling them reminds me to think carefully about that chord. For difficult rhythms, I sometimes write numbers or draw lines to show where the beats are. I also sometimes draw lines to connect notes in the piano and solo line to show where rhythms line up.
Learn one page at a time
This is a strategy I sometimes use. Start with the first page, and practise it until it’s good. Then, move onto the next page, and so on. Every time you move on to a new page, play the piece from the beginning again to revise the earlier pages and learn a new page each time. Alternatively, you can work backwards, starting with the last page. Then keep moving back a page, and when you have learnt it, play to the end to revise the later pages.
Practise the page turns
Page turns can sometimes be tricky to navigate, so make sure to practise them! You might need to leave out some notes to turn the page, so figure out in advance which notes are the least noticeable to leave out. You might also decide to photocopy some pages to help with page turns.
Act confidently in the rehearsal and performance
I recommend acting confidently even if you don’t feel it! If you seem uncertain or you tell people you are not very good at the piece yet, they will be aware of the fact and more likely to notice your blunders. Whereas if you act confidently, they will assume you know the piece well, and even if you make a lot of mistakes they are less likely to notice it or think that it’s a big deal. Secondly, with a confident attitude, you are more likely to play well anyway!
Have you ever had to learn a difficult piece at short notice?
How did the performance go? Do you have any tips that helped you manage it? Comment below to let me know!