I starting to do a fair bit of vocal accompanying, and the vocalists typically give me a photocopy of the music they are working on. I am cleaning up my music now, and am wondering what I should do with the music I've accumulated. It's happened once where I was asked to play something for someone that I've already played before, so it was convenient that I already had a copy of the music and I didn't have to wait for her to make me a copy.

I'm thinking about just keeping the ones I actually wrote stuff in the score for (fingering, interpretive ideas, etc.), and those that I'd like to improve on in the near future and then getting rid of the rest.


For those of you who accompany frequently, what do you do, and do you have any regrets for getting rid of music?

I file away those accompaniments that are not current in plastic sleeves in manila folders or in three-ring binders, usually titled so that I can file the works by period.

I rarely get rid of potentially useful music, so, to quote Piaf (lyrics by Michel Vaucaire, actually) : "Non, je ne regrette rien!"

Regards,

I keep it all, too - mostly vocal repertoire.

I've gotten into the summer habit of including 3 or 4 of those pieces at the start of each practice session for a week (and then replacing them with 3 or 4 others, at the start of the following week).

Even if your playing them under-tempo, it sure beats warming up with scales or exercises.

Je ne regrette rien either. Singers give me photocopies too, and I used to file them in plastic sleeves in folders, but these kept multiplying and after I'd filled three boxes I decided I had to do something. I threw out duplicates, anything I had the music for, things I never want to play again but if I have to I could sight read, and so on. Then I've been gradually moving the copies to a filing cabinet, with dividers. Vocal music is arranged alphabetically by composer, with extra sections for music theatre, folksong, string, wind, brass, choral. It's definitely easier to file and quicker to retrieve.
And I have a special file devoted to the most illegible copies people have given me to read from. Smudgy, blurred, faint, no clefs or key sigs, systems missing - they're all there.

I actually thought this thread was going to be about music you listen to while spring cleaning your house.

-J

Well actually, I did too!

Got your PM, thanks, will reply in due course. It is the birthday of one of my favourite composers, so need to put in quality time with the man's music.

I keep everything. Things often come up more than once, especially considering a lot of the pieces I've done have just been unimaginatively proscribed to the singers by their teachers and you can be pretty certain that next years freshmen will be doing the same ones.

I occasionally learn piano parts for pieces I can guarentee I will be asked to accompany at some point in my life. Schumann's Fantasiestucke for example.

Well, if you want to know that, here's my answer


Thanks for all the other answers. I guess I'll have to find space somewhere to put the music copies.

Wow, what a spring cleaning choice, Arghhh. Although my favorite player of the Prok 2 is Kun-Woo Paik.

My spring cleaning music would probably be the Busoni Piano Concerto. Played by (guess who!)

Hamelin, or yourself?

Funny, I usually love Bolet's playing, but I find it a little stiff here. I really love Ashkenazy's reading; gorgeous tone and streeeeeching of phrases. I don't get a huge sense of push-pull from Bolet here....

I will play that one day!

But no. argerichfan knows which performance of the Busoni is the best...

And he's not online right now, so I'll just have to go ahead and say.

Jooooooooohn Ogdoooooonnnnnnnn!!!! (His Brahms 1 is probably the best I've heard, too, I like it more than Rubinstein, Gilels, and Serkin.)

I've never cleaned my springs.

Cleaning of the repetition springs is one of the most vital adjustments pertaining to the quick, precise repetition of keys! It is truly a lost art, and only the finest artisan technicians are qualified to perform such a dangerous operation.

My house isn't on springs...

Funny, I also thought that you were looking for a playlist to accompany your spring cleaning.. Of course, we are well past spring season but you could be a procrastinator like yours truly...