Piano Accompaniment MP3 Tracks - a Beginner's Guide

For Classical

For many classical singers, learning a new art song or aria can be a tricky task. You will be learning the melody in an abstract situation, but what makes a song complete is the combination of the vocal line with the piano accompaniment (or orchestra). The accompaniment can work both with the vocal line and against it. It can provide the harmonic platform on which the vocal line floats, or it can provide more challenging harmonies for the singer to pitch against.

Hence, the ability to download an mp3 accompaniment track for the song or opera aria you are learning is an invaluable tool. Even if you are going to sing with a live accompaniment, using a professionally prepared backing track can be invaluable to acclimatise you to the sound of the piano part before the first rehearsal, saving time and effort!

Sometimes the accompaniment track will merely be providing you with a simple rhythm and harmonic structure (as in many G&S numbers or Schubert's simpler lieder, for example). But sometimes, the piano accompaniment will be a dialogue with the vocal line, interacting with it and providing answering phrases. In the case of JS Bach's arias, the orchestra is full of flowing contrapuntal lines, and the voice almost acts as just another instrument in the texture. In this case, an mp3 piano accompaniment recording allows you to immerse yourself in the full texture of the piece, and get an idea of how the other instruments interact with the vocal line.

For Karaoke

Karaoke has long been popular in the world of pop music, but classical karaoke backing tracks can be immensely enjoyable to perform with too. If you don't have access to a professional accompanist to play piano accompaniments for you - and many people don't - a service such as mp3accompanist.com gives you unfettered access to a top professional, albeit a virtual one!

Getting the Right Composition

The most important thing to bear in mind when looking for a backing track is to make sure you are buying the accompaniment recording in the correct key. Backing tracks are usually offered in a selection of popular keys, depending on whether or not they are for high or low voice. On request, mp3accompanist can provide you with recordings of non-standard keys for a small extra price.

Similarly with tempo, you can find backing tracks at different speeds to cater for different tastes and abilities; for example, the speed of coloratura runs or the breath control required on a long phrase. The pianists who record for mp3accompanist.com are highly experienced and base their compositions on benchmark recordings by great artists in terms of key and speed.

MP3 Format

Mp3 format has long been the standard for music files, providing optimum balance between file size and sound quality. As broadband speeds have increased, mp3accompanist has increased the audio quality of its mp3 accompaniment recordings to provide the best results. This means a slight increase in file size, but with download speeds getting faster and storage space on devices always increasing this is a small price to pay. Our tracks can be streamed from your account or downloaded direct to a PC or laptop, from where you can transfer onto a phone or tablet. We are currently developing an app that will allow users to download, store and play all of their mp3accompanist.com accompaniments on their phone or tablet.

Obviously, nothing will ever replace the subtlety of a good live pianist playing the accompaniment sensitively according to your needs, but there are myriad occasions when a professionally recorded backing track of the accompaniment is both a useful learning aide and an enjoyable thing to sing along with. Thousands of singers from all over the world have already downloaded from mp3accompanist.com. Why not join them and make your singing experience even better?