Collab Corner.

Welcome to "Collab Corner"! I am more excited about this column than I probably can explain, for even its very existence is yet another indication of the ever increasing, healthy impact well trained collaborative pianists are having on the overall performance quality in our concert halls, opera houses, universities, conservatories, colleges, and festivals. We are not only performers, but devoted educators whose daily lives potentially touch not only the next generation of collabs, but all singers and instrumentalists studying in our music schools and private studios.

When I graduated with a BM in piano in 1971 from the North Carolina School of Arts, now the University of North Carolina School of Arts, I really had been for four years an undergraduate collab, long before the term existed. My curriculum was amazingly invented for me alone when, after meeting and playing in a vocal master class given at NCSA by the great Viennese accompanist, Paul Ulanovsky, I realized, for the first time, that there were people who actually did professionally what I wanted to do. You see, I thought all pianists were soloists who from time to time, in order to keep the great repertoires of song and sonata before the public, and to aid their vocal and instrumental colleagues, enjoyed coming down from their solitary labors in the concerto and solo repertoires to the blessed camaraderie of making music with others. I remember running to Dean Luigi Mennini's office with the news that Mr. Ulanovsky thought I had real talent as an accompanist and pleaded to be allowed to study accompaniment. Dr. Mennini had no hesitation in creating for me the curriculum that is, surprisingly, not much different from those I have created and in which I have worked so happily since.

There were only two schools in the U.S. that in 1971 had programs of collaborative piano study. The Eastman School of Music had extensive training via pianist Brooks Smith, most noted for his superb partnering with Jascha Heifetz, but no named program at that point. University of Southern California, whose program was begun in name and, interestingly, as an undergraduate program in 1949 by the brilliant accompanist Gwendolyn Koldofsky, called their programs of study "piano accompanying" programs. Now there are nearly a hundred named programs of graduate study in our North America, and more being created both here, in Europe, and in Asia. In only forty-four years then, we have seen the founding and growth of a field that is as alive and excellent as any other, often more so, in our music schools. And even though my own personal research is nothing more than my own (Stay tuned! Perhaps we together will formalize this research), it is completely clear to me that collaborative pianists of all sorts are, despite often being on the lower end of salaries and fees, those who enjoy overwhelmingly large job satisfaction and remain in the field their entire careers. Many of us would have been singers, I believe, if we had been gifted with worthy voices, but it is known that we passionately love singers in the extreme and, of course, we spend our lives delightedly in study of languages, lyric diction, and poetry!

I thank Editor Richard Sjoerdsma for his challenge to me in inviting me aboard, for his promised mentorship, and for his warm welcome in the very first "Collab Corner" of the previous issue of Journal of Singing. I am grateful for his articulate and superb explanation of our North American preference for the term "collaborative pianist" rather than "accompanist." Indeed, we here in North America find, as did my teacher Samuel Sanders, the term "accompanist" demeaning. But our honored British, German, and Austrian friends who do what we do still most often adhere to the term "accompanist," and seem to feel, unlike us, that the term carries with it a connotation of being highly honored and inclusive of all the things we all know it to be, but feel the term does not express. Perhaps it is a cultural thing. Europe has, after all, been enjoying accompanying/collaborative piano playing much longer than have we. By any name, we are proud. But I agree wholeheartedly with Richard that the terms "collaborative artist" and "collaborative piano" suggest the broad base of training and skills generally expected today, as well as a collaborative personality and well developed cultural and musical acuity. Certainly, the term suggests the highest of standards to which we all strive to achieve and maintain.

Are you aware that the very term "collaborative pianist" was born at The Juilliard School? In the earliest days of our department, begun in 1984 by Samuel Sanders (1937-1999) and Marshall Williamson (1931-2010), Sam (who always wanted to be called only by his first name) struggled long and hard to coin an accurately descriptive term of what we really do. Sam was the great American pioneer in building respect for pianists who perform with others. He insisted that accompanists' names be on programs (can you imagine that they weren't always?), that they be labeled as "pianist" rather than "accompanist" (he joked that the word "accompanist" sounded as if we carried our partners' luggage), and that collaborative pianists were treated with the same respect all other performers enjoyed. Sam gave many interviews. A quick online "Samuel Sanders, pianist" search will result in a superb history lesson on the development of our chosen profession. You will see that Sam helped the music world, as well as the public, begin to understand that, indeed, we are often most different from our solo pianist colleagues, but in no way lesser.

Sam, one of the wittiest men ever, was much amused by a dictionary definition he found of "collaborator": "to co-operate with the enemy." Immediately upon seeing it, he told me with his determined and impish grin, he decided that "Collaborative Piano" should be the title for our department! No one has ever loved his performing partners more than did Sam. But in his penchant for mischief, he totally delighted in thinking of his string and vocal partners as "the enemy." Thus, the term was born. He would be so proud to know of its wide use--as proud as we are to use it!

I am eager to know what you wish this column to address and, as always, I am also full of ideas. In a coming article, I would like to share with you why I think vocal chamber music is the one of the very most important, and sadly neglected, repertoires to effectively train singers and how such training might be accomplished inside academia. I would also soon like to share with you a guide of effective protocol for collaborative pianists in your studios. I can't wait for all that is to come. I know I speak for all collabs when I say that we are deeply honored to be a part of NATS and JOS!

Margo Garrett has enjoyed a long and respected performing career as a collaborative pianist and has enjoyed lengthy performing relationships with many noted America recitalists including sopranos Kathleen Battle, Barbara Bonney, Elizabeth Futral, the late Judith Raskin, Lucy Shelton, and Dawn Upshaw, tenors Anthony Dean Griffey and Paul Sperry, as well as a large number of leading instrumentalists and chamber music groups. Ms. Garrett has premiered over 35 works. Her recordings can be found on Albany, CRI, Delos, Deutsche Grammophon (1992 Grammy for Best Vocal Recital), Dorian, Musical Heritage Society, Nonesuch, Orion and Sony Classical.

Ms. Garrett codirected the Collaborative Piano Department at New England Conservatory from 1986 to 1992 while simultaneously heading the Collaborative Piano department at The Juilliard School from 1985 to 1991. She returned, in 2000, to The Juilliard School, where she remains. Ms. Garrett directed the Tanglewood Music Center vocal program for the last 6 of her 19 years of teaching there (1979-1997), was awarded the 1989 American Society of Composers and Publishers (ASCAP) Most Creative Programming Award, and, from 1999 through 2006, was Faculty Chair of The Steans Institute for Young Artist's vocal programs at Ravinia. In addition to frequent U.S. classes and residencies at "SongFest" in Los Angeles and at Vancouver's VISI, recent seasons have found Ms. Garrett in residence at Suzhou, China's Souchow University, Taiwan Normal Teacher's University, in Germany at Munich's Hochschule fur Musik, and in Zwickau as a judge for the 15th International Schumann Vocal Competition.

Memory, hither come,
 And tune your merry notes;
And, while upon the wind,
 Your music floats,
I'll pour upon the stream,
 Where sighing lovers dream,
And fish for fancies as they pass
 Within the watery glass.

I'll drink of the clear stream,
 And hear the linnet's song;
And there I'll lie and dream
 The day along:
And, when night comes, I'll go
 To places ft for woe,
Walking along the darken'd valley,
 With silent Melancholoy.

                                      William Blake, Song

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Author:	Garrett, Margo
Publication:	Journal of Singing
Date:	Nov 1, 2015
Words:	1477
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