As a high school choir teacher with limited piano skills, Appcompanist has been a game changer when it comes to rehearsals and sectionals. The versatility of the app allows for me to run sectionals more effectively, gives a little extra help in full rehearsals and assists my rehearsal accompanist to cover every part AND the accompaniment when I ask for the impossible. I've been using Appcompanist regularly this school year and I have seen real results as students use the choral shares to solidify their parts in their own time. I use the app during sectionals since I don't have a piano player in every section. My accompanist and I can "travel" from section to section to assist and guide while the students without one of us still have a solid recording to work with. During full rehearsals, I've had my accompanist play the accompaniment while using the app over speakers to assist with parts when needed. The fact that I can turn those parts on and off as we go is amazing. We are able to slow things down when needed and the consistency of the recordings is a huge help. In the past, my accompanist would spend hours making parts recordings that the students might use. With appcompanist, they have easier access to the recordings, there are never any glitches or mistakes and the sound is clear and consistent. More of them use the app than the recordings we made because of the flexibility they have now over our own recordings. My accompanist is also freed up to work with students individually or in small groups, rather than the hours spent making recordings. As the app's choral library grows, using it is easier than ever, though I also thoroughly appreciate the option to send music to them to be added. After just this short time of using Appcompanist regularly, I can't imagine going back to the way I did things before.

Appcompanist is incredibly useful and user-friendly! Every feature is conceived with the singer and teacher in mind—including variable tempo, key, fermata, melody slider, and new tools to cut and edit excerpts. All of these fancy features would be pointless if there was not an extensive repertoire library with thousands of classical and music theater songs played by professional collaborative pianists. As a voice teacher and singer, I use Appcompanist daily in the studio. Much of the standard classical repertoire and standard-to-new musical theatre rep is available. It is especially helpful for contemporary music theater songs like “Waving Through A Window”. I’m a decent pianist, but I can’t play that! In preparing for my own performances, I was delighted to find the entire Bernstein song cycle, “I Hate Music!”. I’ve sung it before and am relearning it for a Bernstein at 100 concert. It’s very tricky! By the time I rehearse with my live accompanist, I will have solidly prepared thanks to Appcompanist. Whatever sorcerery created this digital magic, I thank you!

I was relying on this app to help me make recordings this fall for young artist programs. Sadly, it ended up being more frustrating than helpful. The biggest issue I have with it is that many of the recordings of standard opera rep have unpredictable accelerando and rubato played in. I ended up spending hours trying to undo the erratic tempo changes in my pieces using the custom version tool, so that I could sing and record the pieces my way instead of the pianist’s. I also had trouble making my audition videos using the app because the custom version tool, although a really great idea, doesn’t allow for the fact that fermati and cadenzas are going to be slightly different each time you sing something. I know you can always override using the fermata tool, but I couldn’t do that while making a video of myself. This caused more frustration when I inevitably would sing something either a little longer or shorter than I had when I made the custom version, and couldn’t predict when the next downbeat would come. This app has so much potential to be such a fantastic resource- the tools are awesome, they just need to be executed better. Why not record the piano parts senza rubato or accelerando, even when written in the score, to then allow the singer to make the adjustments as they create their own version? That way we won’t have to undo someone else’s version of the piece. It would also be really helpful to have some kind of visual tool (more than the fermata lighting up and then turning off) so one can see how soon to expect the accompaniment to come back in after a fermata.

I have been having so much fun singing with Appcompanist, it has helped renewed my joy in singing and my willingness to practice. Knowing that I have all the accompaniment for my songs PLUS melody track if needed, is awesome. Being able to change keys and tempo INSTANTLY is so cool and helpful. I am still learning how to use the fermata button, but I think it is so great that the feature is there. The catalogue of songs is extensive (opera art song, musicals, etc) and I emailed the developers to get some spirituals added particularly those by Moses Hogan. They were super responsive and helpful and they said they would prioritize adding those songs. The app sits on my iPhone, but once I connect my phone to an external speaker, it sounds like I have a pianist right in the room! I have been practicing with the app and I plan to perform with it this Sunday (10/29). I have been looking for something like this for a long time. Check it out, it rocks! Woo hoo!!