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Follow the Leader

© Chris Mindel

A few years ago, I heard about a computer program called Vivace. It was an accompaniment program. You played your solo, and it provided all the rest. “All the rest” could be simply a piano, a small jazz combo, a full jazz band, or even a symphony orchestra. This computer program has now evolved into SmartMusic Studio, by Coda Music Technology, Inc.

Now, this is going to be an unusual review, as I have never tried the product. Which also means, if you have, please start a discussion posting your ideas about this product. I am writing this review to put out my ideas on such a product (and on some of its features), and to let you know it exists in the first place.

When I heard about Vivace, I thought it was a fantastic idea. Provide any student with the opportunity to practice whenever she or he wanted to, as if they were in a concert situation. Having to keep up and stay in tune with other players. After all, playing a solo is also about blending with the background at times. And always to work with other musicians to present one unified musical idea for the piece. So practicing in the ideal concert situation of your piece is therefore the ideal practice situation.

One thing troubled my though, when I first heard about this program. I was told the accompaniment followed the speed of the performer. This is the danger of the program. If the orchestra follows your speed, you will end up playing the easy parts fast and slowing down for the difficult passages. Practicing this way will never lead to mastery of the piece. New, revamped SmartMusic Studio still has this “Intelligent Accompaniment” feature, but you can turn it off to practice the piece at the speed it was written in. I do not know if you can set a tempo. To me, without the ability to set the tempo of the piece, this entire program is worthless.

So, turn “Intelligent Accompaniment” off, and now you’re cooking. You are rehearsing in the most advantageous situation. But, is accompaniment available for your piece? According to Coda Music’s website, over 5,000 pieces are available. I did a little search, and found accompaniment for the Creston Sonata, the Glazunov Concerto, and Ibert’s Concerto de Camera. So, they do have some heavy hitters in their database. Of course, you have to pay for each one. A slight drawback, but then are you really going to play over 5,000 pieces of music for over 10 different instruments? Well, maybe. But you probably won’t need them all at once.

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