Sunday, January 08, 2017

A Note on Accompaniment

Why is it assumed that an accompaniment runs simultaneously with the thing it's accompanying? When an adult accompanies a child to an event or the zoo, say, or someone walks with a another person — or maybe a pet — on a walk through a park or shopping mall, the accompaniment can be side by side or one ahead of the other. (Indeed, in crowded spaces, single file may be the rule rather than side-by-side.) So why not more pieces in which the thing and its accompaniment are not simultaneous, but just proximate, in the same neighborhood, keeping an ear or eye out for the other? I could imagine a solo performed in the first half of a concert with its accompaniment bopping in late in the second half, for example... they're still attached, just on a longer leash.