Accompaniment Fee

College Majors Music Major
1

<p>My son will be recording a concerto in the next few weeks for various upcoming local competitions. We have a good friend who is an outstanding pianist & organist and is well known throughout the NW suburbs of Chicago. The two have played duets together throughout the years. When she needs a cellist, she calls on him. She is one of his strongest mentors and supporters. I've never met a more positive person.</p>

<p>She will not allow us to pay her. I know she has always been paid in the past for the high school districts in the area. I've asked about her fee and she won't even discuss it. To us, her talent and assistance is priceless. </p>

<p>So, what is the standard fee for an accompanist? Since she will not accept a "payment for service," I'm hoping she will accept an honorarium.</p>

2

<p>How about gift certificates to a favorite restaurant? That's what we ended up doing with D's accompanist and he loved it. We did like $75 or $100 depending how much time was involved.</p>

3

<p>IZ,
That's probably what we will end up doing. She has begun divorce proceedings so that's why I wanted to make sure to pay her. But I'm sure a dinner out with the family would be much appreciated.</p>

<p>I also need to come up with an amount to pay his current cello teacher. He's offered his services and actually doing the taping (or recording) with his equipment. He too, has been very helpful.</p>

4

<p>If she has declined payment that forcefully, I do not think that calling it an honorarium rather than a fee or payment for service will make her see things any differently. She may consider it a returned favor given that your son has played cello when needed. I would suggest giving her a small personal gift (perhaps a framed photo of her and your son) and a copy of the recording.</p>

<p>I know of no standard fee for an accompanist. It can vary with location (urban areas like yours are usually more expensive), experience of the accompanist, the amount of music you ask them to prepare, the amount of rehearsal time with your son that is required, whether she has to travel and possibly other factors as well. We paid a very good local accompanist about $150 a few years back for a concerto competition that daughter entered. That included the performance, about an hour of rehearsal time beforehand plus whatever time he needed on his own to prepare the music.</p>

<p>Crossposted wit ImperialZeppelin and the OP: A restaurant gift certificate also sounds good.</p>

<p>You can generally rent professional studio time for $75 to $125 per hour. Amateurs with solid experience and decent equipment can generally be found for half to two-thirds of that amount. People who have a mishmosh of gear and just enough knowledge to be dangerous are a dime a dozen.</p>

5

<p>BassDad, she falls right into the category you have described. She awarded my son a fairly generous scholarship (given his age at the time) a few years back for his volunteer gigs with her. Again, we saw the opportunities as more than enough. And her confidence boost & reassuring personality alone are worth big bucks to us. </p>

<p>Thank you for your guidelines on payment to the teacher for his time & recording equipment. I'm fairly confident it's good equipment. He doesn't appear to be a starving artist. But who knows...</p>

6

<p>I'm in agreement with what the others have said... if she doesn't want payment, don't force it. A restaurant gift certificate, floral arrangement, concert tickets or whatever to show your thanks is fine. Same goes for the teacher and services for recording. </p>

<p>Mentors like these are a gem.</p>

7

<p>We have been in the same situation...someone who won't accept payment. We have given gift certificates to restaurants along with a nice hand written note of appreciation for all that person did for DS.</p>

8

<p>Having never been in the situation where we personally knew an accompanist, we've always had to pay. We have paid between $40-60 per hour. Ususally a minimum of 3 hours, including the competition. </p>

<p>I would agree with the others that you needn't give a certificate that is equivalent to the amount, just something personal and perhaps a restaurant gift certificate. I just thought you might like to know what you would be paying her if she was here in NJ & NY.</p>

9

<p>Thank you team_mom. I was curious.</p>

10

<p>Another point of reference- for son's Hartt audition, I "paid" a local well known performing artist about $350-400 (actually, we bartered services, mine in exchange for his) for a couple of run throughs and the actual on-site audition, which included his travel time. </p>

<p>At school, son used one doctoral student exclusively. They often worked quid pro quo, exchanging time when she needed string accompaniment. For his senior recital, her fee was $250 ish, which included the requisite practices and performance.</p>

11

<p>Almost posted this in "sheep music" because I love the thread name, but this is more apropos. I hope no one minds resurrecting a thread--I like to append to earlier helpful threads rather than start a new one.</p>

<p>So, here's the question: my son is being accompanied on the train and on piano at two auditions today. That is, his accompanist is going into the city with him. I planned on having S pay for tickets/lunch/taxi/whatever and also paying for two hours of accompaniment ($75/hr), even though the actual trip will take about 6 hours. Any thoughts on this? Should I be paying more for travel time? He has a salaried job as church organist, so he is not necessarily missing out on other income.</p>

12

<p>It depends. It seems like there might be a bit more of a personal friendship/mentor relationship rather than purely a professional accompianist here, but I may be reading more into it than there actually is.</p>

<p>A straight professional relationship normally covers all the discussions about money upfront, including expectations for meals, travel costs and travel time. (Some have a straight hourly fee time of travel, some for time above a predetermined mileage radius). If the relationship is strictly professional, I'd ask, or contact him tomorrow and ask what is owed for travel time.</p>

<p>Where it may get sticky is if the accompianist is a personal friend or mentor. While he might want and expect his fee for the actual service, he may feel close enough to give his travel time as a gift, or may even be affronted if offered any money for his services. You and son should have a pretty good read on the relationship if one exists.</p>

<p>A couple of personal experiences for reference:</p>

<p>For son's on-site (and one recorded submission) auditions, while I was willing to pay all including travel, I had a previous (non music) professional relationship with his accompianist. We actually bartered services, mine for his. It worked out very equitably, and all parties were happy.</p>

<p>The one accompianist my son used exclusively his last two years as an undergrad for juries, recitals, and grad prescreens worked with him quid pro quo, again bartering services, his when she needed string accompiament. (See my #10 post above; she never cashed his check, and returned it with a graduation card.)</p>

<p>Son's local chamber coach took him into NYC instrument shopping, at our request. I fully expected to pay her hourly rate, and was quite willing to do so. When son said I had given him a signed check, and he just needed to fill in the amount her response (in heavily accented Russian) was "Tell your father he is idiot... he gives me great insult!" She even offered to buy lunch, but relented when son said he would not eat if she paid. </p>

<p>I think the actual travel ticket costs, lunch (and dinner if necessary) should be paid, in addition to all fees. Ask about his travel time, and see. If he says don't worry, I'd still follow-up with a gift certificate at a local restaurant.</p>

13

<p>It is usual to negotiate the fee up front, so I would suggest asking the accompanist what he feels is fair. Definitely include the tickets/taxi; paying for his lunch is a nice touch. If he asks for less than you had planned on and you are feeling generous, you can always give him the $150. If he asks for more, then at least you will know where you stand.</p>

<p>Some of the freelancers with whom I perform structure their fees such that the first hour is more expensive and all subsequent time (including travel above some set distance) is charged at a lower rate. For example, they might charge $150 for the first hour of playing, but then $50 per additional hour which could be performance, rehearsal or travel time, with the first hour of travel not charged. I am not suggesting that you pay your accompanist these amounts, just using them as examples of the way others have structured their charges. If this accompanist has done this sort of thing before, he may well be able to quote his standard rates.</p>

<p>The fact that he is a salaried organist should not influence your decision. Unless he has one of the top handful of jobs in the profession, organists salaries are such that he would have to supplement that income somehow. The time spent with your son could be time he would have normally spent teaching or doing something else for pay.</p>

<p>(Crossposted with violadad once more.)</p>

14

<p>I'll add a bit more to this since I originally started this thread. </p>

<p>When we originally discussed fees with our accompanist she wouldn't accept $$. Then, when my son was called back as a competition finalist & needed accompaniment, & since I saw this was leading to more of her time, I offered to pay her normal fee, she then accepted.</p>

<p>Next month we are also doing what you've described - - she's accompanying for another concerto competition at CYSO, she's riding with us, no lunch involved, 1 or 2 rehearsals during the week, and she's charging us $200.</p>

<p>I guess the way I look at it is that she's a musician and most likely takes on extra jobs like this as part of her salary. I'm sure she makes fairly good money as a church music director/organist but as we all know, a job in music is not one of the higher paying professions. Plus I know that during her normal week, most of it is rehearsing for Sunday, choir rehearsals, music meetings, etc. In other words, she may not be missing out on other paying jobs but her job in general is a very busy one throughout the week. That's why I felt it was necessary to pay her for her time.</p>

15

<p>I look at these things this way: time a professional is spent doing anything as a "job", is time away from other paying possibilities, or even enjoyable endeavors with family, free time etc. I think it is really important to pay for travel and all incidentals, AND the hourly fee. People often don't consider the travel all that important, but it really is, since that is time that the professional can't be working or doing something else.</p>

<p>I always err in that direction, but if someone says, "oh no, I couldn't possibly expect payment for x,y,z" I don't push cash on them either.</p>

16

<p>Thanks for the detailed replies--I appreciate the insights. (I love "tell your father he is an idiot!")</p>

<p>Violadad, you are right about the friendship--we've done lots of volunteer help for his music projects (church related, all) and have had him over for dinner several times. Perhaps because he's seen our tiny house in contrast to our very rich community (!), every time I ask him about rates, he says, "No, no, nothing for you" so I have to ask other people what he charges. He does cash checks when I slip them on his desk! It's only right, after all. I think it might be best to pay for the time spent in the city--four hours--and cover travel and lunch expenses. He's no doubt thinking ahead to his next post and income possibilities, as he is coming to the end of a 2-year job. He's incredibly talented and personable, so I have no doubt he will go far.</p>

<p>Cheaper than flying to the universities to audition, too! I realize it's better to go, but S's schedule has been just unworkable in that regard.</p>

17

<p>Standard accompaniment fee? Last year for my senior recital at Juilliard, my accompanist had a $35/hr fee. I thought that was quite low, but there you are.</p>