Accompaniments

[henrik.hank]

Where can I find accompaniment to minuets and other dances? Are there books with accompaniment?
Are there accompaniment to dances anywhere?
What I am thinking of is when you have for example a violist playing the melody and you playing an accompaniment.
I hear people accompanying dances so there must be some accompaniments somewhere.

[Piperdane]

You might look at IMSLP. Search for the piece by composer.

[Leisesturm]

Seems that without trying at all I have played more Sarabandes, Gigues, Gavottes, Minuets and other dance music than anyone could want. They are everywhere. No, they won't be in a collection called "Dance Accompaniments" or maybe they will! Every instrument has its repertoire of dance forms. Every instrument except keyboard and fretted instruments will also have the accompaniment for that instrument as part of the score. Try a library.

[henrik.hank]

You might look at IMSLP. Search for the piece by composer.

I searched for minuets but could not find the accompaniment.
Everything is written for solo keyboard.

[henrik.hank]

Seems that without trying at all I have played more Sarabandes, Gigues, Gavottes, Minuets and other dance music than anyone could want. They are everywhere. No, they won't be in a collection called "Dance Accompaniments" or maybe they will! Every instrument has its repertoire of dance forms. Every instrument except keyboard and fretted instruments will also have the accompaniment for that instrument as part of the score. Try a library.

Where do I find the sheets with keyboard accompaniment.? I see all those minuets in books but never the accompaniments. Where did they hide it?!?
or do they think playing accompaniments are easy and should never be written down?
I can't even play an accompaniment to Bwv anh 114. It is embarasing! Why is accompanying a melody player not taught at all?

[myorgan]

I searched for minuets but could not find the accompaniment.

Took 10-20 seconds to find this: https://imslp.org/wiki/6_Minuets%2C_...2C_Ludwig_van)
Once I went to the sheet music section, I clicked on the Arrangements and Transcriptions tab, and there were several with different instrumentations.

Why is accompanying a melody player not taught at all?

It IS taught-generally in the 3^rd or 4^th year of one's bachelor's degree program. The accompaniment you seek is generally called figured bass, but someone who doesn't know how to read it would never know to look for it without first learning music theory and music history.

Many figured bass parts are written out (realised), but generally they aren't readily available. Why? Because those realised parts almost always represent someone's intellectual property, and are under copyright. There is generally not enough demand to warrant complete editions, or to make it profitable for publishers.

Michael

[Peterboroughdiapason]

You could try looking for dances for violin and piano, for example. (Or any other melody instrument, of course.)

You're probably looking for something like this: http://hz.imslp.info/files/imglnks/u..._dances_pf.pdf

As for learning how to make up your own accompaniments. You need to know enough harmony to do it on paper first, then you could practise playing accompaniments 4 bars at a time until it gets easy. Accompaniments could be very simple to start with: the right hand could play the melody and the left hand just a bass part. You could then add one or two inner parts. Then perhaps leave out the melody. Harmonies for dances could be very simple: tonic, dominant and subdominant chords could get you a long way.

Figured bass is a whole new ball game! I don't think you'd find figured bass parts for country dances though you might for classical ones from the Baroque period.

[andijah]

Why is accompanying a melody player not taught at all?

My experience is different. I learned basic continuo playing when I was still at school, plus accompanying singers or choirs, and then of course it was part of my degree at music college.

[andijah]

Is this something you're looking for?
https://imslp.org/wiki/Menuet_con_variazioni_(Anonymous)

Or do you want to learn continuo like in the famous Bach-Schemelli collection (https://www.editionpeters.com/produc...melli/ep4573)? If this is the case, a teacher will be very helpful. Especially for the Peters edition which uses other clefs than the familiar bass and treble clef.

[regeron]

Where do I find the sheets with keyboard accompaniment.? I see all those minuets in books but never the accompaniments. Where did they hide it?!?
or do they think playing accompaniments are easy and should never be written down?
I can't even play an accompaniment to Bwv anh 114. It is embarasing! Why is accompanying a melody player not taught at all?

Please clarify for us - what kind of music are you looking at and what kind are you looking for? There are at least four common options:
- a solo instrument with no accompaniment;
- a solo instrument with keyboard accompaniment;
- a keyboard solo;
- an instrumental ensemble, ranging from duets for two melody instruments to settings for 3, 4, or more instruments.

It sounds like you're looking for the second type but have only found the first and third.

If you have the third type, your solo instrument player could simply play the melody along with you.

I'm also not sure whether you intend for people to dance while you play or if this is just for playing/listening.

As has been mentioned, in a normal music library, it's hard to NOT find any dances. They really are that common.