RECORDED ACCOMPANIMENTS
STUDY RECORDINGS
YourSolo.com
www.yoursolo.com
A French site offering downloadable MP3's of midi accompaniment tracks.
MP3 Accompanist
www.mp3accompanist.com
Downloadable MP3s of classical music piano accompaniments
Opera Karaoke
Download Mp3 piano accompaniments as well vocal line tracks and diction tracks of selected opera arias. Pay a membership fee and they will record the aria of your choice.
MusACom
5626 Brock St., Ste. A
Houston, TX 77023
(713) 926-9111
Fax: 713-926-9152
Art song packages including diction and translations by Nico Castel, recordings by a variety of well-known working artists; and accompaniment. Piano accompaniments. CD. $9.99 per song.
Music Minus One
50 Executive Blvd
Elmsford, NY 10523-1325
(800) NOW SING
Overseas (914) 592-1188
Fax: (914) 592-3116
www.minusone.com/site/site.cgi?page=index.html
A library of orchestral and piano recordings with and without the vocal track. Classical, jazz, Broadway, and film selections. I own a couple of the opera CDs for mezzo. They're fun to play with, but they were recorded in Bulgaria and some of the performance practices are very different than you'd expect to hear in the US (tempi, rubati, etc.). Also, while the Bulgarian mezzo who performs the selections is a very accomplished singer, her French and Italian diction is humorously awful; a young singer hoping to learn arias correctly from these performances would be sadly misguided. I can't speak for the other opera offerings in the collection, not having heard them. The art song accompaniments are by John Wustman. CD. $30-35 for an album of five arias, including the scores.
Pocket Coach
21525 Hathaway Avenue
Hayward, CA 94541-3728
(510) 785-1739
Fax: (510) 782-7930
Art songs and opera study tapes or CDs, including diction, translation, accompaniment, and study. Piano and "virtual orchestra" accompaniments available. CD. $40 for album of five arias.
Practice Perfect
PO Box 1096
Mendocino, CA 95460
(800) 821-3840 (US and Canada)
(707) 937-0460 (International)
Fax: (707) 937-0459 (US and Canada)
A selection of standard operas by role or complete, arias by fach, and choral works by part or complete. Piano accompaniment, on CD. $40 for major role; $25 for comprimario; $140 for full opera.