Hi! So I have an audition for a community theatre show on Sunday, and last time I auditioned for this company, the accompanist played my piece waaaay under tempo which messed me up a little, and I'm worried she's going to do it again, since she has a tendency to play under tempo. Do you have any advice of what I should do if she plays under tempo without coming off as rude? Thanks!
Here’s something from my post on how to speak with accompanists!
“When you’re counting out the tempo, don’t speed up.  This is the biggest thing.  When people come up to give us tempos, they feel like they’re wasting the directors time so they sing the tempo and snap along with it quietly, but they speed it up a bunch to get through it.  This is so counterintuitive–give us the tempo, even if it takes a few seconds to do.  Sing at the tempo you want to sing in the audition.  You’re probably thinking, well duh, of course–but seriously, it’s the biggest pitfall of singers when talking to accompanists.  We will take the tempo you tell us, we can’t ready our mind!  And then you’ll be very sad to find that we’re going far faster than you intended!  On this note, also don’t skip bars of rest–if your first few bars have a bar of rest, don’t skip or speed over it.  That helps us establish tempo as well.“
In addition, simply singing slower or faster should indicate to the accompanist that something is up and make their ears perk up. Sadly, not all accompanists are equally attuned to this, though if they know what they’re doing, they should be following you, not leading you.  So try to pick up the tempo by starting the first beat of each measure just a hair earlier, if that makes sense!
