The Mudcat Café TM
Thread #115342 Message #2468031
Posted By: Will Fly
17-Oct-08 - 04:16 AM
Thread Name: Help with piano arrangements
Subject: RE: Help with piano arrangements
It's not really what combination of instruments you use per se (though perhaps jaws harp & spoons might be considered weird, for example) but, as has been said above, what you do with 'em. As to piano being considered not quite right for folk, I was watching a June Tabor concert on BBC4 the other night - backed by guitar, double bass, sax, melodeon - and piano. Sounded great - and the piano was used very sensitively and differently on each track on which it appeared.
I played guitar for some years in a mainstream jazz band where, occasionally, a pianist would sit in. Whether the paino and guitar meshed or competed (and there was huge potential for the latter) really did depend on both players listening carefully to each other. Generally speaking on these occasions, less was more. A principle you might want to apply, at first, when you have a crack at it all. Best of luck.