Sizing up a niche music app: Appcompanist

Appcompanist gives singers, voice teachers, and vocal studios full musical control. The free version includes over 850 vocal exercises and warm-ups with full ...

Appcompanist gives singers, voice teachers, choral directors, and choirs full musical control over thousands of professional piano accompaniments.

Appcompanist offers 13000+ piano accompaniments and vocal exercises with patented playback controls for key, tempo, fermata, and melody blend.

Hi, newbie here :-D I have recently been introduced to this app called Appcompanist that seems to be popular among a lot of musical theatre/classical ...

Download the Appcompanist app on the App Store or Google Play. Unlimited access to over 1,000 Vocal Exercises, Warm-Ups and Vocalises with full app ...

Appcompanist gives singers, voice teachers, choral directors in real time. The free version includes over 1,000 Vocal Exercises and 75 complete ...

Learn how to use Appcompanist features like tempo controls, melody blend, fermata, pitch check, transpose, and more to practice smarter with professional ...

download the free Appcompanist app on the App Store or Google Play and start singing today!

The FREE version of the app gives users unlimited access to over 550 Vocal Exercises including Marchesi, Vaccai, Concone, Garcia, Panofka ...

This app has been a godsend to my vocal career. Thank you.

Appcompanist is so helpful for teaching art songs to musical theater and even opera. I have used it as a professor of music in higher education for the past 3 years, when I don’t have an accompanist. My only mild complaint is that sometimes it will say that it is in a particular key, but when I begin the solo line I discover that it is in the wrong key. But I figure it out.

UI is really bad for Apple users around subscriptions

This has been a life saver for practicing songs at tempo. Even when sheet music isn’t within reach. One tiny issue I have is that certain songs don’t have the certain “official” keys. For example, a piece that’s written in a minor key, but on the app the keys are all in major. Not a dealbreaker at all, just something I noticed.

Great selection of songs and helpful for any singer, but the subscription model is buggy. when I hit restore subscription, my app crashes and I can’t access what I paid for. Unfortunate, there’s not a lot of resources like this.

Might be great if I could get a confirmation code sent to me.

I forgot my password and requested technical support twice and received no response. I had to cancel my subscription since I can no longer use the app.

This app has been so amazing and helpful, but the new update made it completely unusable. After the update, I logged back in and had to recreate a profile. I tried purchasing the low cost subscription, but it told me I already had that subscription. When I click “restore subscription” nothing happens. When I try adding a song to my pick six monthly it says there’s a server error and they were unable to connect to my Apple ID. Please fix this! I was using this for auditions.

Just started taking lessons again, and WOW! I wish I would have had this tool during my undergraduate! I use this with my students, myself, and anyone that is a musician! Can’t wait to see how this app evolves! Can’t imagine it getting any better! THANK YOU!!!

It’s great to see that this app has grown significantly since the last time I used it. I had it for a few years back when it first started, and I’m finding out why I canceled it now that I’ve decided to give it another go. The selection is pretty versatile, but the app isn’t great for self tapes. We typically use our phones for taping, and would be immensely more useful if they had a computer version of the app. The video feature they added is pretty rough and doesn’t solve that fix. The audio isn’t loud enough from the phone speaker, and if you plug into a speaker, the mic moves over to the speaker (which makes your recording incredibly track dominant). The custom song feature is also incredibly glitchy. The cuts rarely work and often revert. Would love to see improvements to make it easier for taping — it ends up being more cost effective to hire pianists to make custom tracks or find recordings on YouTube than pay for a subscription. For those who just want to practice along and learn songs in Appcompanist’s catalogue, 5 stars, so this review is purely for limited access on audition side.

As a high school choir teacher with limited piano skills, Appcompanist has been a game changer when it comes to rehearsals and sectionals. The versatility of the app allows for me to run sectionals more effectively, gives a little extra help in full rehearsals and assists my rehearsal accompanist to cover every part AND the accompaniment when I ask for the impossible. I've been using Appcompanist regularly this school year and I have seen real results as students use the choral shares to solidify their parts in their own time. I use the app during sectionals since I don't have a piano player in every section. My accompanist and I can "travel" from section to section to assist and guide while the students without one of us still have a solid recording to work with. During full rehearsals, I've had my accompanist play the accompaniment while using the app over speakers to assist with parts when needed. The fact that I can turn those parts on and off as we go is amazing. We are able to slow things down when needed and the consistency of the recordings is a huge help. In the past, my accompanist would spend hours making parts recordings that the students might use. With appcompanist, they have easier access to the recordings, there are never any glitches or mistakes and the sound is clear and consistent. More of them use the app than the recordings we made because of the flexibility they have now over our own recordings. My accompanist is also freed up to work with students individually or in small groups, rather than the hours spent making recordings. As the app's choral library grows, using it is easier than ever, though I also thoroughly appreciate the option to send music to them to be added. After just this short time of using Appcompanist regularly, I can't imagine going back to the way I did things before.

I love this app. But only when it works. At least once a semester so far, it disconnects from my Apple ID and then tells me I’m not connected to my Apple ID when I clearly am. I have restarted my phone, restarted the app, deleted the app and redownloaded. Nothing works. The last thing I tried, which was deleting the app, caused it to fully log out of my subscription with accompanist. I clicked restore subscription and it says it can’t connect with servers, again because of my Apple ID. I checked my Apple ID and it clearly states that I still have access to my subscription. It’s clearly not my fault, and I need this fixed ASAP. Otherwise, the app is great. Love it but when it doesn’t work it’s ridiculous and infuriating. I get it, if you’re doing updates maybe that make the app not work for a bit or something, but if that’s what this is at least let us know.

The below review was my first experience with Appcompanist. As you can tell, I was deeply disappointed. However, since writing the review and an email, Appcompanist reached out again, genuinely apologised for their initial response, and kept me informed about what happened, how it happened, and when they anticipated the fix to be included in an update. That this error slipped through should stand as a warning to us all about where we source our material from. Even with the best of intentions, free providers cannot actually replace libraries and the expert knowledgable librarians have to offer and share. Finally, I still stand by my original choice to select Appcompanist. It does everything I needed an app to do (the ability to choose different keys, easily hold a “fermata” with the touch of the screen, change tempo, and change the melody/piano track mix). So, from two stars to five. Appcompanist really stepped up their game. While they gave this user a bit of a bumpy intro, their subsequent customer service communications have been nothing short of stellar. —————— Old review I was prepared to give a FIVE star review for (what I consider to be) a most brilliant app. Then I encountered an error and their customer service. First, the good. After spending an inordinate amount of time looking at apps, I settled on Appcompanist. It did everything I needed an app to do (the ability to choose different keys, easily hold a “fermata” with the touch of the screen, change tempo, and change the melody/piano track mix). Now, the bad. I (excitedly) purchased a subscription specifically for the piece “Fairest Isle” by Purcell with the intention of eventually upgrading to the higher level subscriptions as teaching in person picks back up. By the 4th second (or third measure) there was a problem. The track had a huge error. Not just once, but repeatedly throughout. The piece makes use of a flat seventh tone. Yet the accompaniment (in both melody and piano tracks) ignore this and play the seventh without the flat accidental. I immediately wrote to customer service (specifically holding off writing a review) to alert them to this error in the tracks and their quality control. I even spent time searching for and then sending links with examples of how it’s supposed to be played. Their response was “That’s unfortunate” and “you’re stuck with that one note until the next update”. Again, this isn’t just “one note” it is repeated all over both piano and melody tracks rendering it useless to me, even though I’ve paid for a subscription. No compensation was offered. While I would really LOVE to give this a five star review, because of the customer service experience so far, sadly I cannot.

I’ll just focus on one aria ( although several have similar problems). Your accompaniment of Sarastro’s aria, “ O Isis Und Osiris “ from Mozart’s Magic Flute has an abrupt tempo change right before the lyrics “ Lasst sie der Prüfung Früchte sehen “. Not good. But it gets worse because your tempo continues to grind even slower over the next few measures. The effect is that the second half of the aria is twice as slow as the first. Mozart did not write this and you will not hear a professional recording of this. I’m lucky: I know my rep and have great coaches. But this is not fair to young or new singers. Please correct these musical errors.

Such a great product! I use it every day and my students use it too. Love it, wish I had it when I was young singer.

So many unique features that make it great for practicing without a real accompanist. Much better than just using a recording.

Appcompanist saved my degree in my undergrad! Being a voice performance student during the pandemic made it so hard to have thorough online lessons and create recital recordings on my own. Appcompanist solved this problem by providing accompaniment from REAL pianists that is completely customizable. From tempi and key, to articulation and personal musical choices, Appcompanist has had no trouble keeping up with my music advancement. Not to mention they now do Choral works and allow for part sharing with students! This is a must have music tool for both soloists and choral directors alike!

I am very happy with this app so far. It is all I wanted and more as a singer. The developers are very good at their jobs ans have put their all into this app. Totally worth the money. Thank you Appcompanist!

Wonderful app! Easy to use. Love all of the options they keep adding like changing melody and tempo. A great tool for practicing on my own. You won’t realize how much you needed this app until you have it!

Wholeheartedly thank you to the Developer of this App, you are amazing!!!

An intuitive, flexible app. Combines both classical and musical theatre songs with great capabilities.

I’ve been using this app since 2018 and it has been such an essential part of my practicing and performing experience. The multiple features (like changing tempo, key, and being able to add fermatas) have enhanced my practicing and my ability to understand my music. A favorite feature of mine is pulling out the melody. You are able to fade it in and out to help you learn songs as well as correct any pitch issues you may have. Get this app!

This app is absolutely incredible and a must have for all theatre (and Classical) students. You can transpose to any key you could want, change the tempo, hear only the melody and do so much more. It’s affordable and an incredible app to use to practice for auditions, performances, and competitions. If you want to do theatre…download this app!

We have used the Accompanist for learning new pieces and to prepare for auditions and roles. It’s great how you can change the key or tempo for part of the piece The custom versions are great. Good selection of pieces for broadway. Looking for when they add more.

It’s been so helpful to use this app! And once you learn all the tricks it’s so much easier to use! Thank you!

First off, I love this app. It’s absolutely saved my life. I have the classical version, so I don’t know what the musical theater version is like, but I keep bumping up against famous arias that aren’t to be found. Other recommendations/requests: 1. A way to loop songs. 2. Duets. 3. Ability to bookmark places in the song. 4. A way to suggest songs to be added. Thank you again for this excellent app!

So I hate the app I could give it 0 star… you have to pay for everything!! Sorry but this app is horrible

I use this app all the time but the quality of the tracks is quite the range. The speed option should be optimized for tempos instead of percentages as well. Overly expensive for the lack of general quality

I’ve been playing around with the Ap and it takes some getting used to. The options for making audition cuts and changing tempos and keys and fabulous however, I noticed that your custom audition cut will NOT connect to a Bluetooth speaker completely defeating the purpose of using the cut for a self tape. I also wish that I could just upload accompaniment tracks I have already had made prior to purchasing the Ap and editing them in the Ap. It is unfortunate to have to be at the mercy of the Ap and what tracks are available :/

This is a long overdue review—and it is likely to be the only review I ever leave for any app. I’ve been using Appcompanist for three years now. It has become an integral—dare I say, instrumental—of my daily practice routine. In 2017, voice instructor during my undergrad and I stumbled upon this app due to our inability to find a live accompanist to be able to work with me in my lessons. The program covered a lot of the bases that were missing with Smart Music—and the development team was quite responsive to our repertoire requests. While individual artistic decisions may vary for the vocalist in relation to how they interpret or perform the music in relation to the recording—as a practice tool, Appcompanist is second to none. It strikes me as the most authentic set of rehearsal tracks for a recitalist in any of the high vocal arts—and has been integral to my process of learning music quickly, accurately, and with a consciousness of the full ensemble. I’d like to reiterate that the development team is responsive and reasonable, and as I have always approached them with realistic expectations (and as undemanding as possible), my repertoire requests have always been fulfilled within an equally reasonable timeframe. I swear by this program. I will continue to support it. Most importantly, I will continue to evangelize to my fellow vocalists about how wonderful this program is. It has been worth every penny I’ve spent on it thus far; and I know that it will continue to be so. If you are like me and don’t have the luxury of working with a pianist regularly, I cannot urge you strongly enough to subscribe to Appcompanist!

This app has been wonderful to have during COVID, both for me and my students. I do wish some accompaniments were a bit more musical, but that’s a lot to expect from an app. The one change I would really like to see is a version of the app for MacBook. Shortly before quarantine, I purchased a microphone for my iPhone and I find it frustrating that I can’t record myself singing along with Appcompanist because I have to use my phone for both. If I could play the accompaniments on my MacBook Air that would be SO helpful.

I was relying on this app to help me make recordings this fall for young artist programs. Sadly, it ended up being more frustrating than helpful. The biggest issue I have with it is that many of the recordings of standard opera rep have unpredictable accelerando and rubato played in. I ended up spending hours trying to undo the erratic tempo changes in my pieces using the custom version tool, so that I could sing and record the pieces my way instead of the pianist’s. I also had trouble making my audition videos using the app because the custom version tool, although a really great idea, doesn’t allow for the fact that fermati and cadenzas are going to be slightly different each time you sing something. I know you can always override using the fermata tool, but I couldn’t do that while making a video of myself. This caused more frustration when I inevitably would sing something either a little longer or shorter than I had when I made the custom version, and couldn’t predict when the next downbeat would come. This app has so much potential to be such a fantastic resource- the tools are awesome, they just need to be executed better. Why not record the piano parts senza rubato or accelerando, even when written in the score, to then allow the singer to make the adjustments as they create their own version? That way we won’t have to undo someone else’s version of the piece. It would also be really helpful to have some kind of visual tool (more than the fermata lighting up and then turning off) so one can see how soon to expect the accompaniment to come back in after a fermata.

WARNING: Do not use these tracks for any auditions if you are home in quarantine, unless you want to set yourself up to fail. This applies for this recent season of Young Artist Programs. I have to say, I was optimistic when I heard there was an app that was a lexicon of timeless works in your pocket. During this pandemic of COVID-19, it is more imperative then ever to have a virtual pianist on the go. Unfortunately, I have given just about every rendition a try with one glaring problem..... The Musicianship. I don’t know about you, but paying a monthly subscription for recordings that lack any sense of musicality and let alone basic pulse is infuriating. Sure the “custom versions” feature is great for making a hack job quick rubato section or fermata, maybe tempo change here and there, but none of that matters when there isn’t a steady tempo to begin with. Some egregious cases of this exist in La Calunnia from Barber of Seville, and Ein Mädchen oder Weibchen from The Magic Flute. These both are without a doubt the absolute worst renditions of these pieces I have ever heard. Both have horrible transitions, erratic, nonsensical tempo changes, and unnecessary additions to the accompaniment line. I truly am not over exaggerating here. I tried to give this app a chance a number of times, but the amateur quality of what you are paying for is hard to ignore. While pursuing my Masters, almost every rendition I have brought into a lesson or coaching has been met with bewilderment or even laughter at the poor quality of performance in recordings from my mentors. It’s that bad. Good luck trying to sing with any sense of musical collaboration whatsoever. Save your money and hire a pianist who will do the tracks just for you. Trust me. I am not one to waste my time writing reviews, but I need to do my fellow musicians a service.

I don’t usually write reviews but this app has been the game changer for my vocal studio. I no longer waste time worrying about accompanying my students. I can 100% focus on the students vocals. Recordings are beautiful with simple but powerful tools that still allow me to be in complete control of music editing. The digital library is huge and they keep adding to it all the time!

The best app for literally anyone dabbling in musical theatre. Whether if you’re a voice teacher, practicing your rep, or getting ready for an audition this app is right for you. Tons of songs and they keep adding more and more. I hope they add Forever Plaid!

Very useful. Awesome.

I can’t say enough good things about this app and it’s flexibility. It’s user-friendly, has a large collection of music and the ability to change tempos and keys is 2nd to none. When I had a special request, their customer service got back to me quickly and could not have been more helpful or supportive. I highly recommend this app to any singer. C. Stefany, Tappan, NY

I could not have gotten to where I am now without this app. I love it so much!

Appcompanist is truly a gift. My students have benefited so much from it and as their professor I am able to support them in real time by using this tool. In small colleges where their are not enough accompanists to be in every performance class, this tool has been a life saver. Thank you for creating it and offering it at such a reasonable price. I highly recommend this app to all professors and students. You will not regret your decision and your investment in yourself by subscribing to this amazing app!

The amount of repertoire available and the controls at hand to adapt for your style is as good as it can get absent a real life pianist. Even better, this was so helpful at the start of the Covid 19 crisis. I was able to make a recording of some lenten pieces to send to my church job, rather than going into the city and the church and risk being exposed or exposing others during this pandemic. I emailed the developers about my intended usage and they quickly responded with the green light. As an active performer and teacher, I feel the subscription price is worth it. Thank you AppCompanist.

I think this is an excellent app, but my one big complaint is that a lot of the recordings aren’t in tempo making them very difficult to practice with. It’s one thing if the singer is creating the rubato but when the accompanist is doing it it’s quite difficult to follow especially since in a lot of romantic pieces the accompaniment can be sparse making tempo impossible to predict. If these are meant to be used for practice, they should be strictly in time so the singer is able to count properly.

My initial impression is that this is a useful app for warmups, but it would be nice if it displayed the warmup in notation along with the syllables.

Love love love this app. It has totally freed up teaching for me so I can focus on the student and not limping along on the accompaniment. I also contacted customer support about some songs that I frequently teach and the response from them was incredibly fast, helpful, and productive. Cannot say enough good things about this app.

As a voice teacher and singing professional, when I heard about this app, I subscribed to it right away (for short term use). I quickly realized how wonderful this is for a voice teacher who, with decent, but not concert abilities, plays piano for my students lessons, which locks me at the piano, or else I’d need to hire a pianist, which isn’t financially feasible for the student base I have. From the inception of this app, it has slowly grown in its rep list, the ability to stop/start, change keys, etc is fabulous. I’ve really appreciated that the company WANTS to make it better. Anytime I’ve found an issue, I’ve brought it to their attention and they fix it and make changes. They are always listening to their subscribers because they want this to be something that is usable for a LONG time. And as a subscriber, I want this to be around for a LONG time too! Thank you, Appcompanist for trying to make our musical lives better.

I think that this app is cool but I feel there needs to be some additions to it 1. Add more music genres and songs. At auditions sometimes they want you to sing a specific genre and it would be nice to have more genres and more songs to be able to pick from and sing and I feel that it’s limited. 2. I think that if you want to buy the sheet music that you should and maybe only pay for the sheet music and have it play the song instead of a subscription. A lot of us go to school and I feel it’s a bit much with the amount for the subscription and even the 3.99 one is only for 6 songs. 3. Have an option to print out your sheet music and practice with the app for the song for your audition. I feel like many of us would like to have that option so that you can go back and practice parts of the song to improve on and have an accompanist to play the song. Thank you

Absolutely love this app! The freedom I have with the fermata button, tempo and key changes, the beautiful recordings, and the overall variety of repertoire make this app extremely unique and special! AND I love that it is accessible with VoiceOver! Perfect for both sighted and non-sighted singers! Can't wait to see what's next for this revolutionary app! 💖🎶☺️

This app works really well, I never run into issues with it. Well worth the money for the subscription.

Appcompanist is incredibly useful and user-friendly! Every feature is conceived with the singer and teacher in mind—including variable tempo, key, fermata, melody slider, and new tools to cut and edit excerpts. All of these fancy features would be pointless if there was not an extensive repertoire library with thousands of classical and music theater songs played by professional collaborative pianists. As a voice teacher and singer, I use Appcompanist daily in the studio. Much of the standard classical repertoire and standard-to-new musical theatre rep is available. It is especially helpful for contemporary music theater songs like “Waving Through A Window”. I’m a decent pianist, but I can’t play that! In preparing for my own performances, I was delighted to find the entire Bernstein song cycle, “I Hate Music!”. I’ve sung it before and am relearning it for a Bernstein at 100 concert. It’s very tricky! By the time I rehearse with my live accompanist, I will have solidly prepared thanks to Appcompanist. Whatever sorcerery created this digital magic, I thank you!

As a music educator who isn’t the best at piano, this app has been a lifesaver! Not only do I use it for myself, but I use it for my students who also love it!

This app is by far the best app for classical singers as well as musical theater singers. I have never seen an app or website or anything like this. It’s truly amazing. It has all the literature, the arias, the oratorio stuff. Everything from The Vagabond to Deh Viene alla Finestra! Wonderful app.