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am fuming and need to let off steam here... (and am new to this forum... excuse the ramble)!

I was accompanying a student taking end of school ('A' level equivilant music practicals. I am an experianced accompanist I might add.
The mother firstly wanted a free first rehearsal (she said she wanted to 'audition' me. then she sat in on every single rehearsal,, and then at the end would criticise various aspects of my playing.
the crunch came when I received a call from her saying that 'she hoped I would have all my parts learned properly by the next rehearsal' !!!! (what actually happened was - as turning a page I played with just right hand played a wrong note and told pupil to continue and we would go over that part again)...
I told her I knew everything completely satisfactorily and that her child was doing fine and would walk through the practical but she continued to whinge.
I then received a text (!) from the doting Mama saying she was cancelling me and would cancel the cheque... (all this was with 2 days to the exam).
I had obviously rearranged my own work to do the exam and theoretically could have turned down other work. I then had to sort out with the bank and chase her for the money she owed me for the rehearsals already done (she begrudgingly said she would pay for them)
Has anyone else had a similar experience?? Outcome???

What a pain in the parts...I LOATHE parents like that. Know bugger all squared in a box about music, but freely offer advice and opinions. I'm not surprised you're livid; I would be seeing if I could afford a hitman...
At times like this it's very useful to belong to the Incorporated Society of Musicians. They're very good at resolving problems like this, and your membership entitles you to free legal help in such cases if you have the right degree of membership. I'd consider joining if you do a lot of accompaniment; it's why I joined, although as an accompanist you do slip down the cracks between the keys somewhat, not being a teacher or a composer.
Or buy a baseball bat...

thanks for reply Gill..... not sure if I;d go to quite those lengths.... however irritating they do be!
The organisation who recommended me to this woman then rang her and told her she had been wrong to cancel me etc etc etc as they were annoyed.... and I then got ANOTHER voicemail from her today saying she wanted no more of my lies and never to hear from me again and if she did she would be contacting her solicitor...
Obviously a fully paid up member of the local lunatic asylum...

And if the kid only gets 99% she will blame you

Barrie

I think you were unlucky. I do lots of that sort of exam accompanying and I've never had a problem. I've never known a parent criticise my skills and I've certainly never had problems with payment.
I agree that ISM membership is very useful and I have been a member for decades. However, I've a suspicion that they would recommend having a written contact for this sort of thing. I'm sure they would provide one, but who would be bothered with all that rigmarole for a one-off exam?