The Solution Lies in Our Hands

On 15 April 2025, David G. Miller spoke at a dinner in Brisbane to celebrate the 30th anniversary of the foundation of the Accompanists' Guild of Queensland. This is what he said:

There is no branch of the art of music about which so little is known as the art of accompaniment. In fact, it is not too much to say that it is the only aspect of music that is not understood, except by accompanists themselves and, in a lesser degree by the artists they accompany. The idea of an accompanist, as it exists vaguely in the public mind, is that he is a pianist who is not competent to play solos; that is supposed to be his chief qualification and if any further thought were given to the matter a certain amount of technique, the ability to read fluently and the possession of a sufficiently unobtrusive personality would be considered to be the chief factors that contribute to the making of an accompanist.

This is from Algernon H. Lindo's book, The Art of Accompaniment (1916). Lindo was an English pianist, composer, author and pedagogue who died suddenly in Sydney in 1927, just as he had been appointed to the staff of the NSW Conservatorium of Music to take charge of the new classes established for the study of piano accompanying.

In more than 100 years, has anything changed for our profession?

• Gerald Moore: “The Unashamed Accompaniment” (1943) and “Am I Too Loud (1962)

• Geoffrey Parsons: Countless recordings with his name written so small it can hardly be seen by the naked eye.

• We have concert promotion material where the pianist is barely mentioned, except perhaps as an after-thought.

• Eisteddfod sections that go way over time, but the “accompanists” just have to wait around.

• The possibilities of comprehensive training for young accompanists are still disappointingly limited at primary, secondary and tertiary levels.

I believe the solution lies in our hands.

The reason we are all here today is because you are celebrating the thirtieth anniversary of the wonderful initiative taken here in 1994 to promote our profession by establishing an Accompanists’ Guild of Queensland. Congratulations!

South Australia first, then Queensland started guilds and both encouraged New South Wales to join the movement. The ACT Keyboard Association in Canberra has recently appointed a “collaborative piano” expert to their committee.  Hopefully we may one day soon see state and regional guilds all over Australia. I believe that if the true status of the piano accompanist in the Australian music community is fully recognised, we will all benefit.

The Australian Guild of Collaborative Pianists

At the beginning of last year, I conceived the idea of a wide-ranging national organisation to help coordinate the magnificent work being done by each of the state guilds; initially by holding regular monthly discussion forums to address matters of mutual interest.

There is absolutely no financial commitment required. The AGCP invites its “associates” to attend these meetings freely and share ideas and information with like-minded colleagues all over Australia and beyond. By simply going to the AGCP website and requesting an invitation to the next meeting, you will be on our list. Notes of each meeting will be sent to you if you cannot attend on the day.

We've had many lively conversations with state guild members and interested parties from the wider music profession - performers, teachers and administrators.

Our website agcp.au contains a wide range of material, including personal blogs, videos, academic publications, competitions, concerts and other events.

We were delighted to be able to announce at our last meeting that the renowned British pianist, pedagogue and author, Graham Johnson, had agreed to become our patron. He has already attended a meeting, even though it was 6am in London and extremely cold!

Raising the profile of collaborative pianists

The AGCP has a wide-ranging mailing list including the Australian National Association of Teaching of Singing, flute societies, string associations, orchestras, music teachers' associations, the AMEB, eisteddfods, administrators and promoters of music etc.

Choirs, opera companies and ballet companies are approached about encouraging young pianists interested in the related art of the piano repetiteur. Such groups have been known to introduce apprenticeships and scholarships to promising students.

I have found it very productive to run masterclasses for conferences (vocal and instrumental), conservatoriums and similar organizations, either with a student pianist or working myself from the piano. I have found this to be a highly effective (and entertaining) way to introduce performers and audiences to how the collaborative process works and to encourage young pianists to consider accompaniment /collaborative piano as a career option.

Focus on the teachers

Piano teachers are, of course, in the best position to introduce young pianists to the possibilities of a collaborative career, if they become aware that suitable abilities in the student are evident. Learning to listen and communicate should be a major part of any musician’s training, together with a high level of technical proficiency and desire for excellence.

Yet there have been too many examples of teachers discouraging their students to train as accompanists or repetiteurs (“it spoils your technique”). Geoffrey Parsons was a case in point as he was drawn to ensemble performance against his teacher's advice. Fortunately for us all he prevailed. Sadly, I've also had colleagues at the Sydney Conservatorium actively opposing students who have expressed an interest in studying collaborative piano. I imagine I'm not alone in this.

The relationship with instrumental and vocal teachers is one of the most important issues we have to address. Our collaborative work will inevitably involve an element of coaching, particularly with younger performers, and this may create problems for piano teachers who not fully aware of how we perceive our professional role. Our relationship with fellow professionals can also be a sensitive issue which has been addressed in more than one of our online discussion sessions and will surely arise again.

Our Mission

Surely the accompanists' guilds in Australia have a mission to fulfil which is more than just to secure a satisfactory income for ourselves.

With our knowledge and experience, we can bring the next generation to recognise accompaniment and collaborative piano as fulfilling career paths. And we can approach the entire music community in Australia and beyond to affirm what we have to offer - someone to work with them (collaborate), not just for them (accompany); someone who will contribute to the partnership, not just play the notes; someone who should never be under-valued, under-paid, over-worked, exploited, unnoticed or un-appreciated.

We know collaborative piano can be a brilliant and fulfilling profession, but we must be vigilant to preserve and foster it not only for ourselves but also for generations to come - both performers and audiences. In recent times, we have approached Sydney Eisteddford about issues with their official accompanists. We have contacted Musica Viva concerning the advertising of a program which involved a collaborating pianist and we have travelled to Adelaide to meet the nephew of Geoffrey Parsons who has a treasure trove of fascinating memorabilia from his late uncle.

We are the custodians of a vast and inspired repertoire which the world wants to hear and should always be able to hear at its best. Just playing the piano in ensemble repertoire, however brilliantly, is not sufficient. It takes a highly experienced pianist with both exceptional technique and collaborative skills to fully realise the quality of this repertoire with his or her partner.

Why not follow us?

The great Danish “musicomedian” Victor Borge had a routine in which he played for a difficult and rather arrogant singer who insisted on wandering all over the stage during their performance (many do!). The singer turned to Borge at one point and enquired “can’t you just follow me?” Borge immediately solved this problem by engaging his page-turner to assist him in shifting the piano every time the singer moved.

Perhaps we could have answered that singer’s question (“can’t you just follow me”) with the response “I would, if I knew where you were going”.

We know where we are going, and I believe we are well on the way.

Thank you.