Category: Newsletters

Please find our latest newsletter attached:-

A CCOMPANISTS ’ GUILD OF QUEENSLAND

April 2020

ACCOMPANISTS ’ GUILD OF QUEENSLAND

April 2020

Dear fellow accompanists and Accompanists’ Guild members. This is a rather different newsletter than usual, written at a time of great change and insecurity, in ‘Unprecedented and extraordinary times’, to quote our political leaders.

Income and employment for accompanists suddenly plummeted. We became financially vulnerable, with most accompaniment work across all genres either greatly reduced, limited, cancelled or postponed until further notice. The majority of us are sole traders, work freelance, on short term or part-time contracts, and classed as casuals. The future is uncertain; tough economic times are forecast.

We will survive this crisis and it’s important to have hope in such times. There are and will be work opportunities for accompanists and associate artists. Those of us with career mixes of teaching and accompaniment are likely to have online work opportunities. Our sympathies are with accompanists in precarious positions who rely totally on accompaniment for their income.

Some safety-conscious socially – distant one to one coaching and accompaniment may still be possible, as well as live-stream work and recording of accompaniments. ‘Necessity is the mother of invention’, so let’s be creative and proactive! We can dare to think outside the box, to brain-storm ideas to improve and create future work opportunities. We can firm up and enlarge data bases, improve our accompaniment skills and learn new repertoire, update our marketing skills, and even develop self-control and patience during Government form-filling and Centrelink queues ……….!

Some colleagues have been expressing doubts about their abilities to survive this current crisis, which prompted me to reflect upon the many qualities that we have assimilated during our accompaniment careers.

Accompanists are used to experiencing and surmounting many types of challenges & difficult, unpredictable situations. Individually & collectively, we all have inner strengths & qualities, with a wide range of communication skills, gifts, talents & experiences.

Guild accompanists have a lot of strengths. We are used to problem-solving [such as simplifying complicated orchestral reductions]; to quickly responding to emergencies [Help, I need an accompanist!]; to overcoming fears [unexpected recordings] and obstacles [‘difficult’ personalities]; to managing stress [juggling multiple engagements during examination & audition week]; to resourcing and pooling talents and materials to achieve results [the soloist needs an accompanist tonight, has forgotten to bring the music, where can I find a copy of the score? Who’s available for this gig?]; to receiving, accepting, following and fulfilling instructions [from conductors, music teachers, directors, educational establishments, co-artists and examination regulations]; to initiating, creating and exploring opportunities [at the start of our careers and when work is thin on the ground].

We are reliable, adaptable, resourceful, and creative. We are an integral part of so much music making at many stages of developing musicians. We enrich communities.

The saying, ‘Problems shared are problems solved’, tends to be true when we offer support and assistance to each other and are willing to both ask for and accept help. Ours is a profession of service to others. We’re all in it together. Can we therefore find ways to share and support our fellow Guild members through these challenging, social distancing times? Can we reach out to each other, share experiences & information about on-line modalities that may be helpful to you?

Katie Zukov, who has been the Guild’s President since 2016, is relocating to Sydney. Our committee thanked her for her significant service to the Guild, for very actively raising the status of accompanists at UQ and for creating and establishing AGQ accompaniment prizes there. As a gift of appreciation, Katie was presented with the book ‘Piano Lessons’ by Anna Goldsworthy, and we all wished her well in the next stages of her career. The committee unanimously elected Valerie Dickson to be her replacement, Acting President until the next AGM.

A very warm welcome is extended to our new members, Sophie Min and previous member, Jasmine Atkinson. We now have 71 members, who will be pleased to know that Guild membership fees remain at $60 for the 2019-2020 financial year. Student membership is still only $30 per year.

The Guild continues to support the Accompanists’ Guild of Queensland Piano Accompaniment Prizes at U.Q., the Con and in some eisteddfods during 2020. Unfortunately, due to Covid-19, some upcoming Eisteddfods and competitions have had to be cancelled and Guild members are asked to regularly visit the AMEB website for examination updates.

Let’s encourage ourselves to maintain buoyancy, musical skills, cheerfulness and a sense of humour throughout these difficult times. Finally, as Acting President, I thank our committee members for their support and wish all Guild members well during this time, to have faith in your profession and maintain hope for the future of music making.

Valerie Dickson.

Acting President, Accompanists’ Guild of Queensland

ACCOMPANISTS’ GUILD OF
QUEENSLAND

December 2019
Dear fellow accompanists and Guild members,

We hope that everyone has had a busy time accompanying for AMEB exams, tertiary auditions
and Eisteddfods and is now looking forward to a well-deserved break over the summer.
Our AGM took place at the QMTA Auditorium in Taringa on Sunday 11 August. Those who
attended had an opportunity to voice their suggestions to the committee face-to-face and we
encourage everyone to attend future AGMs. Welcome to a new committee member Valerie
Dickson! Any other Guild members interested in joining the committee, please get in touch.
A very warm welcome to our new members Libby Flynn and Joshua Creek. The Guild
membership fees will remain at $60 for the 2019-2020 financial year in line with low
inflation, and student membership is still only $30 per year. Please encourage your more
advanced piano students to join.

Valerie Dickson delivered an excellent vocal accompanying Master Class sponsored by the Guild at the UQ School of Music on 30 August, which was well attended by vocal and piano students.

Another Master Class was given on 27 August at the Queensland Conservatorium by Karen
Lonsdale, flute, who had many suggestions guiding pianists new to accompaniment.
The Guild had also provided additional prizes for UQ Sleath Prize (strings and piano),
awarded to Ben Anderson, and for UQ Margaret Nickson Prize (voice and piano), awarded to
Jasmine Buckley. Both of these students showed great potential as future accompanists. We
hope these activities continue raising the Guild’s profile among higher education music students and will maintain our sponsorship next year. Our sponsorship of accompanying prizes at various Eisteddfods will also continue in 2020. We hope this targeted support helps to maintain the Guild’s standing in the community.
The Guild’s 25th anniversary dinner took place at Victoria’s Room, Hilton Brisbane on Friday 15 November.

Piers Lane very kindly (and amusingly) introduced our guest speaker Philip Mayers
who delivered an inspirational address about the important role of accompanists in the music world. At the dinner we announced two new Honorary Life Members, Pamela Page and Rhonda Vickers.

Pamela was there in person with Max as our guests and received heart-felt applause from those present. Sue Witham delivered a brief summary of Rhonda Vickers achievements, which would take many pages to list here. Rhonda was a student of Max Olding and also studied with Paul Hamburger and Geoffrey Parsons in London on a Churchill Fellowship. She worked for many years at the Qld Con as an unofficial accompanist, and made many broadcasts and recordings with violinist Kerry Smith. Unfortunately, poor health prevented Rhonda from attending the dinner.

The venue, food and drinks were all excellent, and everyone enjoyed the evening.

I wish you all a very Merry Christmas and a Happy New Year! Happy accompanying in 2020!

Katie Zhukov