Music teachers angered over release of prerecorded piano accompaniments for use in AMEB exams.

The Australian Music Examinations Board (AMEB) has been administering graded instrumental assessments for musicians across the country for almost a century and is regarded as one of the most potent and far-reaching organisations promoting the study of classical music in Australia. However a recent announcement that the organisation will now be offering the option of using a prerecorded accompaniment instead of a live pianist during its grade examinations has angered many in the music community.

According to AMEB’s General Manager Bernard Depasquale, the introduction of recordings has been made in response to numerous reports of a lack of accessibility to suitable pianists, either because of students living in remote areas of the country or because accompanists’ fees are prohibitively expensive. A major survey, run by the AMEB last year via an independent marketing company, allegedly showed that a lack of access to accompanists was viewed as the major barrier to undertaking an AMEB exam.

While the AMEB believes that “fundamentally it is better to play with a good accompanist,” Depasquale said that the backlash following the release of the approved prerecordings last week was based on...