Why don’t voice teachers talk to each other about Australian Art Song?
The AASR was designed to start conversations.
One of the interesting insights from Survey No. 1 of the AASR was that most repertoire mentioned by teachers was not replicated across studios. In other words, many songs appeared only once in the survey taught by individual teachers.
What does this suggest?
It may indicate that voice teachers are often discovering repertoire independently, rather than through shared discussion or collective resources. Unlike the established European art song canon, Australian repertoire has historically been less centralised, with pieces scattered across anthologies, archives, personal collections, and out of print publications.
This means teachers often find songs through their own exploration, teaching history, their own composer connections, or chance discovery, rather than through widely shared studio traditions.
One of the aims of the Australian Art Song Resource (AASR) is to help bring these discoveries together, creating a space where teachers, singers, and coaches can more easily find, share, and discuss Australian repertoire.
Because the repertoire already exists.
Sometimes we simply need a way to connect with each other’s knowledge.