Why choose ACVA?
About ACVA
The Australian College of Vocal Arts (ACVA) is an accessible, modern professional training and certification body with a hybrid approach to delivering courses for new and emerging performers, singing teachers, vocologists, arts leaders, researchers, musical theatre directors and composers.
Only the best to help your light shine brighter
We believe professional voice users deserve smarter, more accessible learning opportunities to enhance their knowledge, skills and creative attributes. All ACVA examiners, lecturers and tutors have been carefully selected and trained to deliver positive, engaging experiences for students at all levels.
How did ACVA start?
Based on our considerable international teaching experience, we identified major gaps and failures within other music examination and assessment systems, and the organisations that operate them. Too many professional examination and certification bodies are policy-centric, not learner-centric. Many of the big names are stale, slow to change, and constantly offer dated, tired and boring Syllabuses and repertoire lists. Almost none of them offer taught courses, instead they leave you to navigate complex, dense subject matter in a way that forces you to ‘teach yourself as you go’, with no support to help you properly prepare for their exams. ACVA completely flips this stale old narrative completely on its head. We firmly believe that professional voice users deserve so much more, so we built ACVA just for you.
Our approach to child and adult learning and development
Our Professional Diplomas are only available to adults. However, our professional certificates and graded exams can be completed by almost any person, at any stage in their life. We are careful to blend together the most appropriate mix of childhood and adult learning and development approaches and strategies to ensure your experience with ACVA is the most rewarding and beneficial it can be. As such, we make a point to ensure our courses and graded exams all offer high levels of student participation, while preserving equity amongst our student population, through the professional delivery of high-quality courses that are efficiently resourced.
ACVA’s Vision
To become an industry training leader in the Asia-Pacific region, by delivering specialist online courses, certifications and graded exams for singers, studio singing teachers, musical theatre directors and composers, researchers and vocologists.
ACVA’s early roots
While we didn’t open our virtual doors until almost 2017, the initial concept and reasoning for the College was actually conjured up in 2003. Back then, two of our founding lecturers worked together in a private singing studio in Brisbane. Putting more than 300 individual singing students at various levels through AMEB, Trinity College, ABRSM, ANZCA and London College of Music exams, they experienced first-hand the frustrations associated with the ‘old way’ of examining singers and voice professionals. They also recognised that singers and singing teachers needed a different approach than instrumental teachers and performers. So, ACVA was born - slowly and methodically - and now we have the capability to train and certify people all around the world, not just in Australia.
On reflection, it’s quite unique that our programs have been carefully and thoughtfully developed and tested over the last 19+ years. This is why we are developing a strong, positive reputation as a certification body that actively ensures our courses are evidence-based, and that our graduate practitioners are passionate life-long learners of their craft. As such, we’re proud to say that our lectures and training materials are some of the most engaging you’ll come across.