Audio archive preservation challenges and pedagogical opportunities: School of Music RePlayed

This paper considers various challenges, implications and pedagogical opportunities presented via a small-scale audio archiving project: School of Music RePlayed. Housed in the Australian National University's School of Music, this historical archive of more than twelve hundred recital and concert tapes features multiple recordings of historical significance, yet presents a number of issues pertaining to storage and tape deterioration. This paper first considers the challenges presented in the digitization of such an archive before focusing on the pedagogical opportunities afforded by such a unique project. Developed and run in conjunction with the National Film and Sound Archive of Australia, this project addresses both technological and pedagogical matters of preservation, heritage and digitization.