After a month away due to the holiday season, the NATS Chat series resumed on Sunday, Feb. 10, with a visit from Scott McCoy, professor of voice and pedagogy at The Ohio State University. Along with moderator Kari Ragan, McCoy discussed "everything you ever wanted to know about formants, but we afraid to ask."

"We invest a tremendous amount of time in traditional voice pedagogy studying the body," McCoy wrote to open the chat. "But realistically, what can we control? Knowning how the TA muscle works doesn't help, as we can't control it. Resonance and formants are under our direct control. If we understand formants and their relationship to the vowels and pitches we sing, our lives are made much easier as teachers and singer."

McCoy provided several resources to aid in the discussion:

• http://www.speech.kth.se/smptool/
• http://insideviewpress.com/extras.html
• http://insideviewpress.com/RIS.html
• http://www.vocevista.com/index.html
• http://www.kaypentax.com/index.php?option=com_product&view=product&Itemid=3

NATS Chats are now powered by Coveritlive. Participants can enter the chat room and participate by asking questions or simply observing the dialogue with others. All visitors are encouraged to announce their presence with a greeting to the moderator, who will take questions online and introduce them at an appropriate time during the chat.
 
NATS Chats are usually held the first Sunday of each month of the academic year (except on holiday weekends, a summer hiatus June-August) at 10-11 p.m. Eastern Standard Time.
 
CHAT TRANSCRIPT (FEB. 10, 2013)