Are you looking to take a healthier approach to singing pop/rock? Or discover how to find the perfect cut for a pop/rock audition?

Vocalists are sure to find answers to questions like these and many others when attending “Pop/Rock Vocalism for the Music Theater Singer,” a Pre-Conference Workshop that takes place during the 54^th NATS National Conference in Chicago in July.

Presented by a trio of panelists including Sheri Sanders, Melissa Cross and Mary Saunders-Barton, this workshop is designed to enable attendees to get in the trenches and increase their skill in finding those perfect audition cuts and more. Attendees will be able to watch the process as singers cover the right cuts for them, and take home new skills and processes. 

More information on this panel’s presenters: 

• Sheri Sanders is an actress, teacher and author who has toured worldwide to teach teachers, students and aspiring actors how to choose, cut, arrange, research and vocally style popular music to successfully audition for rock musicals. She has taught her “Rock the Audition” master class at colleges and universities across the country, and her Rock the Performance website (in conjunction with Tony award-winning Broadway producer Hunter Arnold and Artech LLC) is an online training hub for all things popular music as it relates to musical theater. Sanders is the author of Rock the Audition: How to Prepare for and Get Cast in Rock Musicals (Hal Leonard Books). 

• Voice coach Melissa Cross, a New York-based classically trained singer and former punk rocker, has developed a method to help vocalists belt out their lyrics — without ruining their voices. Her client list includes Keith Buckley from Every Time I Die, Randy Blythe of Lamb of God, Slipknot's Corey Taylor and Kevin Bacon. Her instructional DVD/CD sets, The Zen of Screaming and The Zen of Screaming 2, are designed to present a no-nonsense approach to singing hard rock and screaming, while focusing on solid vocal technique. Cross has presented her “New Breed Vocal Seminars” – workshops “dedicated to the enlightenment of modern rock and extreme vocalists” – worldwide.

• Mary Saunders-Barton is Professor of Voice at Penn State University where she serves as Head of Voice Instruction for the Bachelor of Fine Arts in Musical Theater and Program Head for the MFA in Vocal Pedagogy for Musical Theatre. She was previously on the BFA Musical Theater faculty at the Hartt School of Music in Hartford, Connecticut, and her performing career includes Broadway, off-Broadway, regional, film and television credits. Her first one-woman show, Stop, Time, played to sell-out houses in New York City. In addition to her university teaching, Mary maintains a studio in Manhattan for professional performers. She is frequently invited to present her workshop seminar “Bel Canto Can Belto” for convocations of singers and teachers of singing in the U.S. and Europe. 

“Pop/Rock Vocalism for the Music Theater Singer” is just one of four Pre-Conference Workshops that will take place at the 54^th NATS National Conference in Chicago in July. Other Workshops include: “On Stage at Chicago Lyric Opera,” “The Aging Voice” and “Training the Teacher and the Singer.” All four Pre-Conference Workshops will take place on Friday, July 8, from 9 a.m. to 1 p.m.

To register for the 54^th NATS National Conference and the Pre-Conference Workshops, click here.