Did you know that the Teacher Finder and Find A Teacher pages on the NATS website rank second and third* in traffic to the NATS home page? With the popularity of singing competitions growing world-wide, there are more budding vocalists than ever looking for singing teachers: In the last month, there have been approximately 25% more hits* on the NATS Teacher Finder page compared to the same period of time last year.

"The NATS Executive Office staff receives inquiries every week from students looking for singing teachers," says Susan Grizzard, Membership Services Coordinator. "We direct everyone to Find a Teacher. The Find a Teacher page gives NATS members an opportunity to introduce themselves to potential students."

Is your NATS Teacher Profile complete and visible so that new singing students can find you? If you have not logged in to the NATS website and manually opted-in to participate in the Find A Teacher membership benefit, then you might be losing opportunities to build your business.

JACKSONVILLE – April 20, 2011 – The National Association of Teachers of Singing and Virtually Vocal announced today an exclusive partnership that will deliver online access to recorded vocal accompaniments to NATS members and their students with a complimentary thirty-day trial membership on VirtuallyVocal.com.

“Our discussions with Virtually Vocal have focused on the development of a mutually beneficial partnership that provides NATS members with tools and resources on VirtuallyVocal.com that members and students in the music theater field will find especially useful,” says Allen Henderson, Executive Director of NATS, Inc. “Professional singers, students, and teachers in the classical arena will appreciate that the VirtuallyVocal.com Song Finder includes over 400 professionally recorded classical accompaniments as well.”

One of the most exciting and in-demand baritones of our time, Nathan Gunn, will present a recital and master class as part of the 52nd National Conference of the National Association of Teachers of Singing, June 29-July 3, 2012 in Orlando, Florida. Gunn will be joined by his longtime collaborator in music and life, Julie Gunn, in recital on July 1st at 8:00 PM at the Renaissance Orlando at SeaWorld. Their joint master class will take place at 10:30 AM on July 2nd. "We are very happy that both Nathan and Julie Gunn are able to join us at our National Conference. Their presence will top off a strong line-up of presenters and performers in Orlando," says Allen Henderson, NATS Executive Director.

In support of ongoing efforts to avoid a NATS dues increase and maintain affordable dues for the the third year in a row, the Board of Directors decided to eliminate the expense of printing and mailing Membership Cards. We are excited to announce that you can now download and print your 2011 NATS Membership Card directly from the NATS website. Here's how:

1. Log in to the NATS website with your Member Number and Password.
2. Select Membership Card from the Membership menu.
3. Click on the 2011 Membership Card link to display your card in a new window, which you can then print.

Need more clarification? Click here to download a visual guide to printing your Membership Card. You may also call NATS at 904-992-9101, Monday-Friday 9am - 4pm EST.

Over 800 attendees participated in two interest sessions led by NATS and ACDA members at the ACDA National Conference in Chicago on March 10, 2011. Attendees engaged in discussion around the relationship between choral conductors and voice teachers in a wide variety of settings. The sessions, entitled "Choral Directors are from Mars and Voice Teachers are from Venus: 'Sing from the Diaphragm' and other Vocal Mistructions" and "Choral Directors are from Mars and Voice Teachers are from Venus: Top Ten Complaints from Both Sides of the Aisle," received enthusiastic response and appreciation for the issues being addressed in this forum. PowerPoints from the presentations are available at http://acda.nats.org, where you can continue the discussion online.