In the 1950s, a program instituted by NATS was later influential in the development of the DMA degrees in voice and voice pedagogy. Several generations later, we are at another juncture with many questions being asked about the training of today’s singers and teachers of singing.

“The Training of the Singer and the Teacher – Charting a Course for the Future,” a Pre-Conference Workshop held during the 54^th NATS National Conference, will explore how we need to go about shaping the education of tomorrow’s teachers.

This Workshop, which takes place Friday, July 8, 9:00 a.m. - 1:00 p.m., will feature a panel of four including Allen Henderson, Scott McCoy, Claudia Friedlander and Brett Scott: 

Allen Henderson holds degrees from Carson Newman College (BM), The University of Tennessee (MM) and the College-Conservatory of Music at the University of Cincinnati (DMA), where his minor was in Arts Administration and he was winner of the prestigious Corbett-Treigle Opera Competition. Prior to his appointment as NATS Executive Director in 2008, he served NATS as district and regional governor and was elected national secretary/treasurer from 2006-2008; he also served as interim executive director from 2007-2008. Henderson was a participant in the 1993 NATS Intern Program and later hosted the program in 1998. He was chair of the coordinating committee for the 2008 NATS 50th National Conference in Nashville, Tenn. Henderson has held teaching positions at Oklahoma Baptist University, Austin Peay State University and Georgia Southern University. In these positions, he has taught voice, foreign language diction, opera, choral techniques, choral literature, song literature and directed choirs. He also served as music department chair at Austin Peay and Georgia Southern. As baritone soloist, Henderson has appeared in concert, opera and oratorio across the country. A district winner and regional finalist in the Metropolitan Opera auditions, Henderson was winner of the 1995 National Federation of Music Clubs Artist Awards and was a regional finalist in the NATSAA competition.

Dr. Scott McCoy, professor of voice and pedagogy at The Ohio State University, is the director of the Helen Swank Voice Teaching and Research Lab. He has been professor of voice and pedagogy, director of the Presser Music Center Voice Laboratory, and the director of Graduate Studies at Westminster Choir College of Rider University. His multimedia voice science and pedagogy textbook, Your Voice, An Inside View, is used extensively by colleges and universities throughout the United States and abroad. He is the immediate past president and director of the National Intern Program of the National Association of Teachers of Singing (NATS), associate director of the Journal of Singing for voice pedagogy, and has also served NATS as vice president for Workshops, program chair for the 2006 and 2008 National Conferences, chair of the Voice Science Advisory Committee, and master teacher for the national Intern Program. He is a founding faculty member in the NYSTA Professional Development Program, teaching classes in Voice Anatomy and Physiology and in Acoustics and Voice Analysis. He is a member of the distinguished American Academy of Teachers of Singing.

Claudia Friedlander is a voice teacher and fitness specialist based in New York City. She began her musical studies as a clarinetist, and after completing her undergraduate studies at Bennington College she was encouraged to study singing by conductor Blanche Honegger Moyse. She sang while continuing to play her instrument, earning a Master’s degree in Voice at Peabody simultaneously with her clarinet degree. Following the completion of her doctoral studies in vocal performance and pedagogy at McGill University, she established her voice studio. In her first few years of teaching, frustration with her inability to address the mechanical dysfunction some of her students possessed motivated her to study kinesiology. After receiving her certification as a personal trainer from the National Academy of Sports Medicine, she became inspired to apply the concept of sport-specific training to the professional voice. Dr. Friedlander has presented workshops on vocal fitness for The Voice Foundation and the Performing Arts Medicine Association, and was an invited panel discussant on health and wellness for Opera America. She is the author of the monthly column “Musings on Mechanics” for Classical Singer Magazine as well as a blog on vocal technique and fitness, The Liberated Voice. In 2008, she joined the faculty of the Weill Music Institute at Carnegie Hall, where her most recent project was the development, in collaboration with Joyce DiDonato, of The Singer’s Audition Handbook, an interactive online career development guide for young singers.

Dr. Brett Scott is Associate Professor of Ensembles and Conducting at the College-Conservatory of Music, University of Cincinnati, where he conducts the CCM Chorale and teaches choral conducting and literature at the graduate and undergraduate level. He is also Music Director of CCM’s Opera d’arte, which has won numerous awards through the National Opera Association. Under his direction, the CCM Chorale released its premiere commercial recording, Lux Dei, through Ablaze Records, and has begun production of its second recording, focusing on sacred music for choir and electronics. His conducting students have twice reached the final of the ACDA graduate student conducting competition and have been selected to participate in Chorus America master classes. Prior to his appointment at the University of Cincinnati, Brett was Director of Choral Activities at the University of Rochester and Assistant Professor of Music at the Eastman School of Music. He has conducted and taught throughout the United States, Canada, Central America and Europe. An acknowledged expert on contemporary music, he is in demand internationally as a lecturer and teacher and has presented at several national and international conferences. He is editor of Chorus America’s Research Memorandum Series and President-Elect of the National Collegiate Choral Association.

Note: In preparation for this workshop, registered attendees will be presented several position papers to read and prepare in advance. 

“The Training of the Singer and the Teacher – Charting a Course for the Future” is just one of four Pre-Conference Workshops taking place during the 54^th NATS National Conference in Chicago, July 8-12, 2016. Other Workshops include: “On Stage at Chicago Lyric Opera,” “The Aging Voice” and “Pop/Rock Vocalism for the Music Theater 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.