Please join us in Nashville, Tennessee, June 27-July 1, 2008, as we celebrate our 50th National Conference: Music City Jubilee: A Vocal Arts Celebration, being held at Gaylord Opryland Resort & Convention Center!
Scott McCoy, NATS President Elect and Conference Program Chair
The 50th national NATS conference—our golden jubilee—promises to be an extraordinary event in the life of our Association! As program chair for this event, I’d like to take this opportunity to invite you to Nashville, and to share some exciting news about the events we have planned. You have no doubt already heard about our spectacular “headliners:” Dawn Upshaw, who will present our artist recital and master class; and Sherrill Milnes, who will present the keynote address and also teach a master class. NATS is truly honored that artists of this caliber are eager to share their talents and insights with us.
We are delighted to announce that Dr. Robert Sataloff and his team will be onsite to study the vocal health of our members. Participants in the study will experience a comprehensive voice evaluation, and preliminary findings will be presented in a special session at the conclusion of the conference. You have the chance to participate in a major study that could have significant impact! Watch the NATS website for further information about volunteering to serve as a test subject.
Our stay in Nashville begins with a pair of pre-conference workshops. Dr. Katherine Verdolini, who presented a revelatory session on learning during our Minneapolis conference, will help us apply these new principles to our teaching. In a first for NATS, we will offer a special workshop devoted to jazz, rhythm and blues, and gospel singing techniques. Our opening day will feature another NATS first: a “wired” master class. This unique event presents a new twist on the traditional master class by providing real-time analysis of multiple aspects of singing, allowing objective assessment of changes inspired by master teacher Robert Edwin.
One conference day will be devoted to exploring the Wild World of Singing! Sessions will deal with contemporary commercial music, musical theater repertoire, classical and operatic singing, performance practice, gender and social issues in song, and the counter-tenor voice. Dr. Thomas Cleveland will present a major session examining the vocal demands unique to genres ranging from country and western to opera. We will dedicate another day to Careers in Singing. Lenore Rosenberg from the Metropolitan Opera will help us better understand the needs and expectations of the operatic profession. Other sessions will focus on teaching children, establishing a successful collaborative voice studio, making a career in commercial music, working as a studio singer, and transitioning from performer to teacher. Our final day will concentrate on Healthy Singing. Paul Kiesgen will lead off in a quest for perfect phonation. Other topics include the pedagogy of vocal rehabilitation, the adolescent male voice, taming performance anxiety, and the role of the singing voice specialist in collaboration with medical professionals.
Special conference “extras” include a forum for teachers of voice pedagogy, daily classes in yoga for singers, a technology center for hands-on experience with the latest gizmos and gadgets for your studio, a master class in country music and popular song, and a forum with the editorial staff of Journal of Singing. And of course, we all look forward to the finals of the NATSAA competition and a recital by our NATSAA 2006 winner, Danielle Talamantes, fresh from her sold-out New York debut in Weill Hall. We’ll end the conference with a Gala Golden Jubilee Celebration of dining, dancing and entertainment that promises to be the most fun in the 64 year history of NATS!
So mark your calendars and make your plans now to be in Nashville, June 27-July 1, 2008, for the NATS 50th National Conference, Music City Jubilee: A Vocal Arts Celebration! I look forward to seeing all of you there.
Scott McCoy
NATS President Elect and Conference Program Chair
