Cathy Aggett. Secretary. NSW ANATS.

The Kings School, Parramatta

Billed as a “must see, must do, must book singing event of the year”, ANATS NSW is hoping singing teachers and their students will take advantage of the fantastic range of events organised for this fun-filled weekend. We’re excited to having Sonny Chua presenting for us and have organised a range of activities to showcase his unique talents to enthuse young singers. For those of us who’ve seen him in action with both choirs and piano students, he’s a dynamic presenter and we’re fortunate to have him present for us. Our own Dr Jean Callaghan is set to demystify some long-held myths and facts about voice science as well as being on the Masterclass panels and forum sessions to handle the classical questions. Diane Hughes will chair both forum sessions and comment from a contemporary teacher’s perspective on the Masterclass panels, on which Sonny will comment on presentation skills.

Lunch, morning and afternoon teas are included in registration each day. Special registration prices for members. Bursaries available on application. Three students able to come for free for the Saturday morning. See registration form for details.

This is definitely not a weekend to miss! Download a brochure and registration form from the News and Events page of this site.

Enquiries and bookings to Carol-ann Bentley (02) 9489 4927

Cathy Aggett Secretary, ANATS NSW

Click here for Robert Edwin Workshop brochure 
 
SYDNEY: 9-10 June, 2007 at Opera Centre, Surry Hills.
 
ROBERT EDWIN will be our special guest presenter for the 2 day workshop, sharing his knowledge and expertise in the field of teaching contemporary commercial music to young singers. This includes music theatre, gospel, rock and pop.
 
He is a singer who has performed in many environments including Cathedrals, Carnegie Hall, has sung with Duke Ellington and has performed on TV and radio. Robert has composed a wide variety of music, ranging from children’s songs, music theatre scores to hymns and choir anthems.
 
His large teaching studio in New Jersey has students of all ages, learning classical, music theatre, rock and pop, and he has trained many successful artists.
 
Robert Edwin lectures, travels and gives workshops, writes many articles, and is well known for his column in the National Association of Teachers of Singing [NATS] “Journal of Singing” entitled “The Bach to Rock Connection” – dedicated to non classical pedagogy.
 
The weekend in June will be aimed at teachers of young voice, choral conductors of young choirs and young singers who wish to sing contemporary music.
 
He will be asked to work with soloists, small ensembles, and is offering to work with those teachers brave enough to be a soloist in a masterclass.
 
There will be sessions appropriate for H.S.C. students [years 10, 11 and 12], who will gain some invaluable advice to help them in their preparations for this important examination.
Robert will present some techniques in assisting teachers to instruct students how to ‘cross over’ from classical to non classical styles. Teachers have often mentioned their lack of confidence in dealing with the many styles which they are asked to teach.
 
The topic of children’s and teenage belting will be included in the weekend’s program.
We have a responsibility to the young people who come to us, to help guide them and give them ways to sing healthily and produce pleasing results.
 
Whether you are a voice teacher, choral conductor or singer of any age who is involved in singing contemporary commercial music, this weekend offers you many gems, and you will be given the chance to ask questions of this expert in child pedagogy.
 
Robert will also be available for PRIVATE LESSONS teacher or student on 7, 8, and 14 June. These can be arranged through Carol-ann.
 
Contact:  Carol-ann Bentley [02] 9489 4927
Carolannbentley@bigpond.com
 
ARMIDALE: 11 June 2007 New England Conservatorium of Music.
This workshop will commence at 1.45 pm and conclude at 4.30.
There will be a masterclass concentrating on music theatre and the adolescent voice, followed by a demonstration about belting and contemporary vocal techniques.
 
Contact: Inge Southcott [02] 6771 5593
ingesinger@optusnet.com.au
 
CENTRAL COAST: 12-13 June at Central Coast Conservatorium, Gosford
Robert Edwin will work with young people in two late afternoon workshops/masterclasses of 2.5 hours each.
There will be opportunities for soloists, small groups, teachers and choral conductors to learn more about healthy contemporary singing techniques.
Private lessons are also available.
 
Contact: Lilija Sile [02] 4329 3633
focamu@dodo.com.au  

The 2007 NSW committee was elected at the meeting and as a result we now have a new President and Vice President.

Our new committee therefore is:

• Carol-ann Bentley          President
• Kathleen Connell           Vice President
• Robyn Wells                 Treasurer
• Jane Van Balen             Secretary
• Judy Lindeman              Members Secretary

Committee members: Cathy Aggett; Linda Barcan; Stephen Baker; Diane Hughes; Anne-Maree McDonald; Lilija Sile 
Regional members: Margaret Balsom (Orange); Lilija Sile (Central Coast); Inge Southcott (Armidale)

A big welcome to Cathy Aggett and Linda Barcan - It’s great to have you on board!

And we say a fond farewell to Rowena Cowley, Genevieve Killelea and Sussane Towers. Rowena has served as our President wonderfully and will continue to be part of the ANATS National Council. Thank you so much to all three of you for your valuable contributions to the committee.

Jane Van Balen, Secretary (NSW chapter)

Karin Greenhead, the internationally acclaimed, London based teacher of Dalcroze took us through a masterful physical warm up which highlighted the need to isolate and activate various muscle groups (some long forgotten!) and eventually balance the body as a whole. Karin is an inventive and immaculately organized instructor who set various movements and interactive games, including ball throwing, to musical and rhythmic impulses. Apart from feeling (more than!) a little stiff the next morning, we all found this session to be useful and fun. 

‘Technology for Singers, Singing Teachers and The Studio’ was a fascinating session led by the lovely Phil Evans and his equally lovely partner in crime Diane Hughes. Together they demystified the inner sanctum of the recording studio and showed how a voice can be expanded, compressed, re-pitched or ‘coloured’ with the mere touch of a technological mouse! Di also took us through microphone techniques for singers and Phil demonstrated the difference in sound design for contemporary singers as opposed to classical singers.  

Christine Douglas was an absolute livewire in her masterclass ‘Music and Drama’. In questioning the text, character and motivation, she led each performer into a deeper, more focussed emotional world. They became more connected with the truth of the song (or aria) and produced, not only a better vocal sound, but a more intense and defined level of communication. Christine is a clear, concise and entertaining speaker whose enthusiasm and experience in working with young adult singers was evident. 

The special treat of the day was an interview with Joan Carden, led by Geoffrey Chard. This was a relaxed yet informative ‘chat’ about this wonderful artist’s life and work. Geoffrey’s charming manner and thoughtful questioning allowed Joan to really open up and share her thoughts, views and feelings on her career as a singer. The highlight was an impromptu performance where the diva sat at the piano and accompanied herself as she sang ‘Ah! bello a me ritorno’ from Bellini’s Norma. Joan’s voice is still so fresh, youthful and agile. And she can play the piano! Pure magic. 

Jocelyn Priestly warmed the wintry room on the Sunday morning with her very well researched and eruditely expressed work on vocal health and speech pathology. She found herself short on business cards, such was the interest, but a truncated version of her paper was later made available for interested participants. 

‘Singing in English’ was led by Dr Rowena Cowley, who took us on a lightning tour of the world of international phonetics and demonstrated the vital link between the spoken and sung word. She also worked with a variety of singers on pure middle register vowels whilst highlighting the need to ‘narrow’ the vowel as it ascends into the upper register. Rowena was joined by the loveable Alan Dean, whose nostalgic trip down memory lane (including his own great career) made us aware of a range of accents used in singing from the 1940s through to 2006. Local American, RP and Australian accents were identified and it was interesting to hear a strong spoken accent, such as Scottish, disappear in a sung text.  The weekend finished with stimulating lectures by Psychologist Dianna Kenny and Sports Coach Phil Spain. These sessions provided analysis and insight into performance anxiety, coping strategies, motivation and success.  A farewell ‘Tapas’ dinner to Pat Howes on the Saturday night was relaxed and fun and a little bit sad as we will all miss her. Best wishes Pat! 

Anne-Maree McDonald

Photographs by Judy Lindeman

The anats (NSW chapter) committee are very pleased to present a fabulous two day workshop on 8 and 9 July 2006, at The Peter Seymour Rehearsal Room, Pier 4, Hickson Road, Millers Point.

(For those of you who attended the Young Voice seminar with Graham Welch last year, this is the same venue.)

After our highly successful Music Theatre Winter Workshop with Mark Meylan last year, our current theme is “The Whole Performer”. We are excited and privileged to announce that the workshop will include a conversation with consummate ‘Whole Performer’, soprano Joan Carden and her esteemed colleague, baritone Geoffrey Chard.

The workshop will include presentations on Technology in the Singing Studio; Dalcroze based Movement; Speech Pathology and the Singer; Singing English for Contemporary and Classical Singers; Performance Confidence and developing mental strategies for Peak Performance.

Well known soprano and Artistic Director of Pacific Opera, Christine Douglas will present a Masterclass with a focus Music and Drama - from Music Theatre to Opera. The wide range of other presenters include: Karin Greenhead (Dalcroze), Di (Hunter) Hughes (contemporary voice teacher), Phil Evans (sound/recording engineer), Jocelyn Priestly (Speech pathologist); Alan Dean (former pop singer, arranger and composer); Dianna Kenny (Psychologist) and Phil Spain (sport performance coach).

For more information and Registration form, check the brochure here: 2006 Winter Workshop Brochure and Registration

Our Vice-President is again Carol-ann Bentley , Treasurer Robyn Wells , Secretary/VocalEyes Editor Jane van Balen, Members Secretary Judy Lindeman , and Committee members Stephen Baker , Kathleen Connell , Diane Hughes and Anne-Maree McDonald. Regional representatives are Margaret Balsom, Lilija Sile , Inge Southcott and Sussane Towers .

We are glad to welcome Genevieve Killalea to the Committee, but we say good-bye and a very special thank you to Pat Howes. Pat has decided to step down from the anats (NSW) Committee after 10 years as a very valued committee member. Pat became Secretary and Newsletter editor in Oct 1995 and ably represented NSW on the National Committee for several years. She organised a wonderful National Conference in 1998 and we appreciate her considerable contributions to the Association.This is an exceptional group of teachers and singers, who give much of their time and energy each year to anats. I thank them in advance, as you will see that there will be quite a bit of activity this year. With the exception of the HSC Workshop, the following dates are all under negotiation at the moment, but fairly firm. Please put them in your diaries.

HSC Workshop, Sunday 9 April, Joan Sutherland Performing Arts Centre, Penrith.
This is our first event of the year. After last year’s successful workshop in Penrith, we return to the JSPAC, and look forward to hearing as many young singers who are preparing for the HSC as possible. They will be given expert feedback on their performances and performance preparation. Brochures are enclosed with this issue of VocalEyes.

Autumn Workshop, Orange/ Bathurst , This workshop has been postponed to May 2005. Date TBC soon.
This workshop begins anats NSW’s intention to include professional development and masterclassing opportunities in regional NSW. This will be an opportunity to appreciate the excellent work of teachers and singers in Orange/Bathurst/Wagga and surrounds, and to strengthen professional networks.

Winter Workshop, Sydney , 8/9 July, TBC.
Our Winter Workshop has become the major Sydney workshop of the year. After last year’s very successful Mark Meylan Music Theatre Workshop, we will concentrate on a number of other areas of our work. Possible topics include technology in the studio, using backing tracks, diction for classical and non-classical singers, acting for singing, speech pathologists and singers, performance anxiety and young voice. There will be a very special surprise performance at cocktail hour on Saturday, 8 July. Be there! 

anats National Conference, 5-8 October, Canberra .
This is our biennial opportunity to get serious about work and play! I’m sure it will be wonderful. Please come to Canberra and live it up! Teach-ins. A number of brave teachers are planning teach-ins with their colleagues this year. Those of you who attended Sussane Towers ’ Teach-in last year will know how useful and inspiring these can be. When your colleague calls and asks you to be involved, please respond positively!  See her inspiring report on page 7 of this issue.

End of Year Workshop, November TBC.
There will likely be a function at the end of 2006. Please see further information as it becomes available. A final thought: “He could get at the universe hidden in any work, find the meter of a line, play the text, harmony and rhythm off one another, revealing the message that existed only in the tension among them.” (Richard Powers, The Time of Our Singing, 2003, p536). May all our singers be capable of this!I wish you an inspiring year, and one in which your students appreciate what you do for them!

Warmly,
Rowena Cowley
President, anats (NSW)

This winter workshop attracted a huge turnout of students and teachers keen to improve their skills in the genre of Music Theatre. At 9am we all gathered in the movement studio to move our bodies, count, wave our arms and sing. Andrew Davidson, movement presenter for this session, was keen for us all to have a practical understanding of music as a physical experience and not just an intellectual one. Many of us were challenged as we crossed the floor in pairs, stepping out a 5/4 rhythm to the jazz standard ‘Five’. Then after a catch up with colleagues from all over Sydney and NSW, and other states in Australia we gathered together to listen and learn from Mark Meylan as he worked with beginning and advanced music theatre students. Mark told us that he had a reputation for being tough but fair in his studio, so after each singer performed their song, he would ask; “How tough can I be with you?” It was great to see that every person wanted the tough and honest approach.

The workshop was a great opportunity to see music theatre vocal technique applied to all kinds of singers at many stages of development. We dealt with posture, support – including expiration and inspiration, vocal registration, tongue and jaw tension, text and meaning, as well as some ideas to improve acting while singing.

Some highlights were:

• Mark spoke of the importance of release on inspiration and told us that he begins every one of his lessons by asking his clients to lie on the floor in semi-supine (lying on the back with knees up and feet on the floor).
• He teaches the accent method as a way to connect breath to the body and uses Chapman’s ‘diamond’ image as a way for students to understand support.
• During the weekend he worked a lot on releasing tongue root tension in singers, particularly over the ‘breaks’ between ‘chest’ and middle voice, and middle voice and ‘head’ voice.
• He demonstrated ways to improve consistency in air flow through support and by singing on a lip trill.
• His work on belt was influenced by the work of Jo Estill. He stated that belt is a vocal quality that is always loud, with a bright, edgy sound, requiring relatively little air flow which works best over register breaks. He felt that it was best to work a belt sound in the middle or mix voice rather than in the heavy registration of chest since this was less effortful for the voice and allowed for greater agility.
• When working on a song, Mark emphasised that students needed to go through a process with each song rather than trying to get it all right at once. He recommended that singers work on breath first, then technical work, then words/text, then check that the notes are right, and then finally on the emotional journey (ie; acting)
• He always goes through an extensive assessment interview with every new client before he decides whether to take them on. This is to assess previous vocal history (including training) and health issues as well as determining the goals of the client. He also conducts an appraisal with each student after every 10 hours of lessons to check up on whether the training is satisfactory to both himself and the client.

Mark’s professional approach to his work was an inspiration to witness. He was able to demonstrate the breadth of his knowledge with all kinds of singers singing all kinds of repertoire over 2 very concentrated days. It is heartening to see that much of his work is not so different from current practise in Australia as demonstrated in many ANATS masterclasses and conferences. After the many hours of teaching in isolation, it was a great pleasure to get together with other talented teachers to share knowledge and gain new ideas to old problems. Thanks to the NSW chapter for organising this event, especially to the convenor Anne-Maree McDonald.

Tracy Bourne (Vic)