FALL NATS NEWSLETTER
DECEMBER, 2003
THANKS FROM YOUR AUDITION CHAIR
Congratulations to all the participants in the 2003 Minnesota NATS Auditions!
It is always exciting to watch our two-day event unfold and enjoy all the preparation and energy of the students, pianists, and adjudicators. As your Audition Chair, I was especially pleased to see how smoothly the events progressed, and I know that this is due to many factors, including organized pianists, prepared students, and thoughtful and responsible adjudicators. I want to offer a very special thank you to some of the folks whose work behind the scenes made this year's Audition event a big success: Axel Theimer, Rebecca Sonmor, Alison Feldt, Anne Adams Schnauber, Carolyn Finley, Scott Blankenbaker, Barbara Prince, Robin Heggen, Marcie Hagen, Cheryl Oie, Pat Kent, and Monica Murray. Also, many thanks to those who jumped it with extra judging and work assignments. I really appreciate your help on such short notice! As always, I welcome your comments and suggestions for 2004 Fall Auditions! Please be in contact with me also if you would like to be involved in planning next year's Auditions.
Shari Speer -- Audition Chairman
MN NATS '03 AUDITION WINNERS
Division Student/Teacher
1A 1 st Brittina Klick/Hillary Vermillion
1A 2 nd Christine Killian/Geneva Eschweiler
1A 3 rd Brittany Jumer/Judy Bender
1B 1 st Christine Anderson/Cheryl Oie
1B 2 nd Jessica Swanson/Jeanne Grace
1B 3 rd Jessie Salley/Shirley Leiphon
2 1 st Donald Codden/Hillary Vermillion
2 2 nd Isaac Wiese/Sonia Larson
2 3 rd Sean Feilen/Geneva Eschweiler
3A 1 st Lizabeth Noteboom/Mark Calkins
(prev. Jenny Rissman)
3A 2 nd Britta Kelson/Lawrence Weller
3A 3 rd Hayley Witthans/Oksana Bryn
3B 1 st JoAnna Swantek/Amy Schneider
(prev. Patti Edwards)
3B 2 nd Sarah Selby/Catherine McCord Larsen
3B 3 rd Emily Cromwell/Catherine McCord Larsen
4 1 st Joel Swearingen/Glenda Maurice
4 2 nd Jamie Borden/Lawrence Weller
4 3 rd John Becker/Axel Theimer
(prev. Sheila Koplitz)
5A 1 st Tora Larsen/Peter Halverson
5A 2 nd Amita Prakash/Glenda Maurice
5A 3 rd Melissa Swigart/Doreen Hutchings
5B 1 st Callie Kimball/Abra Bush
5B 2 nd Heather Koskovich/Lucy Thrasher
5B 3 rd Krista Stocks/Carol Eikum
6 1 st Dustin Wirth/David Hamilton
6 2 nd Paul Stever/Robert Smith
(prev. Robert Scholz)
6 3 rd Brian Heald/Peter Halverson
7 1 st Hannah Nelson/Carol Eikum
7 2 nd Anne Wieben/Glenda Maurice
7 3 rd Mirian Ehrlichmann/Lawrence Weller
7 Hon. Men. Alexa Lokensgard/Alison Feldt
8 1 st Bryan Boyce/Glenda Maurice
8 2 nd William Pederson/Glenda Maurice
8 3 rd -tie Brendan Bujold/David Hamilton
8 3 rd -tie Ryan Perry/Stephen Bomgardner
9 1 st Lei Li/Lawrence Weller
9 2 nd Mark Anderson/Karen Wilkerson
9 3 rd Carol Harris/Harriet McCleary
10 1 st Jeffrey Madison/John DeHaan
10 2 nd Jennifer Kult/Carol Eikum
10 3 rd Tricia Van Ee/Lawrence Weller
THANKS FROM YOUR DEPARTING SECRETARY
Many thanks for the opportunity to serve our Minnesota NATS chapter as your secretary for these past five years. It has been a pleasure to be a part of such an energetic board and to have the opportunity to work with our enthusiastic membership. I know I leave you capable hands: our incoming secretary, Harriet McCleary, begins her term in January,'04.
Shari Speer Secretary
RECIPIENTS FOR THE 2003 MN GRANT FOR VOCAL RESEARCH
The recipients of the 2003 MN Grant for Vocal Research: Dr. Harriet McCleary, her project is titled
American Song 19th Century to the Present, and Judy Bender and Doreen Hutchings, whose project is the Songs of Celius Dougherty . These projects are both publication projects so we will look forward to new vocal collections in the future!
NEW MN-NATS MEMBERS
MN-NATS began a new mentorship program this fall to assist relatively new voice teachers in their teaching careers by pairing them with a NATS member who teaches in a similar venue and has had a number of years of teaching experience. We encourage you to consider applying to be a part of this program. For this year only we have eliminated the application deadline. To find out more about the program or to get a copy of the application form, go to the MN-NATS website: http://nats.org/minnesota or contact Janet Ahern ( ahernjt@morris.umn.edu ) or 320-589-2474 .
CALL FOR MENTORS
Your MN-NATS Mentorship Committee requests your help. We are looking for voice teachers who have been active NATS members with a minimum of ten years of teaching experience to be willing to serve as mentors in our new mentorship program. We need both private studio and academic teachers. You can access information on the Mentorship Program at our state website: http://nats.org/minnesota . Please contact Janet Ahern ( ahernjt@morris.umn.edu ) or 320-589-2474 if you are interested.
A NIGHT AT THE OPERA
Join your MN-NATS colleagues in a winter social event on January 24, 2004 . We have reserved tickets for Minnesota Opera's production of Lucrezia Borgia . A pre-performance social hour will begin at 6:00pm in the St. Paul Hotel. We will then walk over to the Ordway for the 7:30 p.m. performance. Tickets are being offered at special rates of $47 and $64 for MN-NATS members. Send your reservation to Scott Blankenbaker, Treasurer, before December 10. Please indicate the number of tickets you'd like and if you will be attending the social hour.
scottbbaker@yahoo.com
U OF MN UPCOMING OPPORTUNITIES
Vocal Pedagogy (5275) will be offered Tuesdays, 5:30-8 p.m. next semester. The time was changed to accommodate voice teachers and K-12 choral directors. Also, the Schuessler Vocal Arts Center/MN-NATS will be co-sponsoring our spring meeting event, When Listening Comes Alive facilitated by guest speaker Paul Madaule, director of the Toronto Listening Center Saturday, April 17, 2004 .
PERSONAL REFLECTIONS: From the studio of Nancy Lee Sherden
30 students ranging in age from 12 to 60+ make up my private studio. The young people hope to be in the musical or pop-choir; there is the Unitarian, the Jewish, the Roman Catholic nun and other Catholics who lead singing, the contemporary Christian praise band members, the basic Protestants and the most conservative Baptists all involved in their respective houses of worship. And the man who wants to sing and play in local folk song venues, the high school boy crazy about the Beatles, the church music director and the wonderfully gifted woman who has done two formal recitals and can hardly wait to retire in two years to devote herself to her Gift and those who study just because they love to sing. Especially rewarding is working with a young woman who had an auto accident a few years ago that left her with right side damage and short-term memory loss. Her long-term memory from performing days is wonderful. We work to get those lips together on m's, p's and b's and general articulation.
All of this makes for an interesting week as I am challenged to meet each person's vocal needs, bearing in mind the wise counsel of my friend and mentor, Leon Thurman, who told me over 25 years ago that our job is not to judge what they sing, but to help them sing healthily and efficiently, and to find their inherent free and natural voice.
NEWS FROM OUR MEMBERS
Stephen Bomgardner , MN State-Mankato, performed a recital at Western State College ( Gunnison , CO ) on 9/25 and will perform Schubert's Winterreise at the Cathedral Church of Saint Paul ( Boston , MA ) on 11/12.
Suzanne Draayer , author of the new song anthologies, "Canciones de España--Songs of Nineteenth-Century Spain ," presented master classes and lecture recitals on Spanish song repertoire in several locations in September and October. She taught Spanish lyric diction and master classes on nineteenth-century Spanish song for the Manitoba NATS chapter in October. For North Carolina NATS members (September), and Milliken University (Decatur, Illinois) voice students, she taught master classes and presented lecture recitals on the songs of Joaquín Rodrigo and the songs of 19 th -century Spain (October). Additionally, her article, "Canciones de España--Art Song Composers of 19th-Century Spain , Part I," was published in the Nov/Dec, 2003 issue of the Journal of Singing . The second article will be published in the Jan/Feb issue.
Carolyn Finley , mezzo-soprano and Edward Turley, pianist have completed their 20 th century British/American art song CD entitled: Under These Skies. Please contact Carolyn for a comp CD, especially if you teach vocal literature classes: cfinley@csbsju.edu
Patricia Kent , soprano, sang the role of Lady Billows in Albert Herring with the U of M opera theatre on Oct 31 and Nov 2. She was also a soloist with the Macalester Festival Chorale, Carlton Concert Choir and St Paul Civic Orchestra in performances of the Gloria from the Bach B Minor Mass on November 16 and 17.
Clifton Ware , tenor
SCHOLARLY ACTIVITIES:
1. Adventures in Singing , 3rd Ed. McGraw-Hill, 2004, released August, 2003. Includes new website (www.mhhe.com/ais3) that features a video of my illustrating warm-up exercises, extra songs and Accompaniments for downloading (soon to be complete), and an instruction manual for group voice. A second printing corrects two-page songs so all are open to view.
2. Vocal Explorations: The Bad, the Good, and the "Other" . (Completed August, 2003) A self-published, limited first-run edition of a CD featuring all-original material, including The Best Loving Tenor Contest, a parody of tenor voice types and styles, is available for $10 & useful for pedagogy classes.
3. The Singer's Life: Goals and Roles . A new book due in 2004 through Birch Grove Publications, St. Paul . Discusses 20 roles of singers, including psychologist, vocal athlete, technician, human being, achiever, etc. Based on revisions of essays written for the National Opera Association's Opera Journal in a regular column titled "High Notes", which I continue writing.
MEET ONE OF OUR NEWEST MEMBERS
Mezzo-soprano Barbara Prince is a graduate of the University of North Texas and East Carolina University. A member of the Oregon Bach Festival Choir, Barbara is a section leader with the choir at Westminster Presbyterian Church in Minneapolis and with the Minnesota Chorale. She is a student of Emma Small and teaches voice at Concordia University - St. Paul, Minneapolis Community and Technical College, and Stillwater High School.
She has been guest soloist with numerous Twin City organizations and will make her debut performance with the Rochester Orchestra and Chorale this April with Beethoven's Ninth Symphony . |
