Conference 2023

PAST EVENT

Good Singing is Good Singing
This is the catch-cry of our two keynote speakers, Irene Bartlett and Dr Ron Morris. They will speak to three broad themes:
Good Singing: Where Voice Science and Teaching Meet
Good Singing: Crosses Genres & Styles
Good Singing: Crosses Ages & Stages

Both hailing from Queensland Conservatorium, Griffith University, Irene and Ron are not just colleagues with a shared passion for pedagogy but good friends too. With diverse musical backgrounds, they are the perfect pair to lead us on a journey to the heart of the Voice studio. While Irene specialises in contemporary Voice, Ron is from the classical, choral and operatic world, as well as being a Speech Therapist and Audiologist.

There will be several opportunities for social engagement and networking in the evenings and the provided tea-breaks and many past attendees have found this the most rewarding aspect of our conferences.

The University of Otago College of Education is an appropriate venue as we strive to enhance our teaching skills. NEWZATS Council encourage you to join us, whether you are a voice teacher just starting out, or a long established pedagogue.

Non-members and non-singing musicians will also gain valuable knowledge and are most welcome to attend.

KEYNOTE SPEAKERS

Irene Bartlett

Dr Ron Morris

READ KEYNOTE SPEAKERs' Biographies ⬇︎

Irene is Coordinator of Contemporary Voice, Head of Pedagogy and Jazz Vocal studies at the Queensland Conservatorium, Griffith University where she delivers lectures, 'in person' training, mentoring and degree supervision for postgraduate, undergraduate and doctoral students. Recognized nationally and internationally as a leader in the field of contemporary commercial music (CCM) styles and vocal pedagogy, her teaching centres on the development of healthy, sustainable singing technique and performance longevity for singers of all styles. To date, she is one of only two pedagogues to receive the prestigious award of Australian Master Teacher from the Australian National Association of Teachers of Singing.

Irene’s present and past students maintain successful careers in the contemporary commercial music industry (inclusive of Jazz, Pop, Rock, Country, R&B and all associated sub-styles). These professional singers work in recording studios, movie productions and, in ‘live’ performance settings for CCM gigs and musical theatre. Many are recipients of prestigious industry and academic accolades including multiple ARIA awards, Bell Awards (Best Vocal Jazz Albums), the Australian National Jazz Award, James Morrison 'Generations in Jazz' Scholarships, Churchill Fellowships, Marten Bequest Traveling Scholarships, Brisbane Lord Mayor's scholarships, Artstart and the Dame Joan Sutherland Fund.

In addition to her work at Griffith University, Irene has been a visiting lecturer to many prominent national and international voice training institutions including, Sydney Conservatorium, University of Otago (NZ), National Academy of Singing and Dramatic Arts (NASDA, NZ), Berklee College of Music (USA), Shenandoah University (USA), Metropolia University of Applied Science (Finland) and Sibelius Academy (Finland). Continuing this outreach, she accepts invitations for speaker and/or keynote at national and international conferences and symposia presenting research papers, workshop and masterclass sessions on topics including singing voice pedagogy, practice-based voice science, contemporary music styles and performance.

Throughout her extensive career as a professional singer Irene has performed the full range of contemporary styles. This lived experience informs her ongoing research and teaching practice and is reflected in her extensive publication record of book chapters, journal articles and, most recently, as a featured contributor for international publications “So You Want To Sing CCM (Contemporary Commercial Music): A Guide for Performers”, “Training Contemporary Commercial Singers” and “Vocal Studies for the Contemporary Singer”.

Dr Ron Morris, Speech Therapist, Audiologist and Counter-Tenor, initially graduated from the University of Queensland in 1985 with an Honours degree in Speech Therapy. Ron also holds a Performer’s Certificate from Trinity College London and in 2001 he completed a Masters of Music Studies (Vocal Performance) at the Queensland Conservatorium Griffith University where he studied with Ms Margaret Schindler. As part of that degree Ron undertook additional vocal studies in London with Mrs Janice Chapman OAM as well as studying Accent Method Breathing with Ms Dinah Harris and Mrs Ingrid Rugheimer. Ron was awarded a PhD for a study examining the use of Accent Method Breathing with singers.

Ron is in demand both nationally and internationally as a speaker at conferences, workshops and summer schools having presented on numerous occasions for the British Voice Association, to the Pan European Voice Conference (PEVOC), the Australian Voice Association (AVA), the Australian National Association of Teachers of Singing (ANATS) and to the Association of Teachers of Singing (AOTOS) in the UK. Ron has been a guest tutor at the Aberystwyth Music Fest and Summer School as well as working with choristers from St Paul’s Cathedral London, Canterbury Cathedral and King’s College Cambridge. Ron also works annually within the Vocal Department at the Guildhall School of Music and Drama, The Royal Academy of Music and The Royal Northern College of Music where his work is focussed on breathing, articulation and vocal pedagogy. He is the Senior Lecturer in Vocal Pedagogy and Health at the Queensland Conservatorium of Music Griffith University.

Ron continues to sing regularly both as a member of St Stephen’s Cathedral Choir and Schola (Brisbane) and the Opera Queensland Chorus. and as a soloist in oratorio, opera and other sacred music. Recent engagements include the Durufle’s Requiem, Handel’s Messiah, Orff’s Carmina Burana and Handel’s Dixit Dominus.

Ron has recently completed a book with his eminent co-author Ms Linda Hutichson entitled “If In Doubt Breathe Out” which focusses on breathing and support for singing based on the Accent Method. Ron is also co-author with Janice Chapman of her book “Singing and Teaching Singing: A Holistic Approach to Classical Voice”, now in its 4th edition as well as writing a chapter for Scott Harrison’s book “Teaching Singing in the 21st Century”.

PROUD SPONSOR OF THE KEYNOTE SPEAKERS' ACCOMMODATION

Conference Timetable ⬇︎

Full Colour Programme Download

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Sessions and Topic Details ⬇︎

Wednesday 5 July
10.30am: Towards a Common, Unambiguous Language for Teaching - Irene Bartlett & Dr Ron Morris
What do we say and why do we say it that way!
11.30am: Good Singing is Good Singing! Anatomy and Physiology of the Singing Voice - Irene Bartlett & Dr Ron Morris
An overview of the vocal anatomy and physiology from the lungs to the vocal folds.
2.00pm: Mechanics of Breath Management - Irene Bartlett & Dr Ron Morris
The theory behind breathing and support.
4.00pm: Introduction to Accent Method Breathing - Dr Ron Morris
Practical experience with AMB. Are you ready for a lie down?

Thursday 6 July
9.00am: Annual General Meeting
Members only
10.00am: Kapa Haka In The Voice Studio - Hinekoia Tomlinson
What singing teachers have to offer the kapa haka world.
11.00pm: Waiata In The Voice Studio - Hinekoia Tomlinson
The benefits of using Waiata Māori in your voice studio.
11.30am: Compare and Contrast - Classical and Contemporary Lessons - Dr Ron Morris & Irene Bartlett
How do these differ and why do we do things differently in each genre.
2.00pm: Classical Voice: Bridging the Gap - Teaching Demonstration - Dr Ron Morris
Not just Opera! Something for everyone, young and old.
4.00pm: Contemporary Voice: A Spectrum of Styles - Teaching Demonstration - Irene Bartlett
A master teacher's approach to CCM (Contemporary Commercial Music).

Friday 7 July
9.00am: Move with your Voice - Sofia Kalogeropoulou
Alexander Technique to improve postural alignment, movement efficiency and vocal performativity.
9.45am: The Barbara Nicholls Memorial Presentation - Scott Bezett
A Singer Prepares: Stanislavski in Song
11.00am: Voice Through the Ages - Irene Bartlett & Dr Ron Morris
How does the voice change and develop from birth through to death!
2.00pm: Do You Hear What I Hear? Critical Listening - Dr Ron Morris & Irene Bartlett
Listening for style, faults and efficiency!

TEACHING DEMONSTRATIONS ⬇︎

There will be two Teaching Demonstrations which replace the traditional "Masterclass" format. Three singers will sing for each of the classes.

Classical Voice: Bridging the Gap (Dr Ron Morris)
Contemporary Voice: A Spectrum of Styles (Irene Bartlett)

One other workshop will also include a short teaching demonstration with one singer.

Compare and Contrast: Classical and Contemporary Lessons

GUEST SPEAKER Sessions ⬇︎

In addition to our keynote speakers, we will have three interactive workshops from Hinekoia Tomlinson and Sofia Kalogeropoulou. These will include whole-group participation and may ask for volunteers from within the delegation.

HINEKOIA TOMLINSON

KAPA HAKA IN THE VOICE STUDIO
What singing teachers have to offer the kapa haka world

WAIATA IN THE VOICE STUDIO
The benefits of using Waiata Māori in your voice studio.

ABOUT HINEKOIA
Hinekoia Tomlinson (Ngāpuhi, Whakatōhea, Ngāti Awa) is a highly trained and experienced vocal coach and performer. She is the owner of Waiata Mai Vocal Coaching, a studio born out of the desire to fuse two of her passions, vocal coaching and te ao Māori. The kaupapa of this studio is people focused and provides a space to develop vocal technique and performance confidence in a range of genres including kapa haka. She is an Estill Master Trainer and has an Honours degree in music.

SOFIA KALOGEROPOULOU

MOVE WITH YOUR VOICE
An interactive Alexander Technique session that aims to improve postural alignment, movement efficiency and vocal performativity.

ABOUT SOFIA
Sofia Kalogeropoulou is a Senior Teaching Fellow and convenor of the Dance Programme at the School of Performing Arts, University of Otago. She has a Masters of Dance Studies (UO), a Bachelor in Performing Arts (UA) and RAD teaching qualifications. Sofia has taught dance in a variety of dance and theatre institutions in Greece, London UK and in New Zealand. She was a principal dancer with Company Z in Auckland and a freelance choreographer.

LUNCHTIME PRESENTATIONS ⬇︎

Wednesday 5 July, 1.30pm - Claire Barton

WOMEN SINGERS AND SINGING TEACHERS IN DUNEDIN, 1955-2000 - AN UPDATE

"A month before beginning formal study towards a PhD at the University of Otago, I presented on my proposed research at the 2021 NEWZATS conference in Wellington. My work on the topic of “Women Singers and Singing Teachers in Dunedin, 1955-2000” is now at its midpoint. The research explores how factors including gender, class, race and locality have contributed to the nature of classical vocal performance and teaching in Dunedin and attempts to identify how these may have changed over time. It considers how women singers and singing teachers may have upheld or disrupted established interpretations in classical singing in Dunedin and further afield. In focusing upon the histories and experiences of these women, this research seeks to question whether there is a case for challenging prevailing narratives around the practice of classical singing in New Zealand history and musicology. My research includes oral history interviews with significant figures in the Dunedin classical singing community, archival material, and a survey of those with links to the performing arts in Dunedin or further afield. This presentation will explore the results of this ongoing research, with particular reference to the survey, which was made available between September 2022 and January 2023 and completed by more than 100 participants."

Thursday 6 July, 1.30pm - Sarah Hughes

JUKEBOX MUSICALS AND THEIR PLACE WITHIN THE 'MUSICALS' GENRE

"The Jukebox musical genre has many more complexities to its creation than critics would suggest, and it is becoming an increasingly popular form of musical theatre production. The form has cemented its place as a sub-genre of contemporary musical theatre through hit shows such as Mamma Mia! (1999), We Will Rock You (2002), Jersey Boys (2004), Tina: The Tina Turner Musical (2018), and & Juliet (2019), to name a few, and although it had existed for over 25 years, there is little research into the field. The research I have conducted has surround how the conventions of musical theatre have been used within Jukebox musicals and how they are then applied in the translation of pop songs for a Jukebox musical theatre context. There has yet to be a standardised method for translating pop songs into a Jukebox musical theatre context due to the relative newness of the category and this is a gap in previous research that my own research aims to bring attention to. My research discusses how different musical theatre vocal techniques have been applied to pop songs in current Jukebox musicals to create the distinctions within the art form from the contemporary musical theatre and pop music sounds. The research breaks down some of the main musical theatre singing techniques used by performers as well as how vocal arrangers can utilise them within the voice arrangements to keep the most integral essence of the pop music. Through the analysation of contemporary pop musicals and the precedent created by current Jukebox musicals, I have been able make educated assumptions on what musical techniques have been utilised to create the Jukebox musical sound in line with comparisons in The Jukebox Musical (2022) textbook by Byrne and Fuchs which is the only definitive research published, in book form, so far in the field."

Friday 7 July, 1.30pm - Judy Bellingham

AOTEAROA NEW ZEALAND CLASSICAL VOCAL MUSIC - A BRIEF HISTORY SHOWING THE DEVELOPING USE OF NEW ZEALAND POETRY

"New Zealand vocal music has come of age in the past fifty years, and is now performed at many prestigious events internationally. This vocal revival coincides with a renaissance in the amount and quality of New Zealand poetry, much of which reflects the local landscapes, and flora and fauna. This poetry reflects clarity of colour, amazing land formations and dramatic contrasts of scenery and represents them in the language of music.. This paper will demonstrate how song can bring some of these effects to musical life."

ABOUT JUDY
Judy Bellingham retired in 2019 from the position of Associate Professor in Voice at the University of Otago. She trained in Christchurch with Mary Adams-Taylor and Joan Davies, in Australia with Dame Joan Hammond and Antonio Moretti-Pananti, and in England with Otakar Kraus. She has sung many operatic roles, including creating 6 roles in New Zealand operas, and has sung as soloist with all the major Choirs and Orchestras in this country. Judy’s concert repertoire is extensive and she enjoys all genres of vocal music. She was a national recording artist for both the Australian Broadcasting Commission and Radio New Zealand Concert. Concert tours have included Europe, Russia, South America, the Baltic States, Portugal and Spain as soprano soloist with CBS Music from Christchurch, and a solo recital tour of Libya with colleague Terence Dennis.

Although she has now retired from the concert stage, Judy is still a widely respected singing teacher and was President of the New Zealand Association of Teachers of Singing for 6 years. From her busy private studio, Judy’s students regularly achieve well in Competitions, both nationally and internationally.

She is an Examiner for the New Zealand Music Examinations Board and the Australian Music Examinations Board, and has been a Vocal Consultant to the New Zealand Youth Choir. Judy is in demand as an adjudicator of both vocal and choral Festivals, and as a vocal clinician throughout the country and internationally. She has worked with the National Youth Choir of Great Britain, the Royal Copenhagen Chapel Choir, the David Jorlett Chorale in the USA, the Dan Laoghaire Choral Society in Dublin and the Australian Choir, Ladies of Note. She has taught for Glyndebourne Opera, and from 1998 – 2010 was the Guest Vocal Lecturer at the International Music Festival held annually at Tunghai University in Taiwan. In 2011, Tunghai University awarded Judy a Visiting Professorship. Judy was the Artistic Director of the New Zealand Singing School, Te Wānanga toi Waiata from 2005 to 2019. She is on the Trust of the Teapot Summer School.

Judy is the author of a book on how to learn to sight-sing, "Sing what you see, See what you Sing" and has recorded a CD of New Zealand songs and a DVD Songs of Old Dunedin. She has published two DVD’s Warm Me up, Judy! and Body, Voice and Brain. For her services to classical singing, Judy was made a Member of the New Zealand Order of Merit in the Queen’s Birthday Honours in 2016.

She is also a Life Member of NEWZATS, and a Patron of the Royal Dunedin Male Choir, the Society of Women Musicians of Otago and the New Zealand Singing School.

Barbara Nicholls memorial Presentation ⬇︎

Scott Bezett

A SINGER PREPARES: STANISLAVSKI IN SONG
Konstantin Stanislavski (1863-1938) is widely considered one of history’s most important theatre practitioners. His principal fame comes from his development of actor training principles that aimed for a more psycho-physical approach to performance. The ‘System’ Stanislavski developed is focused on the ‘art of experiencing’ - asking the performer to utilise their conscious thought and action in order to indirectly access psychological processes otherwise out of their control (i.e. emotional and subconscious behaviours). The desired outcome of Stanislavski’s System is to create a believable, emotionally expressive and authentic performance. While Stanislavski’s work has left a prominent legacy in the theatrical world, little formal research has been done in investigating how the System may be used in the context of an art song recital. This presentation aims to help remedy this scarcity of research by laying out a practical framework which the classical singer may use to apply Stanislavskian principles to the preparation of song repertoire. This preparation framework is based on the four phases of working on a role laid out by Stanislavski himself: “getting to know it, experiencing it, embodying it, making it effective.” By using this framework with their students, teachers of singing will be able to integrate the dramatic preparation of song repertoire into the technical and musical preparation at every step of the learning process, with the ultimate goal of giving singers the tools to present authentic and emotionally expressive performances. The presentation will include specific examples of the framework being utilised in song repertoire frequently sung by young singers so that teachers may see the framework in action and how it can be integrated into their teaching practice.

ABOUT SCOTT
Scott Bezett (tenor) is an active singer from Lake Mahinerangi, Otago. A graduate of the University of Otago, Scott completed a Bachelor of Arts and Science in Classics, Maths and Music, and an Honours degree in Classics before undertaking a Master of Music in Classical Voice Performance which he completed in 2022. His Masters research focussed on creating a song-cycle preparation framework based on the teachings of Russian theatre practitioner, Konstantin Stanislavski. He is now working towards a Master of Arts in Classics, looking at the intersection of ancient Greek tragedy and opera. Scott has long been an active performer on the operatic, musical theatre, concert and recital stage. His diverse repertoire ranges from the operatic and oratorio works of Mozart, operettas of Gilbert & Sullivan, song cycles of Schubert and Schumann, chamber operas of Menotti and Chabrier, right through to musical theatre works like Les Misérables. He is a regular performer with regional and national musical groups across New Zealand, and a three-time alumnus of the New Zealand Opera School.