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Simon O'Neill
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PAST Online EVENTS

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REPLAY AVAILABLE
June SUNDAY SERIES 2022 - Hinekoia Tomlinson - Engaging with Te Ao Māori through a Vocal Teaching Lens

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REPLAY AVAILABLE
July SUNDAY SERIES 2022 - Lexus - Past, Present, Future - 2022 Finalists Interviewed by Madeleine Pierard

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PAY TO VIEW RECORDING
August SUNDAY SERIES 2022 - Tim Richards - Classical Singing In A Modern Context
For more information about Tim, visit his website here

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September SUNDAY SERIES 2022 - Choral Panel - In Conversation with David Squire and Morag Atchison
Supporting Students Through Choir Auditions and Participation

In the wake of a busy couple of weeks with the Big Sing Cadenzas and Finale, now is a great time to be thinking ahead to the next year.

Many of our students will sing in choirs as an important stream of their vocal and musical development. We'll be discussing how we, as singing teachers, can be setting our students up for success and rewarding involvement in Aotearoa New Zealand's thriving choral community.

​There aren't many people more qualified to lead this discussion than Morag and David. They have worked with our national choirs, NZSSC, NZYC, Voices NZ and myriad others across high school, tertiary and community levels, as singers, choral directors and vocal coaches.

Members Register Free here (GoogleForm)
Non-Members Register here $15 (POLiPay)

BIOGRAPHIES

David Squire
MMus (Hons), PGDipMus, BMus, DipTchg​

David Squire has been Music Director of New Zealand Youth Choir since 2011 and is the first alumnus director of the choir. He also directs international award-winning ensembles Voicemale (Westlake Boys High School), Euphony (Kristin School) and the Westlake Symphony Orchestra.

Current chair of the New Zealand Association of Choral Directors, he is also a national conducting advisor and tutor, and a governance board member for the New Zealand Choral Federation. He is in demand around the world as a clinician, educator, guest conductor and adjudicator, and is the choral director for the International Schools Choral Music Society. He studied conducting with Karen Grylls and Juan Matteucci, and singing with Beatrice Webster, Isabel Cunningham and Glenese Blake.

Morag Atchison
ARAM, DipRAM, PGDip(Opera), LRAM (Royal Academy of Music), BMus(Hons), DMA

Morag Atchison has firmly established herself as one of New Zealand’s leading sopranos. She studied at the University of Auckland and Royal Academy of Music (London), and was a finalist in the Kathleen Ferrier and Royal Over-Seas League Competitions.

Morag is a Senior Lecturer at the University of Auckland, is a vocal tutor for the NZ Youth Choir, the University of Auckland Chamber Choir and for over a decade worked with the award-winning Choralation from Westlake Girls’ and Boys’ High Schools. In 2013 Morag was awarded a doctorate in Musical Arts from the University of Auckland, the first DMA in vocal studies from a New Zealand University and in 2019 was elected as an Associate of the Royal Academy of Music (ARAM).
Read more here
October SUNDAY SERIES 2022 - MICHELLE KEATING - TAKE CARE: Vocal Health For The Singing Teacher
Take Care: Vocal Health for the Singing Teacher

​Members Register Free here (GoogleForm)
Non-Members Register here $15 (POLiPay)

As singing teachers, we focus on developing and caring for our students’ voices. However, teaching back-to-back lessons, covering various genres, and helping students through different vocal challenges can impact our own vocal health.

Michelle will discuss ways in which we can implement vocal health protocols to protect ourselves as singing teachers. Habitual, environmental, and dietary modifications and the introduction of vocal exercises can improve our stamina, encourage vocal recovery, and prevent vocal injuries.

BIOGRAPHY

Michelle Keating trained in contemporary and musical theatre voice at the University of Otago during her Bachelor of Performing Arts. She then completed her Master of Speech-Language Pathology (Distinction) at the University of Canterbury. Specialising in vocology, Michelle is invested in training singers to use their voices efficiently and safely and helping them recover from vocal injuries/pathologies. In addition, as a voice therapist, Michelle enjoys general voice rehabilitation work and gender-affirming voice therapy.
​ore here:
Postponed TBC - Laura Crocco - Motor learning: Why It's 'Trending and What It Cn Do For Voice Training
Motor learning: Why it’s ‘trending’ and what it can do for voice training

Members register here $20 (POLiPay)
​Non-Members register here $35 (POLiPay)
​
How teachers teach (e.g., modelling and giving feedback), much like what teachers teach (e.g., posture, breathing), has a significant impact on student learning, performance, health, and wellbeing. Evidence from the motor learning literature on how humans learn complex motor skills, such as singing, may improve the how. Motor learning research offers a fact-based framework for improving teaching and learning, by offering information on how to best apply teaching behaviours such as instruction, modelling, and feedback, to build student self-efficacy and support optimal learning.

So, if motor learning is useful for voice teachers, why has it only just started ‘trending’?

Until now, there has been little accurately translated information available for voice teachers and few rigorous studies on motor learning and singing training. Laura has therefore dedicated her research to (1) translating motor learning evidence for voice teachers, (2) identifying how motor learning principles are currently used by teachers, and (3) studying effective ways that teachers may coach themselves on how to improve their teaching using motor learning evidence.

The webinar will cover:
  • An introduction to motor learning principles
  • Evidence for optimal use of teaching behaviours, including instruction, modelling, augmented feedback, perceptual training, and motivation 
  • Best practices for supporting student autonomy by building student error-detection ability and self-efficacy 
  • An overview of research that has been done on voice training and motor learning
  • How teachers can start applying motor learning evidence NOW and tools to help teachers get started

Webinar participants will be invited to engage in a Q&A and conversation on the topics above, and complete activities that aim to help teachers reflect on their teaching and better understand and apply motor learning recommendations.

BIOGRAPHY

BMus(Voice Performance), MAppSc(Health Science), PhD(Medicine and Health, Current) 
​
Laura Crocco is a musician and PhD candidate in the Faculty of Medicine and Health at The University of Sydney. During her undergraduate studies, Laura experienced the demanding nature of voice training and in turn developed a deep appreciation for the challenging role voice teachers have in training musicians. This prompted her research interest in how the science of motor learning may help develop evidence-based methods for improving 1-1 instrumental and voice training across music genre and educational levels. Laura is passionate about using best practices to design effective and discipline-specific continuing professional development methods for teachers, and in turn support future generations of autonomous and healthy musicians.
Replay Available
MARCH Sunday Series 2022 - Jo Fitzgerald - Curiosity & Continuing Education: THE PICK-A-PATH OF PROFESSIONAL DEVELOPMENT

Biography

Voice teacher Jo Fitzgerald is on a mission to provide stellar quality voice education and functional training to singers of contemporary styles.

A graduate of Victorian College of the Arts, Melbourne (BMus Performance), Jo has used her background in jazz and improvisation as a stepping stone to teach all styles of contemporary music to students at every level. An avid student of all things voice and teaching, Jo is currently studying towards an MA Professional Practice (Voice Pedagogy).

​She is certified in all three levels of Somatic Voicework(™) The LoVetri Method and has been privileged to study privately with its founder, Jeannette LoVetri. Jo is connected to a worldwide network of voice teachers and is currently co-Vice President of the New Zealand Association of Teachers of Singing.
April Sunday Series 2022 - Brenda Earle Stokes - Piano Skills for Singers: A SIMPLE AND MODERN APPROACH FOR VOICE TEACHERS

 Biography

Pianist and vocalist Brenda Earle Stokes’ career has garnered international acclaim for her work as a performer, composer and educator.

​A natural multitasker, Stokes has fused a passion for the piano and a love of singing into a vibrant career that crosses genres. Her performance career has taken her across the US, Canada, New Zealand and Australia, playing at venues like the Kennedy Center, Carnegie Hall, the Toronto Jazz Festival, performing as a band leader and side musician with artists such as Wycliffe Gordon, Maurice Hines and the DIVA Jazz Orchestra.

Brenda is a passionate educator and has worked with every imaginable group of students, from young children to top professionals. In addition to teaching at Fordham University and running a busy private studio teaching voice, piano and songwriting, Brenda owns The Versatile Musician - a suite of online courses on piano, jazz, improvisation and musicianship and she has a bustling YouTube channel.
Replay Available
2-3pm, 15 May 2022 - Sacha Vee - Mic Technique for the classical world
New Zealand born neo-soul singer, Sacha Vee, scorches her stage, exuding slow burn power with every note. She has established quite the following across the globe with more than 50 million YouTube views, a finalist on The Voice of Holland, contributed to multi-platinum records and support slots for the likes of Jhene Aiko, Boney M & Hollie Smith.

​Sacha Vee’s last album, Luminous (Released Nov, 2016) received multiple review accolades. One New Zealand blog Muzic.net.nz wrote, “This album is worthy of NZ music awards and global stardom. An outstanding and compelling album which is highly addictive”. The album charted at No.3 on the NZ Heatseeker Charts and has had three songs feature on NZonAir platform NewTracks (formerly KiwiHitDisc). In 2017 her song ‘Trigger’ was nominated in the RnB; Hiphop category in the prestigious International Songwriting Competition 2018.

Nowadays, Sacha Vee resides in Christchurch, New Zealand and is the founder and director of SOLE Music Academy. Sacha created SOLE to help emerging contemporary artists ‘bridge the gap’ into the music industry.

2021 Sunday Series 

21 March 2021 - Practical Breathing for SinGers - Anne Marie-Speed​
Anne-Marie has been working as a voice teacher, singing teacher, vocal, acting and accent coach for almost 30 years within film, theatre, music theatre, TV and CCM.

She established The Voice Explained (Anne-Marie Speed & Associates) in 2001 in order to promote the teaching and reach of the Estill Model within the UK and internationally alongside her other work within the performing arts industry. Since then she has regularly run popular workshops in Voice, Performance and the Estill Model throughout the world.
She has been Professor of Spoken Word on the Musical Theatre course at the Royal Academy of Music since the course started in 1994 and was President of the British Voice Association 2001-2002. Her numerous credits include: vocal coach on Britain's Got Talent and X Factor in 2011; Britain's Got Talent 2012; voice, singing and dialect coach on dozens of West End shows and plays including From Here to Eternity which opened at the Shaftesbury Theatre, the Menier Chocolate Factory revival production of Candide, Funny Girl at the Savoy Theatre, provided voice and dialect work for An American in Paris at the Dominion Theatre in London, the new production of Obsession directed by Ivo van Hove at the Barbican, the new London production of Heathers at The Other Palace in London, vocal coach on Everybody's Talking About Jamie in the West End (as well as very much enjoying working with the cast of the new film), vocal and accent coach on the touring production of Hair, directed by Jonathan O'Boyle, vocal coach on The Man of La Mancha at the Coliseum directed by Lonnie Price. She was vocal coach on Joseph and his Amazing Technicolour Dreamcoat at the London Palladium and Ivan and the Dogs at the Young Vic. She had been working on Pretty Woman and was just about to start on City of Angels before lockdown. Her television work includes the critically acclaimed ITV drama Cilla. She was vocal coach to major leads in the live action movie Beauty and the Beast for Disney and has been very busy working with the cast for the new film of Cinderella, written and directed by Kay Cannon who wrote and directed the Pitch Perfect movies.and the just released reworking of Blithe Spirit.

Most recently she has started work as the vocal coach on the newly announced Sex Pistols TV drama Lonely Boy directed by Danny Boyle. Since 2010, Anne-Marie has been training teachers in Estill Voice Training (Estill Master Trainers), embedding it within a broader pedagogical training.

She now has more than 70 teacher trainees who have either completed or who are currently in training. They are much in demand and head or teach at some of the UK’s most prestigious training programmes, including musical theatre, drama schools and classical courses. During lockdown, Anne-Marie has shifted courses online, often working alongside respected friends and colleagues to offer quality, affordable information to anyone interested in technical voice work, performance and coaching in different styles and genres. There have been courses in other essential support skills such accents and self-taping auditions with more to come. The popularity of these online offerings means that they will continue after lockdown alongside in- person seminars, workshops and courses.
18 APRIL 2021 - ITALIAN FOR SINGERS - DR. LUCA MANGHI
​Dr. Luca Manghi is Principal Flute of the Dunedin Symphony Orchestra, the Auckland Chamber Orchestra, Bach Musica NZ, and appears frequently with the New Zealand Symphony Orchestra and the Auckland Philharmonia Orchestra. He teaches flute and chamber music at the University of Otago, the University of Waikato and the Akaroa International Summer Festival, and has also taught at the University of Auckland and the Levallois Conservatory in Paris.

Luca was born in Parma, Italy. He studied at the Boito Conservatory in Parma, and at the Accademia Perosi in Biella, under Peter Lukas Graf.  He went on to study with Sir William Bennett in Rome and with Jean Ferrandis in Paris. He won first prizes at the UFAM International Competition in Paris, the Genova International Competition, and the Concorso Cimarosa International Competition. He holds a Doctor of Musical Arts degree from the University of Otago.
​He was Principal Flute of the Orchestra Filarmonica di Parma (1991 to 1996) and the Orchestra Filarmonica Italiana (1992 to 1998). He is a member of the Donizetti Trio, which toured New Zealand in 2014 and 2019 for Chamber Music New Zealand. He has performed at the Australian Flute Festival on three occasions as a guest recitalist, and has given performances in Italy for the New Zealand Government, and at the Anghiari Festival.

He is a language coach for New Zealand Opera, and teaches at the New Zealand Opera School. Luca performs on the albums Quays (Atoll ACD882), playpen (Atoll ACD22I) and Tones (Rattle Records RAT-D089).
23 May 2021 - All Choked Up: Psychology, Anxiety and my voice - Simon Ward
Simon Ward is an actor, psychologist and educator. He trained in the MA Musical Theatre program & LRAM program in teaching voice at the Royal Academy of Music (London), holds a Licentiate in Musical Theatre from Trinity College London, trained with the Actors Centre Australia, and completed Psychology degrees at Macquarie University Sydney.

He has performed in London’s West End, New York City & throughout Australia in musicals, plays, opera and extensively in cabaret. Simon is a Fellow of the Royal Society for the Arts, a Member of the Australian Psychological Society, a Chartered Psychologist & Associate Fellow of the British Psychological Society, a member of the British Voice Association, the Australian National Association of Teachers of Singing, the Manhattan Association of Cabarets, of the Music Theatre Educators Alliance (MTEA), and a proud Equity UK & MEAA Equity Australia member.

Simon is also a member of the MEAA Equity Wellness Committee. He has worked in the NSW Health Department, as a consultant psychologist for the Australian Ballet & works in private practice. He presented at the MTEA Conference in NYC and at the Estill Voice Symposium in London. Simon teaches on musical theatre and dance programs in Australia, regularly runs workshops for educational institutions, NGOs and creative arts bodies, and has a private singing studio.

​www.simonward.info
20 June 2021 - The Creative Singer - Barbara Paterson
Soprano Barbara Paterson returned to Aotearoa-NZ from New York City in 2016, having worked steadily as an opera and concert singer across the USA for several years.

Since returning to NZ, Barbara has sung for Stroma, Java Dance, the Auckland Philharmonia Orchestra, the CANZ annual Nelson workshops, Wanderlust Theatre, NZ Opera, the Audio Foundation, the Auckland Chamber Orchestra, Unstuck Opera, Eternity Opera, NIMBY Opera, CubaDupa, Avenue Opera, the Metamorphosis Artists, and as a soloist for choral societies around NZ. Her performances of Francis Poulenc’s “The Human Voice” for the 2020 NZ Festival of the Arts were critically acclaimed as “magnificent” and “exemplary”.

Barbara was a 2020 Freemasons Resident Artist for NZ Opera. She conducts Wellington’s Capital Choir and maintains a full teaching studio. Barbara started 2021 with the APO, recording NYC composer Earl Maneein's heavy metal-meets symphony orchestra composition The Brightest Of All Possible Futures for Carnegie Hall's Link-Up Education Programme. From there, she's jumped into multiple collaborations: first Plato’s Atlantis (a collaboration with drag artist and dancer The Everchanging Boy and sound artist Reuben Topzand) for Wellington’s iconic variety show, The Menagerie (at The Opera House).

​She’s appearing in two pieces for The Performance Arcade’s inaugural installation event What If The City Was A Theatre, first paired with dancer and fellow Metamorphosis Artist Anita Hutchins (they zipped in and out of the Wellington Cable Car), and then with Java Dance, singing with their internationally acclaimed dance work The Back of the Bus. She’ll sing with Java Dance again for CubaDupa 2021 and immediately after return to more standard opera territory, covering Donna Anna for Wellington Opera’s inaugural production of Don Giovanni.

Barbara is a passionate chamber musician and she is presenting multiple concert programmes this year, first a recital of duets with soprano Georgia Jamieson Emms, and then a double bill of Olivier Messiaen’s Harawi and Arnold Schoenberg’s Pierrot Lunaire (with pianist Gabriela Glapska and a group of Aotearoa’s finest instrumentalists).

Find Barbara
on Facebook @BarbaraPatersonSoprano
on Instagram @sopranoonabicycle
26 September 2021 - Studio Start - Dr Jeremy Mayall
About "Studio Start"
These are changing times. From online exams, completions, live streaming or just capturing your students for themselves, there is a growing range of technological needs for singing teachers. This is an excellent introduction to software and equipment and most importantly a safe place to learn and lean in to new possibilities.
Dr. Jeremy Mayall is a composer/performer/artist/researcher from Hamilton, NZ.

His work is primarily in music, sound art, installation and multimedia formats, with a focus on exploring his fascination in the interrelationships between sound, time, space, the senses, and the human experience. Collaboration is at the core of much of his multi-sensory work, and recent projects have included work with musicians, dancers, poets, aerial silks performers, theatre practitioners, scientists, perfumers, bakers, authors, sculptors, filmmakers, pyrotechnicians, lighting designers and visual artists.
​
Jeremy completed his PhD studies in Music Composition from The University of Waikato in 2015. He was also the Mozart Fellow (composer-in-residence) at Otago University for 2014-2015. As well as his artistic practice, he is also the CEO of Creative Waikato, a Regional Arts Development Agency. Prior to that Jeremy was the Research Leader in the School of Media Arts at Wintec.
17 October 2021 - Miranda Harcourt - Acting: Naturally - Five Tools For Fast Success
In our 2 hour session Miranda will use images and video material to open up the approach she successfully uses with actors and directors all over the world on film, TV and stage productions, in Drama Schools and Film Schools. She will talk about her five tools: Connection, Internal Landscape, White Space, Vista and Journey.
​She will refer to her articles on the platform Substack, mirandaharcourt.substack.com, which are read by actors and directors all over the world, and she will discuss case studies. She will end the session by answering your questions about your own practice and approaches.
An acting coach, actor and director, Miranda’s speciality is screen naturalism. Her approach is based on years of writing and performing Verbatim theatre in prisons in New Zealand, Australia and the UK, as well as her work with renowned actors and directors on films all over the world, coaching Oscar, Golden Globe, Emmy and BAFTA nominated and winning performances.
Directors she has worked with include Jane Campion, Tom George, Peter Jackson, Morten Tyldum, Joe Krasinski and Garth Davis. Actors include Nicole Kidman, Juliette Binoche, Dev Patel, Josh Hutcherson, Saoirse Ronan, Joseph Gordon Levitt, Eliza Scanlen and many others including daughter Thomasin McKenzie.
Her first feature film The Changeover, co-directed with Stuart McKenzie, was released to acclaim in NZ, the UK and the US.
Miranda has lectured at TIFF in Toronto, at NFTS, The London Film School, Film London and Directors UK in Britain, NYU Tisch in the US and at AFTRS in Sydney.
​In her work with actors and directors Miranda aims to shift paradigms, empowering creatives to realise their own talent. She introduces simple but innovative ways of thinking about and achieving connection and character. She has developed a series of tools and exercises for use in rehearsal and on-set that get actors to where they need to be, fast. 
​

You can still register to view the recording of this session:
21 NOVEMBER 2021 - SONG-WRITING - INTRODUCING CONCEPTS TO VOICE LESSONS - LEEA LAMATOA & BRAYDEN JEFFREY
About Leea and Bray
Leea (She/They) and Bray (They/Them) are singers, songwriters, and music educators based in Tāmaki Makaurau. Having studied Popular Music at Auckland University, where they met, they both have an affinity for pop music structure, and melody.

Since graduating in 2015 they have operated in both the pop and theatre spheres, writing for local artists (Navvy, Wells* and Luca George) as well as scoring, recording and producing music for stage. They have composed two musicals, together Schlunted and She’ll Be Right, with the
former being written, produced, cast, rehearsed and performed in 100 Days and the latter being workshopped in collaboration with Shane Bosher, Andy Manning, Andy Grainger, Amanda Billing and Bronwyn Turei. In 2020 they were commissioned to write songs based on community stories as a result of the pandemic as a part of Song Conversations collaborative project, Audience Song. Most recently they wrote for the Christchurch Symphony Orchestra for Blackboard Theatre Collectives Isolation Mixtape Vol.2.

As well as their work in composition, Leea and Bray are both passionate music educators who emphasise creativity and inclusivity in their work. Over the last seven years they have taught singing and songwriting in several primary, intermediate and high schools and lead workshops for
a wide range of age and experience levels. On a tertiary level, Bray has lectured foundational songwriting at Auckland University where Leea has also taken up the singing teacher position for the Popular Music Degree.

It is their belief that as teachers we should allow artists to find their personal voice, and that technique should be used to ease and enhance this process instead of homogenise it. Leea is particularly proud of her work with To The Front, a music programme dedicated and catered towards providing a safe space for women, transgender, and gender-non-conforming youth where music is the medium to build confidence, empowerment, and foster social change.
About This Songwriting Workshop
Leea and Bray will introduce song-writing concepts and ways in which singing teachers can incorporate these into their voice lessons.

Non-Members RegisTER $15

2020 Online Offerings

10 May 2020, 3pm - Tessa Romano - Past
Tessa Romano - Lecturer in Western Classical Voice at the University of Otago
The Vocal Effects of Testosterone Therapy - Working with the Transgender Singer
"In the social shift from the perception of a gender binary to a greater understanding of a gender continuum within European-derived cultures, the discipline of singing finds itself in a period of rapid evolution. This shift has brought about the emergence of new voices: those of trans gender and gender queer people. As vocal professionals, it is the job of voice teachers to understand how to work with every voice. The topic of this poster paper is rooted in this necessity and focused specifically on the vocal challenges presented by the use of testosterone therapy for some trans masculine and non-binary singers."​
7 June 2020, 3pm - Hannah Thompson-Holloway - Past
2020 Barbara Nicholls Memorial Scholarship Recipient
CCM Vocal Pedagogy - Research and Practice
"Teaching CCM singing can be daunting! There are so many styles and techniques lumped together under that umbrella. Don’t get me wrong, it’s a great umbrella, but how often have we stood under it and freaked out a little? I know I have, so I decided to focus my Masters research on breaking down some of the ‘stylistic’ vocal techniques and elements of the three most commonly taught CCM styles in New Zealand; jazz, pop and musical theatre. I started out exploring what was currently ‘cool’ in these styles, focusing on Grammy winners, listening and comparing. I did a lot of reading too! There is more and more fascinating research on CCM vocal pedagogy being published all the time. It can be difficult to navigate sometimes with many of our great pioneers approaching CCM from different angles and using different language, but I promise the journey is rewarding. After attempting to categorise and summarise techniques in these styles, I wanted to apply my research and explore my findings with my own voice.  How would a singer approach these styles authentically, while taking into consideration their voices natural tendencies? And what happens when you try to do it concurrently and in the space of a year? That’s the adventure I went on in 2018. I learnt so many things about vocal techniques and the uniqueness of every individual voice. It has greatly influenced how I approach singing and teaching CCM styles, and I would love to share some of my findings with you."
5 July 2020, 3pm - Julia Booth - Past
Julia Booth - NEWZATS Council Member
Teaching CCM: Toolbox for Teenagers
"It can be quite a leap from navigating the often convoluted world of voice science and pedagogy to a typical itinerant singing lesson for teenagers.  The reality of preparing high school students for NCEA exams is that there is often too much to do with too little time.  So how do we as teachers optimise our limited contact time with meaningful, bespoke guidance to help prepare singers successfully for a ‘convincing’ performance.  Synthesising science and style is a art in itself in any genre, but when the style itself is more unfamiliar to the teacher, it can be daunting.  Contemporary Commercial Music can sometimes leave a teacher, who has trained with more traditional techniques, wondering: How do I know what is “right”? or How do I teach something I’m not comfortable demonstrating?  Sprinkled with physiology of the body and voice, this workshop will focus on practical tools for eliciting creative thinking from students for deeper artistic engagement as well as common traps and key tips for teaching CCM to teenagers."
2 August 2020, 3pm - Calvin Peter Baker - PAST
Calvin Peter Baker - NEWZATS co-Vice President
Female voice characteristics in late adolescence: A preliminary report
"Over the last 60 years, male adolescent voice change (MAVC) has been well documented. Studies examining the extent and magnitude of the secondary descent and pubertal growth of the male laryngeal structure and its acoustical correlates have become plentiful and available for voice teachers in choral and studio-voice contexts to make use of. Conversely, information regarding the physiological and acoustical changes that occur in the female voice has as yet been sparsely researched. While there have been several seminal studies on this subject, there is much work to be done if we are to understand how the female voice is affected by pubertal growth during adolescence. As a part of his current PhD research (School of Music, University of Auckland), Calvin will describe the current state of knowledge surrounding female adolescent voice change (FAVC). An overview of the MAVC will also be briefly described. The research will then be viewed in a practical, pedagogical light. Ample time will be given at the end of this lecture for questions from attendees surrounding adolescent voice change (AVC) in general, and teaching studio voice in the secondary school context."
6 September 2020, 3PM - FLORA EDWARDS - Past
Flora Edwards - NEWZATS Founder
​La Voce Chiusa - What Kind of a Voice is That?
"That was a question that was left unanswered for a very long time despite my asking it of several leading teachers of singing at international conferences. The term literally means a closed voice which to most of us seems counter-intuitive to the way we are accustomed to think of the human voice. Surely it should be free, open to the air and our tone ringing out forward? But when the leading teachers used the term voce chiusa, it was obvious that they were describing a vibrant timbre complete in every aspect of vibrato rate and balanced formants. Voce Completa, yes, but Voce Chiusa, surely not? I finally found a definition which described Voce Chiusa as a half forgotten bel canto technique to adjust the vocal tract so that the larynx was positioned lower and all vowels could be produced from there without destructive muscular tension to vocal timbre. The breathing coordinations of the appoggio system were also an integral part of the technique. I formulated the idea that the larynx was “en-closed” in a lengthened tract that gave the vibrations from the folds access to increased resonating spaces."
18 October 2020, 3pm - Glenese BLake - Past
22 November 2020, 3pm - Stephanie Acraman - Past
Stephanie Acraman - Lecturer in Voice at University of Waikato
Enabling Success for our Young Singers
"My study across recent years has been in regards to how we teach our singers of today, what our culture of singing teaching is, and how we can enable young artists to be the very best young people they can be, and as a result, the very best performers, communicators and often teachers of singing. Too often we see the culture of the performing arts as strongly competitive, in a highly negative way, which hinders our talented young artists from finding a deeper confidence in themselves, and their abilities.
When singers find a deeper assurance in who they are, how to support their colleagues, travel the long journey of learning and discovery growing a hunger for knowledge and development, they learn how to ‘fail’ and gain from these experiences. They learn about healthy competition, and constructive criticism, rather than negative and defensive approaches to their colleagues. They learn, and we as their teachers learn that perfection cannot be the goal."
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Phone:  +64 27 387 4847
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