Calendar of Events. Presidents Notes:

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1 Calendar of Events Liederabend Sunday, September 16th 4:30-7 pm 1182 NW Miller Rd Please come and share or listen to one or two of your favorite recital pieces. Reception will follow. Musical Theatre Festival Deadline Friday, October 12 Register on-line at: Natalie Gunn, soprano High Summer Holds Earth Sundays 3:00 September 30-Linfield College October 14-Willamette University November 11-Michelle s Pianos Master Class Participant Application Deadline: Friday, October 12 Pre-Festival Workshop and Master Class Ann Baltz, Clinician Friday November 2 7-9:30 pm Lewis and Clark, Portland Musical Theatre Festival Saturday November 3 8-5:00 pm Auditions TBA-Improvisation Workshops with clinician Ann Baltz 12-1:00 pm member lunch meeting 5:15 pm Teacher Reception 6:30 pm Honors Concert Lewis and Clark, Portland Presidents Notes: Summer flew by for me. It was great seeing some of you at our summer gatherings to chat about singing and just be together without a real agenda. At two such parties, Myra Brand and Bonnie Johnson shared details about the sessions and singing at the national convention held in July in Florida. Approximately 25 of us gathered at the homes of Beth Donnelly and Doug Feller, Jolene Morrison, Kara Quello, and Susan McBerry. There are some exciting opportunities in Portland in the coming months that I hope you will get on your calendars soon. The first one is our first ever Teachers Liederabend: Sing for Your Supper event at the home of Nancy Olson Chatalas from 4:30 to 7 pm NEXT SUNDAY, September 16 th. Several of you have submitted repertoire you will sing. I d love to invite YOU to plan to sing as well. Susan McDaniels ( ) will be available to play for anyone who doesn't bring their own accompanist. Contact me for more information ( ). On Friday evening, November 2 at Lewis and Clark College we will hold a great educational workshop for students and teachers with Ann Baltz, founder of Opera Works. She is amazing and will help us energize our teaching strategies and fill our students with new ways of looking at interpreting their songs. The following day is our Fall Musical Theater Festival and during it, Ann Baltz will be working with a few singers to put together some songs in a staged event which we be part of the recital following the day s auditions. We will have a chapter meeting at noon on that day, and a time of refreshments and appetizers before the recital. Last year we began a wonderful relationship with Portland Friends of Chamber Music Vocal Series. They are supporting our winners of the classical festival and we, in turn, have the opportunity to help them publicize and to attend the vocal events they sponsor. November 7 at 7:30 pm at Kaul Auditorium, Stephanie Blythe will be presenting a program of songs that the great American chanteuse made famous from the American Songbook. We will get a block of tickets and invite you to meet beforehand for dinner with students and other teachers. In early January the National Opera Association has its annual convention in Portland at the Hilton Hotel. I hope to see many of you at the vocal competition on Saturday, January 5 and at our meeting on that day. Please let the board know if you are liking the summer gatherings, the programs, and the course that the chapter is taking. We love feedback. My best for an invigorating and nourishing fall. Susan McBerry

2 Calendar of Events cont. Special Program/Vocal Recital Wednesday November 7th Stephanie Blythe, sponsored by Friends of Chamber Music Possibility for a no-host dinner before and a block of tickets - Winter Meeting, 12 Noon Downtown Portland, Place TBA Our program will be during the National Opera Association Conference to be held at the Hilton Hotel. We will have the option of participating in the days sessions. Winter Meeting Saturday January 5th, :30-3:30 pm St. James Lutheran Church 1315 SW Park Ave. Our meeting will be during the National Opera Association Conference to be held at the Hilton Hotel. Box lunches will be available National Opera Convention January All NATS members are encouraged to attend. Registration information for the convention is available on the National Opera Association website or can be completed at the NOA registration desk at the Hilton. Classical Festival and Spring Meeting: April 12 and 13, 2013 Oregon State University, Beverly Park, Chair Meeting 12 noon; Teachers Reception 5 pm Reminder: This will be the last Classical Festival in the spring. Fall Workshop and Musical Theatre Festival Workshop and Master Class Ann Baltz, Clinician Friday November 2, :00 9:30 pm Adult Categories and Young Adult Categories Saturday November 3, 2012 Registration opens: 8:00 am Student Auditions: 9:00 am - 5:00 pm Teacher Reception: 5:15-6:15pm Honors Recital for ALL 6:30pm at the [Auditorium] Workshop/Master Class PERFORMANCE TECHNIQUES (Friday night) What an artist does with his/her voice and dramatic instincts makes an individualized statement about who they are. This workshop will lead singers to recognize their strengths as a performer and how they can highlight those in an audition or performance situation. Some of the more common issues singers face are (1) what to do with their arms in performance, (2) how to be spontaneous onstage, and (3) how to eliminate "negative self-talk" while singing. In this interactive workshop, singers learn specific skills to focus the mind and body, how to "center" your energy on and off stage, and how to enjoy singing again. Ms. Baltz will also address any physical, musical and mental 'blocks' that may stand in the way of giving committed, impassioned and courageous performances. The workshop will be split between group exercises and individual work with singers in a master class situation. OPERA/MUSICAL THEATRE IMPROVISATION (Open to all auditionees and teachers-one Saturday morning and one Saturday afternoon-exact times TBA after the master schedule is contracted.) Operatic improvisation is not normally a part of the standard opera curriculum. When singers are liberated from the boundaries of "Right and Wrong" and encouraged to explore their own creativity, they can produce results, both vocal and musical, that are nothing short of astonishing. All attendees will be invited to participate in improvisations designed to increase listening sensitivity, harmonic awareness, vocal expression, and emotional connection to music. REGISTRION/FORMS/FEES DEADLINE: Friday October 12 LOCATION & PARKING Lewis and Clark 0615 S.W. Palatine Hill Road Portland Link to map:

3 Ann Baltz Fall Musical Theatre Clinician Ann Baltz is Founder and Artistic Director of the nationally acclaimed performance training program OperaWorks, and has been recognized as one of the leading opera educators in America today. Ms. Baltz conducts master classes, workshops and residencies on performance training and improvisation at institutions including the Manhattan School of Music, Boston Conservatory, New England Conservatory of Music, University of Michigan- Ann Arbor, Bowling Green State University, and the San Francisco Conservatory of Music. In addition, she has served as Director of Apprentice Programs for Orlando Opera, and Opera Pacific; Music Director for the Wesley Balk Summer Institute; and as Guest Director of the Opera Workshops at Chapman University and Carnegie-Melon University. She is on the opera faculty at California State University-Northridge. Her diverse professional background includes roles as assistant conductor, coach, and chorus master in over 40 productions with celebrated singers Dame Joan Sutherland, James McCracken, and Ruth Ann Swenson and conductors Richard Bonynge, Anton Coppola, and Stewart Robertson. An accomplished pianist, Ms. Baltz played extensively on tour with Columbia Artist Concerts, Western Opera Theater, and Minnesota Opera. In 2004, Ms. Baltz received a Red Carpet Award from Women In Theatre recognizing her outstanding achievements in theater in Los Angeles. As a writer, Ms. Baltz has contributed articles for Opera America's publications Business Advice for Singers and Making Choices. Additional articles appear in Classical Singer, and Vocals magazines. Ms. Baltz earned a Bachelor of Music Education degree from the University of New Mexico and a Masters degree in Piano Accompanying from Arizona State University, the first graduate with this degree. She studied at the San Francisco Opera where she received the Otto Guth Award for outstanding coach in the Merola Program. She was a recipient of a prestigious grant from the National Institute for Music Theater to engage in an in-depth study of twelve operas and the Italian language. July 2012 National NATS Convention Report From Bonnie Johnson and Myra Bonnie Johnson and Myra Brand reported on the recent NATS conference in Orlando and have received DVD s of a few of the sessions. During the excellent Vocology session with Robert Grider, a speech therapist from Minnesota Voice and Speech Clinic, we voice teachers were urged to find a speech therapist in our area to share and communicate with for the benefit of students with voice problems. We found the session interesting on the subject of the Importance of the First Formant in Male Passaggio Pedagogy (#9) but you need to see the DVD! The computer program Voce Vista by Donald Miller was referred to in many sessions for visualizing sound. Lynn Helding s book Mindful Voice which focuses on how well students learn gave an excellent session on the Age of the Cognitive Revolution (#5), the new science of the mind that is cell based. One of the findings of this new science is that the brain is massively plastic (malleable), regardless of age. This sparked a great deal of discussion in our group about teaching and learning to sing. It has been found that there is a 40% loss in productive time when the student has a cell phone in the practice room. For learning, attention and memory along with effort or grit is necessary. Teachers should present desirable difficulties to students to work on, believe that change is possible and avoid excessive praise. Bonnie Johnson reported on Taming the Terrible Tongue by Loraine Sims was excellent. She uses the ichlaut as in huge for the vowel shape in singing [i] [e] [ɪ] [ɛ](position 1) in middle voice to get the tongue out of the throat. Position #2 was similar to position 1 with a pure forward tongue shape on [a], but a slight difference in the jaw opening. She maintains the same tongue position on [a] [o] [u] with rounded lips on [o] [u]. The music of Britten was featured at the conference. New editions of his songs are available from Hal Leonard. DVD s of almost every session, including the winner recitals of both classical music and music theatre can be ordered from EGAMI A/V (817)

4 New Member Highlight What are you reading? I'm just starting out as a new adjunct faculty member at George Fox University, so I'm in the middle of reading the textbook for my class-- "Acting in Musical Theatre: A comprehensive course" by Joe Deer and Rocco Dal Vera. I think even if I wasn't teaching the class I would still end up reading it for fun! Also, working my way through The Count of Monte Cristo. Such an epic story! What are you listening to these days? Most recently the original Broadway Cast of "Legally Blonde- the Musical." I'm currently in a Portland production of it and it has some the most vocally challenging musical theater ensembles I've ever experienced. On the classical side, I've been listening to and studying a few different versions of Melillo's "David" for Soprano and Concert Band. And A LOT of jazz/band music- my husband is a high school band director, so naturally it comes with the territory! What are your favorite websites, mobile tools? Favorite singers? My ipod and the crazy amount of music related apps that are available- I frequently use apps for lesson recording, a metronome, music theory, etc. One day soon I hope to get an ipad to take the place of my giant voice lesson notebook I carry to each lesson! Favorite singer has got to be Natalie Dessay, closely followed by Kathleen Battle and Kristin Chenoweth (especially her musical theater stuff). Dessay is such a beautiful, brilliant actress (as well as vocalist, obviously) and I admire how much she performs with her entire body while onstage. Do you have any repertoire expertise or good suggestions for members to explore? As a young/new teacher... probably not much that older, more experienced teachers have not already heard. However, I do have a strong interest in learning how to effectively teach healthy vocal technique in contemporary musical theater singing. I'm a classically trained soprano who also loves musical theater, and most of my students are more inclined towards pop/contemporary styles. I'm a huge advocate for healthy vocal production, and I believe there is a way to sing every style in a healthy manner, so I look forward to what future research and pedagogy will emerge concerning new techniques for contemporary singing. Where/what do you teach? I'm an independent private voice teacher, now in the Wilsonville/West Linn area. I have also done coaching for choirs in the Salem-Keizer School District and Lake Oswego High School. This Fall Semester I was hired to teach Musical Theater Performance at George Fox University (my undergrad alma mater) and I am so excited for the opportunity to be teaching at the collegiate level. What are your professional affiliations? Just NATS for now! What are your recent and/or upcoming performances? "Legally Blonde-The Musical" at the Newmark Theater in Portland with Pixie Dust Productions ( pixiedustshows.com/shows/legally-blonde-the-musical/) which opens September 22nd. I play Kate/Sorority Girl/ Judge in the show, and it has been an absolute blast! This summer I played The Blue Fairy in the Broadway Rose Theater children's theater production of "Pinocchio." Directly before that I vocal directed for Salem Outreach Theater's "Sleeping Beauty," and just before that I was the soprano soloist for Lake Oswego High School choir's performance of Faure's Requiem. Coming up in January of 2013 I will be in "Grand Hotel" with Lakewood Theater in Lake Oswego. What is your experience with NATS? (volunteering, conferences, competition, etc.) I participated in NATS student competitions all through college, both classical and musical theater, and I did pretty well! This spring I ventured into the NATSAA territory and competed against some incredibly talented singers-- what a thrilling experience it was! As a teacher, I've only brought one student to NATS vocal festivals so far, but I look forward to bring more this coming school year. More than anything, I consider it an honor to now be a teaching member of our NATS Cascade chapter, and I look forward to learning more about this profession from the more experienced members.

5 The National Opera Association National Convention Portland, Oregon January 3-6, 2013, Hilton Hotel The National Opera Association is a service organization promoting opera and opera education. Membership includes singers, university and private voice teachers, stage directors, music directors, conductors, coach/ accompanists, set and costume designers, and opera scholars. Many NATS members are also NOA members. The National Opera Association offers opportunities for everyone in the world of opera to work together for the advancement of quality in performance and pedagogy. Activities of NOA include a national Vocal Competition, Chamber Opera Composition Competition, Opera Production Video Competition, Opera Scenes Competition, Scholarly Papers Competition, Opera for Youth, and the Sacred in Opera Initiative. The convention theme is Inspiring Creative Partnerships: We re Stronger Together, and will feature performances, panels, workshops, competitions, and other continuing education opportunities for opera educators, professionals, and students. They keynote speaker for the opening luncheon on Thursday, January 3, will be Christopher Mattaliano, General Director of Portland Opera, who will also do a master class on audition arias on Friday, January 4. Other sessions will feature composer Kirke Mechem, tenor John Duykers, David Ostwald, Arlene Shrut, Ken Benson, and many other distinguished presenters. 8th International Congress of Voice Teachers (ICVT 2013) Brisbane, Queensland, Australia July 10-14, 2013 The ICVT 2013 Congress gathers voice teachers in all styles from all over the world for a quadrennial meeting, held in Australia for the first time. The program includes renowned international teachers and singers delivering performances, lectures, hands-on workshops, masterclasses, panel sessions, research presentations and social events, with preand post-event travel suggestions for delegates to enjoy. Congress themes will include all aspects of learning and teaching singing, fine singing performance and access to recent research. ICVT 2013 will allow delegates to meet and discuss ideas, broaden their own knowledge and form connections with other professionals in this industry. It is anticipated that approximately 300 delegates will attend the congress. For further information visit: Opera workshops from NW university opera programs will be featured in scenes and young singers from this area will participate in the master classes. There will be sessions of interest to professional and student singers, voice teachers, pianists, stage directors, designers, and scholars. Registration is available on a daily basis or a full convention registration rate. Please visit the NOA website for additional information on becoming an NOA member or attending the convention. Every other year, the convention is held in conjunction with the national NATS organization. If you have specific questions about NOA, please contact our Cascade Chapter Vice-President Ruth Dobson at dobsonr@pdx.edu, who is on the Board of Directors of NOA and will serve as local host for the convention. Richard Poppino from OSU, our new NATS Oregon district Governor-elect, is also an NOA member and will serve as the assistant host for the convention.

6 PERFORMANCE TECHNIQUES Workshop/Master Class Friday, November 2, :00 pm This workshop will lead singers to recognize their strengths as a performer and how they can highlight those in an audition or performance situation. What to do with their arms in performance How to be spontaneous onstage How to eliminate "negative self-talk" while singing. Ann Baltz, clinician Workshop/Master Class admission NATS Members $20 Students of NATS Members And Lewis and Clark students Free Community Members at large $30 OPERA/MUSICAL THEATRE IMPROVISATION Saturday, November 3, 2012 (Open to all festival singers and teachers-one Saturday morning and one Saturday afternoon-exact times TBA after the master schedule is contrasted.) Improvisations designed to increase listening sensitivity, harmonic awareness, vocal expression, and emotional connection to music Singers are liberated from the boundaries of "Right and Wrong" Participants are encouraged to explore their own creativity All attendees will be invited to participate NATS ***Fall Workshop and Musical Theatre Festival*** November 2 & 3***Lewis and Clark, Portland