Our History

The South Carolina Chapter of the National Association of Teachers of Singing was founded in the late 1950s by Mrs. Carolyn Parker and Mrs. Grace Johnston of Columbia College. Since its inception, our organization has grown to a membership of over 130. 

The chapter hosts a number of events each year including master classes with internationally renowned clinicians such as Shirley Verrett and the annual student auditions where talented young singers from around the state compete in specific categories corresponding with their level of study.

At the 2016 Fall SCNATS Student Auditions held October 29, 2016 at SC State University in Orangeburgl, SC, 168 students participated in Music Theatre and Contemporary Commercial Music categories. Of that number, 78 advanced to the Regional Auditions to be held March 17-18, 2017 at UNC-Chapel Hill, Chapel Hill, NC. We had 300 singers in 24 categories registered for the SCNATS Spring Classical Auditions at the College of Charleston in Charleston, SC on February 18, 2017. Of that number, 120 students advanced to the Regional Auditions.

SCNATS Chapter Governing Documents:

National Student Audition Semi-Finalists:

Mid-Atlantic Regional Student Audition Results:
The results from the 2016 Mid-Atlantic Regional Student audition can be found here.

Student Audition Results:

SCNATS Student Audition Results can be found on our Facebook and Twitter pages on the day of competition.  Complete results will be posted here after the competition.
The results from the February 2017 SCNATS Classical Student auditions can be found here. 
The results from the October 2016 SCNATS Musical Theatre and CCM Student auditions can be found here. 

Recent News

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SCNATS Members Kristen Wunderlich
and Deanna McBroom to present at
​ 54th NATS National Conference in Chicago


BIG IS BEAUTIFUL: Providing pedagogical support for the Large Voices in our Studios
Presenters: Kristen Wunderlich, Winthrop University and Tanya Kruse Ruck, University of Wisconsin-Milwaukee

This session grew out of a conversation between two former collegiate classmates who found a common thread in their day-to-day work in their respective voice studios. What to do with a big voice? As students themselves, 20 years ago, the presenters struggled with this issue in their formative voice building years. Their own personal large voice struggles made them both sensitive to the needs and plight of this unique, and often misunderstood, instrument. For many of these big voices, they become frustrated and discouraged. Issues of tuning, blending, fach frustrations and a seemingly slow progression to improvement have caused many of our big voices to eventually reach the point where they may even cease singing.

This session serves to provide useful pedagogical tools to assist the voice studio teacher in developing the large voice, while also providing information to create an open dialogue between these singers "support system" (choir director, opera director, etc).

Singing Seniors: Restoring the Aging Singer to Vocal Success!
Presenters: Lucinda Halstead and Deanna McBroom

The population of the United States is aging. However, the emotional and intellectual vibrancy and “joie de vivre” of many of seniors continues despite a gradual physical decline. As a result, many aging singers continue singing in a variety of vocal venues well into the 8th and 9th decades of life and wish to perform at a high avocational or professional level. In past decades, the vocal concerns of these singers were dismissed as just a normal part of aging and no effort was put forth to remediate vocal problems, especially in the singing voice. Happily today, this has changed. Emphasis on restoring/improving vocal function in seniors has become a major topic for singing teachers, voice specialists, and laryngologists.
There are multiple challenges confronting these singers – the general physical decline of aging, the effect of medications on the vocal folds, neurological problems and effects of cancer on the voice.
In this presentation, a multidisciplinary approach to voice issues resulting from problems including deconditioning, bad habits, vocal fold atrophy and neurological problems will be elucidated through video and demonstration. Diagnostic and treatment approaches, medical and surgical, that are utilized by the laryngologist and speech language pathologist, will be detailed for deconditioning, atrophy, vocal fold paresis/paralysis, neurological conditions. Post-cancer voice rehabilitation will also be addressed. Happily, the vast majority of seniors suffer from age related deconditioning that can respond to a habilitation regimen with the voice teacher or singing voice specialist. Strategies will be detailed.
 

Poster Sessions
by SCNATS Members
at the
National NATS Convention

 Contemporary Collaborations: New Music Projects for Voice Students
Presenters: Jill Terhaar Lewis, Charleston Southern University and Yiorgos Vassilandonakis, College of Charleston
Synopsis: Working with a composer and performing the premiere of a new music composition can be one of the most educational and rewarding experiences for a musician. Taking a concept from a germinal idea to the page and ultimately to the stage creates a wealth of learning opportunities for students, but this type of experience is not typically achieved at the undergraduate level, particularly for voice students. Contemporary Collaborations is a project developed between two universities in Charleston, SC: Charleston Southern University and the College of Charleston; student vocalists from CSU work with student composers from C of C to create new chamber music compositions using the poetry of students from both universities.


Shifting Gears: Formant Tuning Strategies of Elite Operatic Baritones
Presenters: Troy Castle, Bob Jones University; David Meyer, Shenandoah Conservatory; Daniel Ihasz, SUNY Fredonia

Synopsis: This poster presents results obtained from analysis of a four-note passage in Gounod’s “Avant de quitter ces lieux” as performed by 65 elite baritones in 101 commercially available recordings. F1 and F2 frequency data are integrated with the Peterson and Barney vowel chart to display the singers’ vowel modification strategies in the passaggio. The spectrum generated by a synthesized reproduction of the “model” strategy (using mean data) is also displayed.