NATS LA

Help for Acid Reflux

2011-06-21T12:39:00.000-07:00

Like many singers, I have had acid reflux for some time now and it continues to be a challenge for me. Since it is not healthy to stay on reflux medications for any length of time, I am always looking for other information/treatment. Courtesy of one of our members, Lisa Popeil, I have come across a new cookbook to reduce acid reflux. I have ordered it and will try it out. You will find the link to the book and website below. After using the book for a bit, I will report back. Meanwhile, if any of you have information, ideas or solutions, please be sure to comment!

http://www.refluxcookbook.com/

Marian Bodnar, Webmaster, Past President, NATS LA

Using the Golden Rule of Communication

2011-06-10T10:15:00.000-07:00

We hear only half of what is said to us, understand only half of that, believe only half of that, and remember only half of that.

As teachers, we make an effort to be clear with our students about instructions and what we expect from them. So why is it that we keep having to repeat ourselves over and over? Apart from the fact that humans do need repetition, the problem might be in HOW we are delivering our messages.

People fall into four basic types of communication styles. If we want our message to truly be received, we need to follow the "Golden Rule" of communicating:
People want to be dealt with in the style with which they are comfortable.

In order to follow that rule, you must:
   1. Know your own style of communication
   2. Identify your student's communication style
   3. Flex in the direction of the student

There are four basic styles:Expressers (Socializers), Drivers (Directors), Relaters and Analytical (Thinkers). Here is an overview of their various characteristics:

COMMUNICATION STYLES

FACTORS	EXPRESSER	DRIVER	RELATER	ANALYTICAL
How to Recognize:	They get excited.	They like their own way; decisive & strong viewpoints.	They like positive attention, to be helpful & to be regarded warmly.	They seek a lot of data, ask many questions, behave methodically & systematically.
Tends to Ask:	Who? (the personal dominant question)	What (the results oriented question.)	Why? (the personal non-goal question.)	How? (the technical analytical question.)
What They Dislike:	Boring explanations wasting time with too many facts.	Someone wasting their time trying to decide for them.	Rejection, treated impersonally, uncaring & unfeeling attitudes.	making an error, being unprepared, spontaneity.
Reacts to Pressure and Tension By:	"Selling" their ideas or argumentative.	Taking charge taking more control.	Becoming silent, withdraws, introspective.	Seeking more data & information.
Best way to Deal With:	Get excited with them. Show emotion.	Let them be in charge.	Be supportive; show you care.	Provide lots of data & information.
Likes To Be Measured By:	Applause, feedback, recognition.	Results, Goal-oriented.	Friends, close relationships.	Activity & busyness that leads to results.
Must Be Allowed To:	Get ahead quickly. Likes challenges.	Get into a competitive situation. Likes to win.	Relax, feel, care, know you care.	make decisions at own pace, not cornered or pressured.
Will Improve With:	Recognition & some structure with which to reach the goal.	A position that requires cooperation with others.	A structure of goals & methods for achieving each goal.	Interpersonal and communication skills.
Likes to Save:	Effort they rely heavily on hunches, intuition, feelings.	Time. They like to be efficient, get things done now.	Relationships. Friendship means a lot to them.	Face. They hate to make an error, be wrong or get caught without enough info.
For Best Results:	Inspire them to bigger & better accomplishments.	Allow them freedom to do things their own way.	Care & provide detail, specific plans&activities to be accomplished.	Structure a framework or "track" to follow.

Analytical and Relaters are slow decision makers.
Drivers (Directors) and Expressers are fast paced and communicate directly.
Analytical and Drivers are task oriented while Expressers and Relaters focus on people.

One need not totally change one's style. However, being aware of the person with whom you are dealing and leaning in their direction makes communication more effective. For example, if I am a Driver, I don't use a lot of words and I focus on the task. I might say something like, "Susie, have this piece learned in one week." However, if Susie is a Relater, she's not going to respond to that. Instead, I might say to her, "Wow, Susie. I'm so pleased with how well you read through that piece. If you listen to, sing through, and memorize 8 measures each day, then by next week we'll have it learned and we can start to work on how you'll interpret it."

If I'm a Driver, those are a lot of words! However, notice that Susie needs more words (slower decision maker style). She wants positive attention, specific goals and methods, and, most of all, to feel like I care about her. If I respond to her in the way she wants to be responded to, I will have a more successful outcome.

Do unto others as others wish to be done to!

Not sure what your own style is? Take this online assessment at:
http://occonline.occ.cccd.edu/online/klee/CommunicationsStyleInventory.pdf

Marian Bodnar, President

NATS LA

Marketing Your Studio

2011-05-24T19:24:00.000-07:00

Are you trying to build up your private studio?
Do you need some help in figuring out how to market your business? Here are some tips from a PR expert.

Identify your ideal client. Do you really want to be all things to all people? Perhaps not. Know what kind of student you truly want to work with and with whom you do your best work. What age level? What styles? What level of commitment from the student?
Clarify your customer value proposition: what problems do you solve for them? What are the typical problems that your type of student has and what is it that you offer that can solve those problems for them.
Identify the specific reasons your clients come to you. All voice teachers (supposedly) teach good technique and teach well. What is it about how you do it that makes you special? Do you have special education? Do you have performing experience? Are you also a conductor or director? Why do people like you?
Articulate your most unique strength. Are you especially gifted with teenagers? With opera singers? Is choosing repertoire your gift? What is your best asset?
Capitalize on the value or benefit others get from working with you. If a lot of your students get accepted into good schools, then say so! If your students win awards or land jobs, be sure to include that in your advertising.
Marketing your specific business to your market niche. Find the places that the students you want go to for information. Want high school students? Then meet your local high school conductors and advertise in the school paper.
Develop marketing strategies and plans. I get it. Most of us are artists, not business folk. But you have to learn to be business smart. Figure out who you are, what you want, and then develop a plan to target your audience. How, when and where will you advertise? What words will you use? Map it out! The more that you plan and do a step by step approach, the better your chance of success. And there is room in this business for ALL of us to succeed!

Marian Bodnar, President

NATS LA

Are You Empowering Your Students?

2011-05-24T18:14:00.000-07:00

I just finished watching a lecture by conductor and pianist Benjamin Zander on TED.com. Maestro Zander is full of insights about music and life, but two particular statements resonated with me. Referring to himself as a teacher, conductor, and classical music advocate, he said:

It is one of the characteristics of a leader that he not doubt for one moment the capacity of the people he is leading to realize whatever he’s dreaming.

The conductor's power depends on his ability to make other people powerful. He awakens
the possibility in others.

Substitute the word "teacher" for "conductor" and the question becomes, are we doubting our students' abilities? Are we making our students powerful? Who am I being - someone who creates "shining eyes" in my students? If not, what am I doing to dampen their spirits?

If the arts are to survive; heck, if WE, as music educators are to survive (both literally and figuratively); then we must excite passion in our students. We must see them as capable, creative, interested and interesting human beings.

For me, this video speaks for itself. The challenge is for me to rise to its level and ask myself if I am creating that excitement in my students. If not, what am I doing wrong?

Thoughts? Input? How do you create that excitement, both for yourself and for your students? Let's share and help create some energy for one another!

Marian Bodnar, President
NATS LA

Teaching Children: Vocal Pediatric Research

2011-04-28T16:28:00.000-07:00

Pediatric Vocal Development: Implications for Teaching Singing to Children

I’ve just read an article discussing the vocal differences between child and adult singers and the implications for teachers. The information cited below is a reduced version of that article. For more information and the complete article, please see the footnote.*

Most of what we learn about vocal pedagogy and the voice science behind it is based on adult vocal pedagogy. With few exceptions most research in pediatric pedagogy for singing has not incorporated findings from the voice science field. The following is a brief outline of more current research findings in voice science that music teachers need to know to work effectively with young voices.

1. Children’s Vocal Anatomy is Not Like That of Adults.
The primary function of the larynx is to protect the airway from unwanted food and liquid. Because of this, the infant larynx is placed very high in the vocal tract and the rest of the vocal structures are also undeveloped and remain so until the onset of puberty.

Therefore, children have small singing and speech ranges, that are higher than adult voices. We should have our young students start with songs in a narrow range, D—A.

2. Young Children Do Not Have a Fully Functional Vocal Ligament.

A fully functional vocal ligament does not develop until between the ages of 10 and 13 years. The vocal ligament binds the muscles together that cause registration events and, thus, children do not have the registration events we associate with singing. Since the bands are fairly short, they are limited to how much they can stretch, which results in a small pitch range for singing. However, vertical laryngeal movement is observable when the child tries to phonate at a pitch that is too high or too low to produce with the larynx in a resting state.

On a practical level, this means that the teacher should monitor for any signs of stress in singing. Common signs of stress are a forced sound, raising and sticking out the chin, or pulling the chin into the chest.

3. Children Do Not Have a Physiologically Natural Vocal Vibrato

Since children’s voices lack a developed vocal ligament prior to pugerty, that means they cannot produce healthy vibrato. They lack the physiology to create it. (This doesn’t stop children from generating a forced vibrato). On the other hand, vibrato in an adult voice is the indicator of a healthy voice, since lack of vibrato indicates that there is excessive vocal tension in the vocal bands.

Therefore, the following is recommended: if you can sing with your grown-up voice in a light adjustment and your children are able to match you, then that is the best. However, if you do need to go to a straight tone to help the children sing in tune, that is fine as long as you don’t do it for an extended period of time.

4. The Healthy Child Voice Physiologically Cannot Sound Like an Adult Voice and Vice Versa.

A healthy child voice should sound focused but not forced with the singing voice and the speech voice sound much more the same than in adults.

The timbre of the child voice should be even along the range of pitches the child can sing with no vibrato, no excessive dynamic changes, and no overt physical stress. They need frequent breaks.

5. Children Do Not Have Fully Developed Respiratory Systems

Children will need to breath much more often as the respiratory system does not become adult-like until around the age of 11. Short phrases in singing are good, long phrases are bad.

6. Children are Susceptible to Vocal Problems

65% of K-12 students involved in music suffer form neuromusculoskeletal problems that could be attributed to music performance. What does this mean to music educators?

First, the songs children sing at concerts must be physically appropriate as well as aesthetically pleasing. Songs written for adult voices should not be used.

Second, monitor for signs of vocal distress.

Three, reassess use of prerecorded accompaniments. Many are over orchestrated, forcing kids to over-compensate to be heard.

* "Pediatric Vocal Development and Voice Science: Implications for Teaching Singing.” Valerie Trollinger. General Music Today (Online) 20 no3 1 Spr 2007

Marian Bodnar, President
NATS Los Angeles

Flying Cows and Good Acting

2011-04-17T01:29:00.000-07:00

In the previous post I discussed "Flying Cows" - errors that get the singer off track. One needs to constantly be thinking ahead when singing, not only to conquer distractions but also to be a better actor. There is a strange phenomenon that occurs to even the most intelligent singer - behavior that is completely out of order. In real life, the order in which the following occur is (1) Thought; (2) Physical Reaction; and then (3) Words. Yet in singing we often see performers react to their words after they are uttered. Not only that, but when the end of a phrase is uttered and the last word is sustained, the singer will often seem frozen as if raptly listening to the note itself.

How then, as a teacher, can we help our singers learn to keep thinking ahead?One way is to give cues or questions prior to each phrase. For example, let's take the lyrics to Rodgers and Hammerstein's "Oh, What a Beautiful Mornin'". Before each line of text, provide a question or comment that leads into the next. (Notice that the questions don't have to be particularly clever. They just need to provide something for the singer to react to).

What do you see?

There's a bright golden haze on the meadow.

Are you sure?

There's a bright golden haze on the meadow.

What's so special about that?

The corn is as high as an elephant's eye

What does it look like?

And it looks like it's climbin' clear up to the sky.

How do you feel about that? (etc.)

The cue needs to be given as the singer begins the last word of the phrase, so that he or she is moving his/her thoughts ahead while holding a note. This can be particularly helpful for songs in foreign languages as many singers often have more trouble relating to the text.

Singers can take their texts and write in thoughts or questions/comments from an imaginary partner for every phrase ending or interlude and memorize them as part of the performance. By filling in the "dead" spots (where there is no text occurring) and by giving something to which to react, one's mind is forced to move ahead. This makes for a more realistic performance since the singer seems to have a thought that precedes each sentence and it helps the mind move forward past any pesky flying cows.

It's worth a try and certainly can be fun, coming up with creative dialogue!

- Marian Bodnar, President, NATS LA

Conquering Flying Cows

2011-04-17T01:06:00.000-07:00

I was at a voice student's dress rehearsal for a recital and she was having major memory lapses. As the rehearsal went on, she just got worse and worse. The more upset she got, the less she could remember and actually sing through. Her flying cows were winning.

What the heck do I mean by flying cows? Do you remember the movie, "Twister"?I may have changed some things in my memory of the film, but the scene I have in mind goes something like this... The two main characters are scientists who study and chase tornadoes. In this scene they are going to drive across a bridge, over a large expanse of water, with wild winds all around them and with a tornado bearing down on them. Suddenly, a cow goes flying past their vehicle, grabbing their attention.

Here is where my analogy begins. We all experience forms of "flying cows" - something that is unexpected and grabs our attention. It can be a word slip, phlegm, someone rattling a program - anything that can potentially distract the performer. Well, had our movie characters been totally focused on the cow, they would have driven off of the bridge and plunged into the water and drowned. Instead, they noticed the cow and then kept driving straight down the road toward their destination, thus avoiding disaster. My poor student got so focused on her mistakes, her "cows", the she crashed.

Learning to focus on what is coming up ahead is one of the most valuable skills a performer can learn. It can also be one of the most challenging. However, any distraction, whether it comes from within (one's thoughts) or from the outside (a wrong note in the piano, a crash outside, etc.) will kill one's performance, if one lets it. For example, as soon as my attention is on the word I missed, I am out of the present moment. I am trying to retrieve a word that it is already too late for. The moment is gone and if I try to recapture it, I forfeit whatever still lies ahead in my song (or speech). Instead, I need to stay focused on the phrase coming up next.

Practice letting the cows fly past. Yes, you will notice them. But they don't deserve any focus. Concentrate on the phrase you are going to sing, not the one you have already sung. With enough experience and practice, one can learn to stay on task.

Marian Bodnar, President, NATS LA

Music Teachers Helper

2011-04-08T08:20:00.000-07:00

In case you are not aware of it, there is a terrific website that can help you manage your studio as well as provide valuable information through their blog. Music Teacher's Helper is on-line software that takes the frustration out of managing your studio. Handling everything from billing and lesson schedules, to automatic reminders and tax reports, you'll wonder how you ever got by without it! Their blog (http://www.musicteachershelper.com/blog/) covers subjects as varied as composing and arranging, financial business, technology, music history/theory, teaching tips and much, much more. You can try the site for free and sign up for as little as fourteen dollars a month.

Catching up to the 21st century

2011-04-08T08:04:00.000-07:00

If you are over forty (and even if you’re not), you may feel a bit overwhelmed by this new technological age. (Growing up, my household phone had a cord and no answering machine, microwaves didn’t exist, and “copies” were made with ditto machines). I thought I was doing okay, just getting used to e-mail. However, technology is moving faster than many of us can keep up. It’s tempting to throw up one’s hands and not even try. However, for most of our voice students, this is the only world they know. If we, as voice teachers, want to communicate with our students and if we want to reach new ones, we have to become familiar with some of what is going on.

I am just learning myself, so this may be the blind leading the blind, but here is a guide to some of what is available to you and your studio.

Skype is a software application (for your computer) that allows users to make voice calls and chats over the internet. This can allow you to teach long-distance by using the webcam (camera) in your computer to see/hear and be seen/heard by a student far away. You can find out more by reading about it on Wikepedia (an online dictionary) or visiting the website: www.skype.com

Want to meet more than one person at once? Try www.megameeting.com. This gives you the ability to video conference with several people in different locations at once.

Social Networks So-called “social” online networks such as Facebook, LinkedIn, Ryze and Twitter may be productive business-to-business networks for you. Sites such as LinkedIn focus on networking for professionals. Say you are an active performer and want to network with other people who might be in need of your services. In this case a social network with a professional bent likely will best serve your needs.

LinkedIn is the world’s largest professional network with over 100 million members and growing rapidly. LinkedIn connects you to your trusted contacts and helps you exchange knowledge, ideas, and opportunities with a broader network of professionals. www.linkedin.com

Twitter is a social networking and microblogging service that allows you to answer the question, "What are you doing?" by sending short text messages 140 characters in length, called "tweets", to your friends, or "followers." www.twitter.com.
Need further explanation? Try this site: http://pistachioconsulting.com/figuring-out-twitter/

Ryze is a business social networking site with a special focus on the entrepreneur. You can find interesting people and connect with them, through common interests, shared friends and so on. The site includes things like an events calendar, a message board, private messaging facilities, home pages / profiles and a contact manager. www.ryze.com

Marian Bodnar, President, NATS LA

Teaching Artistry

2011-02-14T23:52:00.000-08:00

You see this student week after week. Sometimes things go well and the student seems engaged and is progressing. Other times it seems as though you are just doing the same thing over and over, with no particular results. How can we, as teachers, be sure that we are being effective in teaching our students artistry? Eric Booth, a leading artist and artist trainer working at The Kennedy Center and Julliard, has written a fantastic guide called “The Music Teaching Artist’s Bible – Becoming a Virtuoso Educator.”

In the chapter titled "Guidelines for Teaching Artistry", Boothe gives twenty-five tips, some of which are here below. As he says, the guidelines “are all worth your serious consideration in the long-term process of developing your skills.”

Place high priority on personal relevance. The number one goal is to support people’s capacity to make personally relevant connections within the art form.

Use engagement before information. Get the student(s) to participate actively in your work, as a higher priority than the actual information you deliver.

Emphasize what people CAN do rather than what they cannot.

Never forget fun.

Plan backward. Know the learning goal and shape every element to reach it.

Turn the responsibility for learning over to the learner. Create opportunities for the student to do his own learning within the activities you propose. Say less, guide less, and trust the activities to provide the learning on their own.

Balance the focus on product and on process. American culture focuses on product. We must develop the reflective habit of mind. We must pause and guide participants to attend to how they did things, how peers did things, and what their choices were based on.

Witnessing is important! Even if students have completed a challenge that is simple, note the things they had to do, the artistically significant problems they solved, and the authentic musical value of these actions. Listen extremely carefully to what students say, and mirror back their answers when they contain a useful germ of insight that the student didn’t quite have the words to express clearly.

The law of 80%. 80% of what you teach is who you are. Of all the teaching you do around the arts, the participants’ deepest learning comes from seeing how you, the emissary from the arts, think, listen, speak, dress, make meaning, respond, discover, handle trouble, play, joke, improvise and so on. We must bring a high-quality 80% to every opportunity, even to the students we don’t much like and on the days when we are tired, have a cold, or would just rather be elsewhere.

Marian Bodnar, President

NATS - LA

Our Own NATS-LA Authors

2011-02-14T18:58:00.000-08:00

Below are listed two books that many of you may already be using. Both of them are written by NATS-LA members and are terrific to have in your library.

The first book is a great pedagogy refresher, written in easy to understand language with exercises and useful phrases for each technique being taught. It is Cantabile - A Manual about Beautiful Singing for Singers, Teachers of Singing and Choral Conductors by Dr. Katharin Rundus. Do you need a reminder of good vocal principles? Some useful phrases to help convey these ideas to your students? Then Kathi’s book is for you. I have used it in a vocal pedagogy course (where the students loved it) as well as for myself and in my private studio, all with good results. It is available from Amazon at http://www.amazon.com/Cantabile-Beautiful-Singing-Teachers-Conductors/dp/1934596035/ref=sr_1_4?s=books&ie=UTF8&qid=1297738117&sr=1-4

The second book I’d like to recommend is Joanna Cazden’s HOW TO TAKE CARE OF YOUR VOICE: The Lifestyle Guide for Singers and Talkers. For the teacher who needs some reminders on how to remain vocally healthy as well as for the singer learning how to care for his or her instrument, this is a slender, easy-to-read guide to all aspects of staying healthy. On Amazon: http://www.amazon.com/HOW-TAKE-CARE-YOUR-VOICE/dp/160145256X/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&s=books&qid=1297738251&sr=1-1

In another post, I will provide a list of useful books for the voice teacher. Meanwhile, happy reading to you and congratulations to our authors, Joanna and Katharin!

Marian Bodnar, President

NATS Los Angeles Chapter

Your Voice on Drugs

2011-01-29T22:40:00.000-08:00

As voice teachers and singers, most of us are aware of the side effects of at least some medications. What may not be common knowledge is just how many drugs, supplements, and even foods can have a detrimental effect on one’s voice. Here is just a short list of substances of which to be aware.

Alcohol is both dehydrating and causes swelling of the tissues (not to mention

impaired coordination). Best to have that glass of wine after a performance!

Aspirin. Aspirin causes platelet dysfunction and can lead to vocal fold hemorrhage. If used for pain, a safer alternative is ibuprofen (motrin). However, if one is prescribed aspirin for coronary artery disease or heart disease, taking a child’s dose daily is considered to have a low chance of jeopardizing the voice.

MAOIs (used in treatment of depression). Many of these drugs have been associated with speech disorders, hoarseness, and loss of voice, among other possible symptoms. Discuss possible side effects along with alternative drugs with your physician.

Antihypertensive (blodd pressure) Agents tend to dry mucous membranes of the respiratory tract. They are often used in combination with a diuretic that promotes dehydration. If mucosal drying and a dry, nonproductive cough persist, discuss using a different hypertensive agent with your physician.

Sleeping Pills. Avoid diphenhydramine (Benadryl, Warner-Lambert), an antihistamine that is a common ingredient in many sleep aids. It is a safe drug but produces excessive drying of mucosal membranes.

Cough Medications may be drying to the mucous membranes. Be sure that the one you use contains Guaifenesin, a mucolytic agent (provides moistures).

Supplements and Common Ingredients

Dandelion acts as a diuretic; can cause dehydration.

Echinacea

Used to treat upper respiratory infections. Short term, it can have an immune stimulating effect. Usage for mare than 8 weeks, though, may suppress the immune system and cause liver damage.

Elder acts as a diuretic; can cause dehydration.

Goldenseal may elevate blood pressure and cause allergic responses.

Melatonin Used by many as a sleep aid; it has hormonal activity and can also cause immune dysregulation.

Ginkgo May cause bleeding, GI upset, palpations. Do not take with blood thinning medication, insulin, antidepressants. One of the more worrisome, potential side effects is excesseive spontaneous bleeding with reports of spontaneous brain hemorrhage.

Ephedra Used to reduce weight, it has been known to be fatal. It may cause heart attacks, strokes, seizures, hypertension, or death.

Ginseng May cause agitation, insomnia, nervousness; may cause vaginal bleeding. Avoid using with caffeine, blood thinning, and antidiabetic medications.

Kava Liver toxicity, GI upset, headache, dizziness. Avoid using it. Several European countries have banned its use.

This is by no means a complete list and please keep in mind that these are possible side effects. Any questions or problems should be discussed with a qualified medical professional.

New Year’s Resolutions and Praticing

2011-01-17T13:49:00.000-08:00

New Year’s Resolutions. It’s that time of year when we look at the things we want to change and what we want to do better. Well, isn’t that what the idea of practicing is about – changing for the better? However, I don’t know too many people that change easily nor those that readily practice hours on end. Certainly we’ve all, as teachers, told our students they need to practice. So the question occurred to me, is all of this practicing useful? Do I really need to do it?

It turns out that maybe our resistance has some foundation to it. There’s a brand new paper in the Journal of Neuroscience by a team of scientists at Northwestern (first author Beverly Wright) that investigates how much deliberate practice can be replaced with periods of “additional sensory stimulation,” or passive listening.

“Experiments have demonstrated that listening to relevant background stimulation could be just as effective as slaving away at a task itself, at least when the subjects had practiced first. In fact, the scientists found that we don’t even have to be paying conscious attention to the stimuli – subjects still benefited from the stimulation even when distracted by an entirely unrelated task. The main result is that if you practice for 20 minutes, and then you are passively exposed to stimuli for 20 minutes, you learn as if you have been practicing for 40 minutes. You can cut the effort in half, and still yield the same benefit.

Obviously, these results have big implications. We spend a lot of time trying to improve our perceptions on very particular tasks. This research demonstrates that we can also improve through mere exposure. Furthermore, our obsession with practice comes with serious drawbacks, since the tedium of practice can prove discouraging for beginners.”

(How Much Should We Practice? by Jonah Lehr, Wired blog, September 27, 2010, .http://www.wired.com/wiredscience/2010/09/how-much-should-we-practice/# ).

Lately, I’ve heard quite a bit of reference to the 10,000 hours it takes to become expert at something, referenced in the popular book Outliers by Malcolm Gladwell. Perhaps some of those hours can be spent in hearing great music.

Happy New Year and Happy Practicing/Listening!

Marian Bodnar

President, NATS LA

NATS-LA NEW WEBSITE LAUNCH!!!

2010-09-16T11:17:00.000-07:00

Hello to all members of the National Association of Teachers of Singing - Los Angeles Chapter!!

If you are reading this you probably already know about the launching of our new website. I am so proud of our members and Board for taking this important step forward. NATS-LA is the first NATS Chapter in the entire NATS organization to develop a website that connects to the national site giving us better access to all information and programs offered by NATS.

Many thanks go to Barbara Dyer, VP of Programs for our Chapter, for her support and excellent input in the development of this project. Thanks also to our Webmaster, Robyn Frey-Monell for her input and assistance.

Please enjoy the site as you browse and give us your feedback. We know there will be necessary updates and are anxious to make using the NATS-LA website a pleasure for EVERYONE!!!

Last, but not least, this blog site is for you! The sharing of ideas and information is so important. Please post so others can benefit!

Warmest regards,

Victoria Lavan
NATS Southern California Governor
Immediate Past President, NATS-LA