NATS Chat Schedule + Replays

NATS Chat, sponsored by Inside View Press, invites guests to discuss various topics in an online webinar. Sessions are often held one Sunday per month of the academic year at 7–8 p.m. ET (6–7 p.m. CT; 5–6 p.m. MT; 4–5 p.m. PT). The host and coordinator for NATS Chat is Kari Ragan.

NATS Chat 2023-24 Season

Upcoming & Replays


APRIL 14, 2024

Walt Fritz Abby Halpin Gena Thurston

Physical Therapy Interventions and the Performing Voice: More than getting stronger
Featuring Walt Fritz, Abby Halpin and Gena Thurston

In the world of voice pedagogy and vocal health, it has become common to collaborate with a multidisciplinary team to help our singers. This NATS Chat will be a conversation with three physical therapists who specialize in working with the performing voice. We will discuss the wide range of PT-related interventions that can benefit a singer such as manual therapy, myofascial release, laryngeal massage and more.

Register for April 14


MAY 19, 2024*

* Different time due to UK — 2 p.m. ET / 11 a.m. PT

Chris Johnson Lynn Maxfield

Mix and Match: Piecing Together the Puzzle of Mixed Register
Featuring Chris Johnson
Co-hosts: Lynn Maxfield and Kari Ragan

Mixed registration is a term continuously discussed amongst singing voice professionals. Scott McCoy relates a discussion of registration to “a semantic minefield, requiring one to tiptoe through diverse, competing terminology…” Mixed registration presents the epitome of such a minefield. With guest Chris Johnson, and co-host Lynn Maxfield, this NATS Chat will explore the construct of mixed registration from a science-informed perspective in addition to the application of the principles presented.

Register for May 19


NATS Chat 2023-24 Season: Replays

Replays from the 2023-24 season will be shared on this page and in the archives.

March 10, 2024

You Aren’t Your Voice Business
Featuring Michelle Markwart Deveaux and Sara Campbell

The performing arts are filled with folks who have been implicitly trained to connect their core identity with how they make a living in the arts.

Join us for this NATS Chat to learn about making the switch from being a business to owning a business. They will discuss how time management, recovery from money injury, and unapologetic rest allow artists to live a fulfilling prioritized life — part of which includes running a voice studio or multi-teacher studio.

Watch replay


February 18, 2024

Breath Management Strategies across Performance Genres
Featuring Joan Melton

We will explore the relationship of practical Voice-Movement work to ongoing research, and the journey made possible by interactions across performance genres and disciplines. Starting in London (2007), Joan Melton has led exploratory studies with professional performers in the U.K., Australia, and the U.S. This NATS Chat will explore information from these studies and how they inform the application to singers.

Watch replay


January 14, 2024

The Mindfulness of Singing: Bringing Ancient Practices Together for a Breakthrough Experience!
Featuring Denise Bernardini and Toni Crowder

Mindfulness and singing are two ancient practices that have addressed the body differently. When you bring The Mindfulness of Singing into the studio, there is a focus on “the inside out” first, allowing students to connect with their somatic sensations and bringing body awareness with greater focus. Once they are “tuned in” and have harmonized their own mind, body, and spirit, self-discovery becomes a powerful catharsis for moving students toward their desired goals. The Mindfulness of Singing process is an excellent tool that helps students achieve awareness in singing and in life.

Watch reply


December 10, 2023

All Things Vocal Health
Featuring Lesley Childs, MD

Dr. Lesley Childs brings a wealth of knowledge to the care of the professional voice as the Professional Voice Medical Director at the Clinical Center for Voice Care, University of Texas Southwestern Medical Center in Dallas. We will discuss “all things vocal health,” which will include insights and expectations from her research into the profile of singers with injured voices.

Watch replay


October 15, 2023

Practicing Curiosity
Featuring Ian Howell

Modern voice teaching can pull people in multiple directions. It is easy to imagine you must either gain command of an impossible amount of information or double down to argue that excellence means pursuing a limited (and likely specific) skill set. In his career as a performer and teacher, Ian Howell has always pushed the value of cultivating and practicing curiosity, expanding knowledge, and applying it in as wide a range of contexts as possible. In this NATS Chat, we will cover several topics, including an update to the state of online teaching, training functional listening skills, and his thoughts on the current perception that teachers and singers must prize either application, or theory and research.

Watch replay


NOVEMBER 12, 2023

Your Best 16 Bars: Developing Successful Tools for Auditions
Featuring Laura Josepher and David Sisco

It can be challenging for voice teachers to know how to adequately prepare a student for an audition. There are so many different kinds of auditions (collegiate, regional, new works) and each has their own specific challenges. Voice teacher and vocal coach David Sisco (NYU Steinhardt) and director and acting coach Laura Josepher will discuss how to find and prepare audition repertoire that showcases a student’s essence as a performer. They also will outline how auditions have recently evolved and why this is providing an opportunity for performers of all intersections of identity to fully embody their material.

Watch replay


Looking for a past NATS Chat? View the archives.