Journal of Singing Credits

The Origin of the Journal Index

The online Journal Index is based on a print index, Resources for the Teaching of Singing, created by former NATS president John Burgin (1932-2022). NATS is deeply grateful for his foresight and generosity in donating this resource for online development and research.

John Burgin, graduated from Carson Newman College in 1952, received his master’s in music degree from Indiana University in 1958, and his PhD in voice pedagogy and church music from George Peabody College (Vanderbilt University) in 1971. Burgin’s PhD dissertation, “Teaching Singing” was published in 1973. In 1965, Burgin began teaching singing at the University of Louisiana, Monroe (formerly Northeast Louisiana University).  From 1982 to 1985, he served as President of NATS. After retiring, he served as an adjunct voice teacher at Carson Newman College where he was named Distinguished Alumnus in 1998.

How the Online Journal Index was Created

In 2000, when work on the online version began, the print index was not available in any electronic format: the entire document had to be scanned and reconstructed using character recognition software, then edited by humans and prepared for entry into an online database. This was a significant project at the time it was introduced.

The Online Journal Index is an online annotated index of articles published in The Bulletin, The NATS Bulletin, The NATS Journal, and the Journal of Singing. An important research tool, searches are accomplished using basic keyword functions (such as author, title and key terms) and new entries are added with the publication of each issue. In addition, active NATS members and Journal of Singing subscribers are able to download copies of articles previously published in the Journal, as well as complete issues.

Credits and Thanks

• Current Manager of The Journal Index: Alexander Brosseau.
• Past Manager of The Journal Index: NATS member Kristine Hurst-Wajszczuk, University of Alabama at Birmingham.
• The start of this project would not have been possible without the efforts of NATS Past President Roy Delp (1943-2014), and the encouragement and cooperation of the members of the NATS Executive Office.