Berklee College of Music and Boston Conservatory at Berklee Student Chapter of the National Association of Teachers of Singing (Berklee/BoCo SNATS)
This club was founded in the spring semester of 2023 out of a desire to give the student body more of a voice within Boston Conservatory at Berklee and Berklee College of Music, with a strong emphasis on diversity, equity, and inclusion initiatives and community education. The club wants to provide opportunities for future teachers of singing to gain knowledge related to teaching, voice science, business practice, community building, and networking.
Our club meets once a month to learn about a variety to topics related to teaching voice! We frequently invite guest speakers to present on a large range of topics and host fun social events throughout the year. We actively participate in volunteering with the local and national NATS chapters to help run auditions and engage in community service.
Mission and Vision
The mission of the chapter is to provide accessible and valuable community support for local current and future voice professionals, in alignment with the national organization’s stated mission to advance excellence in singing through teaching, performance, scholarship, and research. The chapter will also make an intentional effort to center diversity, equity, and inclusion considerations within every decision we make to the best of our current knowledge and ability.
Our chapter's vision is to advance the purpose of the national organization in response to the needs of the Greater Boston community, the stated purpose being to benefit the public good and generally enrich the public through:
1. encouraging members to achieve the highest standards in their teaching of singing;
2. promoting vocal education and research at all levels, both for the enrichment of the general public and for the professional advancement of the talented;
3. requiring members’ adherence to stated ethical principles in the teaching of the vocal arts;
4. organizing and affiliating its members to provide accessibility to qualified teachers for all students of singing.
Additional Info
As a new club just getting started, we are proud to have already seen our members and faculty sponsor present at the national NATS symposium in the summer of 2023! Our faculty sponsor Kayla Gautereaux also won the 2023 Voice Pedagogy Award for "her research, her collaboration with and mentorship of graduate students, and her acceptance to present at this year’s Voice Foundation Symposium.” (NATS website)
We have exciting plans in the works for a guest speaker series that we can't wait to announce! We will be hosting fun events throughout the semester, and you can also catch us volunteering at the NATS competition at the Conservatory on October 21, 2023!
Follow us on Instagram @berkleesnats