The chapter was founded in 2004 by Sarah Daughtrey and Heather Winter, doctoral students in Voice Performance and Literature. We are pleased to have as our Faculty Advisor Dr. Brian Horne

Why form a chapter at Indiana University?

As doctoral students at an institution that emphasizes the highest level of performance achievement, we felt that there was a lack of focus on teacher training and experience for those students at IU who are interested in pursuing a teaching career, rather than one that is strictly performance focused.

While some SNATS chapters have sought to increase awareness of and exposure to professional level performing experiences in their respective areas, here at IU we are highly fortunate to be able to participate in and observe professional and near-professional level performances on nearly a daily basis. Our aim in forming this Chapter at IU is to provide an open forum for discussion of issues which deal with the myriad challenges of teaching voice both privately and in an academic setting.

The challenges facing the future voice faculty member in the new millennium are numerous. Not only are positions more scarce, but obtaining a tenure-track position, much less achieving tenure, is more difficult than it has ever been. Our aim in founding this Chapter is to provide information and insight into preparing IU students to become the most marketable and successful teachers they can be.

By having IU voice faculty as well as other guest speakers come and talk with us in an open forum discussion setting, we hope to allow students the opportunity to question voice teachers with a wide range of experience about what it means to be a voice teacher. A voice teacher is expected to be not only a vocal technician, but an interpretive coach, language and diction specialist, repertoire and recital planning expert, and top notch musician, as well as a supportive career counselor and, in many cases, practically a psychologist, among other skills necessary to maintain a healthy and effective studio.

These skills only cover the private studio; today’s voice faculty member is also expected to teach a number of other courses aside from studio teaching, which might include song and opera literature, vocal pedagogy, foreign language diction, and even the direction of an opera workshop, choral ensembles and a musical theatre program.


To view our newly amended Constitution and By-Laws, click here.