With a 39 hour door to door trip, and a burst tyre on the runway at Heathrow, we needed the two days of recuperation in the lovely compact city of Adelaide in South Australia.

Australia: Adelaide

We were greeted by lovely winter sunshine and wonder why the Aussies ever want to come to the UK!

The first leg of the ANATS Tour, Finding Your Best Voice, took place in the contemporary College of the Arts Building, attended by teachers and performers from South Australia, Victoria, Western Australia and Queensland.

The conference theme was multi-genre training, and included how we profile students from different genres, vocal diagnostics, key stylistic features and accurate modelling of different sounds. We worked with masterclass students from opera (verismo, baroque and romantic), jazz, Musical Theatre, contemporary pop and classical song. We shared our approach on working with different voice types and weights, different ages (14 to 55), and different levels of professional experience.

"The emotion of science! Thank you for your clarity, minimal jargon, serenity of presentation" NH-C

"It was wonderful to meet you and watch you both work. As is often the case with practitioners of your calibre, the application of your skills and knowledge was both reassuring and challenging to my own practice. Again, I was enthused and warmed by your manner with the master class participants; each of whom will be richer for having been instructed by your careful and caring instruction. On their behalf…thank you!" Daniel Kay (ANATS Committee Vice Chairman)

Thanks to Norma Knight for arranging a day of private teaching following the conference where we were able to work more in-depth with some of the conference attendees.

New Zealand: Wellington

Our week in the lovely city of Wellington (pictured) had much colder temperatures including the coldest day since records began! We thought it was suspicious when we saw snow drifting past the window. But we had a warm welcome and spectacular views from our lovely hosts' house above the harbour. 

We started with a half-hour radio interview for the New Zealand Concert channel on their Upbeat programme. You can listen to the entire interview direct from the Radio New Zealand Concert website.

The Conference venue (Boulcott Street Baptist Church), the organisation (NEWZATS Committee), the food (Dusted and Delicious - the best gluten-free food we've ever had), the sound system (thanks Peter and Gina - moonlighting from an operatic career) were all superbly managed. And many thanks to Julie Coulson for her sterling accompaniment.

With three full days of conference time we were able to cover more topics. The session on Registers and the Passaggio was extremely well received; during our presentation on working with children and adolescents we included footage of Gillyanne's client Charlie Green (14 year old international swing singer) and the first public showing of the Moveability song and video (co-written by Jeremy) from Singing Express 4 - a warmup for children (and adults) based on Chi Kung moves.

On the morning of the third day we each presented a section on My Favourite Things. Gillyanne's was What's Yours (sing in your habitual speaking voice, speak in your habitual singing voice), a great way to understand vocal setup. It was in this session that Gillyanne was able to identify the setup of two distinct Maori singing modes. Jeremy's were Front Foot Back Foot, Landscaping, Cutting the Line and Answers On A Postcard. A highlight for Jeremy was working with a Maori teacher to get her full energy and body behind her belting - she got a standing ovation!

We sent everyone out on a high with a taster session on Belting. We were thrilled to discover that this was the largest conference NEWZATS has had, and we were very touched by the personal feedback from one conference member: "Thank you very much. I have never been to an event where there was something valuable every five minutes!"

Our first day off and a bit of (chilly) retail therapy, followed by a day of private teaching organised by Sally and Marilyn.

New Zealand: Auckland

Onwards to Auckland where we were hosted by Katharine and Peter Watts. Our personal thanks go to Katharine who has been one of the main driving forces in getting us across the world. Auckland was a bit warmer, but we still invested in some merino/possum layers for which New Zealand is rightly famous. Jeremy has been wearing his possum ever since.

Katharine had organised a day of private sessions with clients from various teachers. The repertoire included Dowland and Pink Floyd (the same singer), Billy Elliott, and a contemporary choral piece with lines ranging over 2.5 octaves to keep the Altos on their toes.

Then on to Janice Webb's studio to work with her pupils for a day. We had a blast with Jan's students ranging in age from 14 to umpty, singing a variety of musical theatre pieces from Mr Cellophane to Robert and Elizabeth. Thanks to both Jan and Katharine for looking after us so well.

Australia: Sydney

Back across the Tasman to Sydney, beginning with two days at Macquarie University, Department of Media, Music, Communication and Cultural Studies. Teachers came from across Australia to participate in "What's the Task?", our two days of interactive presentations and masterclasses.

Masterclass highlights for us included: coaching a singer to make an Alicia Keys song her own; working with a great song we didn't know ("16 bars"); a very self-assured 14 year old performing On My Own; and shaping the coloratura for an accomplished young mezzo in Parto Parto from Idomeneo

Excellent pianist Nick Southcott was on hand to play for the contemporary and Musical Theatre singers and Jeremy accompanied the classical singers with Richard Strauss, Duparc and Mozart. 

In the Finding Your Best masterclass young soprano Alex brought a lutenist with her to work on Purcell's extraordinary piece Not All My Torments. Jeremy worked on changing the tempo, the emotions and the dynamics using the Front Foot Back Foot technique which led Alex and her lutenist to a completely different and very powerful performance that got a spontaneous (and deserved) round of applause.

"I just wanted to write and thank you both so much for a brilliant two days of information-packed workshops here in Sydney over the weekend. I loved the way you delicately handled all the singers, bringing out something in each of them that was either audibly, visually or aesthetically evident as they took on your instructions.
There were many ideas I came away with that I can instantly use and absorb into my teaching! Thank you so much for such an inspiring shot in the pedagogical arm!" Cathy Aggett

A welcome day off having lunch in Sydney harbour, then onwards to Ballarat.

Australia: Ballarat

Ballarat is an old mining town where the Australian gold rush began, with wide streets and gracious buildings that include one of the oldest theatres in Australia. Wendy Rechenberg is a kindred spirit, running an excellent Musical Theatre programme at the University of Ballarat.

Our workshop with the first years included clarifying aspects of singing technique, voice qualities and gear changes. The Successful Singing Auditions masterclass with the second years began with a marathon 27 auditions, techniques and feedback. Jeremy's Answers On A Postcard proved very useful in finding the essence of each student's song.

"I love that they are walking evidence of 'singing' being so much more than just hitting the right notes." Jacqueline

"They were there and sharing their knowledge because it felt like they genuinely wanted to help us, not because it was just another workshop. Definitely felt the benefits from this session." Laura

"What I enjoyed the most from the masterclass was their ability to explain technical elements in terms that I could easily comprehend. Because of the clarity of their explanations, things just seemed to 'click' as soon as they discussed them. It was fantastic." Brittany

"Hearing the change that subtle modifications can bring to the voice was amazing." Aaron

"I found that since we all got the opportunity to participate in the smaller activities/exercises we were able to see how their techniques relate to our individual voices. From this class I really felt that each vocalist was given their own individual insight into their own voice and how they work. I found their ability to detect problem areas so easily incredible and a great experience to be involved in." Tamara

"They definitely know what they are talking about, every person who sang displayed a noticeable change. If only they could have stayed for longer." Liam

The students were very articulate and mature, open to change and extremely focussed, a testament to the level of training at the University. We are already making plans for a return visit.
 

And a big thank you goes to Connie for organising our last teaching day of the trip at the Coward-Lemke singing studios. We had the luxury of a grand piano each (in separate rooms) and thoroughly enjoyed working with students who were keen to sing in more than one genre.
 

We left Australasia feeling how good it was to meet other singing teachers who are doing research, to hear how they deal with teaching challenges, to work with interesting students at different levels, to share some excellent meals and to experience different countries and cultures. Our thanks to all those who worked so hard to make our Masterteacher Tour 2011 such a success.