54th Anniversary Symposium: Care of The Professional Voice
May 28th – June 1st, 2025
Registration Opens in January
2025 Fellowship Awardee,
Nicholas Perna, DMA
The National Association of Teachers of Singing and The Voice Foundation are delighted to announce Nicholas Perna as the 2025 Van L. Lawrence Fellowship Award recipient. This prestigious honor includes a $2,000 award to support Perna’s research and the opportunity to attend the 54th Annual Symposium: Care of the Professional Voice, May 28-June 1, 2025, in Philadelphia
Perna is a NATS member in the Colorado/Wyoming Chapter of the West Central Regina and an associate professor of voice and director of vocal pedagogy at the University of Colorado. He currently serves as the NATS Vice President for Outreach (2022-2026) on the NATS Board of Directors and has been the poster paper coordinator for NATS national conferences, including the most recent 2024 gathering in Knoxville, Tennessee. Perna also cohosts VocalFri with Sarah Welch Pigott. The weekly podcast is a member of NATSCast, the official podcast network of NATS.
Perna’s award will go toward his ongoing research centered on velopharyngeal opening (VPO) variability in collegiate treble singers.
“Investigating nasality, nasal airflow, and velopharyngeal opening (VPO) have been central to my research agenda my entire career,” Perna explained. “Our fellowship research seeks to determine whether collegiate treble singers vary VPO as pitch increases. We also want to discover how Western Classical (WC) or Musical Theater (MT) singers VPO differs as pitch increases. We will analyze if there is any correlative behavior in these singers’ contact quotient as pitch increases. There is anecdotal evidence to suggest treble musical theater singers may increase VPO as pitch increases and move into their ‘mixed voice.’ If that is true, this study could aid singers and voice teachers to better understand how to execute climactic higher pitches in an easier and healthier production, specifically in MT styles. I am grateful to have received assistance with research design from Dr. Joshua Glasner with Lions Voice Clinic, and thankful for the help of my two graduate research assistants Alice Del Simone and Benjamin South.
“On a personal note, receiving this honor in my first year at University of Colorado Boulder as the Director of Voice Pedagogy is particularly meaningful. Van Lawrence was one of the voice scientists with whom our program’s founder, Berton Coffin collaborated as he came to his own observations of the singing voice.”
Both the National Association of Teachers of Singing and The Voice Foundation extend their congratulations to Nicholas Perna for his achievements and look forward to findings from his VPO research.
The Voice Foundation and NATS Foundation present the Van L. Lawrence Fellowship
The Van Lawrence Fellowship Award is given jointly by the National Association of Teachers of Singing Foundation
(NATS Foundation) and The Voice Foundation. Application submission deadline November 15th, 2024.
The fellowship was created by The Voice Foundation and the NATS Foundation to honor Van L. Lawrence, M.D., for his outstanding contribution to voice, and particularly to recognize the importance of the interdisciplinary education he fostered among laryngologists and singing teachers.
Eligibility Requirements
Candidates for the Van L. Lawrence Fellowship must be members of National Association of Teachers of Singing and actively engaged in teaching. The Fellowship will be awarded to candidates who have demonstrated excellence in their professions as singing teachers, and who have shown interest in, and knowledge of, voice science. The Fellowship is intended to provide opportunities for the Fellow to become more thoroughly acquainted with practices, techniques, technology, and people involved in laryngology and voice science. It is hoped that the opportunities and contacts provided through the Fellowship experience will enhance the teacher’s ability to do meaningful interdisciplinary research, and will encourage the teacher to apply appropriate voice science advances in the studio.
Award Amount
The amount of the Van L. Lawrence Fellowship award is determined annually by The Voice Foundation and National Association of Teachers of Singing (NATS Foundation) . In recent years it has been $2,000. The funds are to be used to defray expenses for the Fellowship winner to attend the annual Symposium on Care of the Professional Voice (tuition shall be waived). Following the Symposium, the Fellow will be provided with the opportunity to visit laryngologists, speech pathologists, voice scientists, and research centers associated with The Voice Foundation during the fellowship year. Specific locations and durations of stay will be arranged in accordance with the Fellow’s interests and needs and the availability of the centers to be visited.
Following completion of the Fellowship experience, it is anticipated that the Fellow will have opportunities to consult with the scientists he or she has visited, and to apply his or her newly acquired knowledge in designing and executing a research project to help advance the field of voice teaching. The Voice Foundation will help provide review of the resulting paper and counseling regarding its improvement. When appropriate, the paper will be considered for expedited publication in the Journal of Voice or Journal of Singing.
Selection Process
The Van L. Lawrence Fellowship shall be awarded by the Board of Directors of The Voice Foundation and National Association of Teachers of Singing (NATS Foundation) . The Fellowship Committee shall be appointed by the Chairman of the Board of The Voice Foundation and the President of National Association of Teachers of Singing Foundation and shall include at least one representative from the Board of Directors of The Voice Foundation and one representative from National Association of Teachers of Singing. Additional members shall be appointed at the discretion of the Chairman of the Board of Directors of The Voice Foundation and the President of National Association of Teachers of Singing Foundation.
Application
Members of NATS wishing to apply for the fellowship should write a letter of intent to The Voice Foundation along with your CV – combined into one PDF. Include the area and methods of your proposed study plan.
The Voice Foundation
219 N. Broad St. – Philadelphia, PA 19107
Telephone: (215)735-7999 Fax (215) 762-5572
E-mail: office@voicefoundation.org
The letter should include the following topics (as well as others which the applicant believes will strengthen his/her application, but please be as succinct as possible): All in one PDF:
(a) Current application of scientific knowledge in the studio
(b) The area of intended study and/or research project and the study plan and methods.
(c) How the Fellowship and research project will benefit your teaching
(d) NATS Chapter to which you belong
(e) A detailed curriculum vita.
The fellowship will be awarded at the next Symposium: Care of the Professional Voice, scheduled for May 28 – June 1, 2025 in Philadelphia, PA. The award presentation will take place on Friday, May 30, 2025.
The application deadline for the following year is November 15th, 2024.
If you have any questions about the application process, please contact The Voice Foundation. E-mail: office@voicefoundation.org
Past Fellowship Recipients
- 2024 – Ana Flavia Zuim
- 2023 – Christian Herbst
- 2022 – Ian Howell
- 2021 – Edrie Means Weekly
- 2020 – Angelika Nair
- 2019 – Amanda Flynn
- 2018 – Amelia Rollings (Richard Lissemore, Honorable Mention)
- 2017 – Matthew Schloneger, Matthew Edwards
- 2016 – Matthew Hoch
- 2015 – Filipa Martins Baptista Lã
- 2014 – Katherine Osborne
- 2013 – Bonnie Draina
- 2012 – Kari Ragan
- 2011 – Brian Gill
- 2010 – David Meyer
- 2009 – Donald Bell
- 2008 – Margaret Baroody
- 2007 – Kathryn Barnes-Burroughs
- 2006 – John Nix
- 2005 – Lynn Helding
- 2003 – Katherine Eberle, Norman Spivey
- 2002 – Jan Prokop
- 2001 – Meribeth Bunch
- 2000- Brenda Smith
- 1999 – Stephen Austin, Jeannette Lo Vetri
- 1998 – Kathleen Wilson, Marvin Keenze
- 1997 – Freda Herseth
- 1996 – Ruth Golden
- 1995 – Sue W. Snyder, Thomas Houser
- 1994 – Kenneth Bozeman, Janette Ogg
- 1993 – Karen Peeler, Lynelle F. Wiens
- 1992 – Raquel Cortina
- 1991 – Lois Yadeau