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Welcome
from VASTA's president Phil Thompson
VASTA's Statements of Mission & Principles

NEWS

VASTA Conference 2008!

Your Most Sweet Voices: Coaching Shakespeare

This year's 2008 VASTA Conference will be held at the Oregon Shakespeare Festival.

We are excited to look at the process of coaching Shakespeare in conjunction with the premiere Shakespearean festival in the United States. Presenters this year will include Andrew Wade and David Carey. Details and registration information is online and available. More information.

VASTA Vox Survey!!!

Dear VASTAns and  VASTAvox users:

Due to recent discussions with UC-Irvine, which is the current host of VASTAvox, we are going to need to move to a new host.  I know there is no way to completely avoid confusion as we make this change, but I want to make certain that you—our users—are getting the most of the Vox.  Honestly, if the membership agrees with what I think would work best, I think that it could lead to a better, more user-friendly Vox. 

In order to know your opinions, I have set up a survey for all the users.  Please, take the time to follow the link below and give me your opinion.  It will take only minutes of your time. 

Click Here to take survey

Thank you,
Michael J. Barnes
Technology Director, VASTA

Rescheduled, due to snow, forMay 17th 18th, 2008
Dayton, Ohio

Key Presenter:
Dr. Wendy Le Borgne Ph.D. CCC-SLP
" The Versatile Voice in the Crossover Performer "

Updated Presentations include:
Jamie Cordes, Pat Linhart, Kerrie Obert
“Belting the "Proper" Way?”
Margaret Ball
“Techniques to help the female singer in their middle range.”
Micha Espinosa, Michael Barnes
“Diction: exploration and refinement of challenges presented in the mid- west.”
Julia Guichard
“Principles of the Alexander Technique for Voice Trainers.”

MORE INFORMATION
DOWNLOAD A REGISTRATION FORM
For more information or to confirm your attendance please contact D’Arcy Smith at 937-775-2488 or darcy.smith@wright.edu

VASTA's Clyde Vinson Memorial Scholarship Announced new!

The VASTA Endowment Grants and Awards Committee is pleased to announce the first of two awards that VASTA will be making in 2008. After a hiatus to grow the VASTA Endowment, we're please to reintroduce  VASTA's Clyde Vinson Memorial Scholarship.  

VASTA's Clyde Vinson Memorial Scholarship includes: 

• one year free membership, 
• up to $500 for travel to the VASTA Conference,
• waiver of conference fee, 
• a $500 award.  

The deadline for nominations is February 28, 2008. See the Clyde Vinson Scholarship page for complete details on how to nominate someone for this important scholarship, funded by the VASTA Endowment.

Institutions are Invited to apply to host a Fellow

VASTA is excited about its new Fellows Program, which connects qualified VASTA representatives with institutions in need of workshops, master classes and symposia. The purpose is to provide expertise in specific areas that may not be available in a given institution.

As a part of the VASTA Vision 2014 outreach advocacy goals, VASTA seeks to raise the profile of what we do as an organization, raise standards for practice within the profession and increase public awareness of effective, healthy and creative vocal usage.

VASTA Members: Know someone who could use a VASTA Fellow? Why not forward this announcement (pdf) to your friends, and encourage your colleagues to apply!

More information and the Application

Membership Enrichment Grants (MEG)

VASTA is now offering a Membership Enrichment Grants to those VASTA members who wish to host either a regional networking meeting or voice and speech trainers workshop. The application process is simple, follow the instructions posted on the website, http://www.vasta.org/resources/meg.html, and contact the Past President, who will get back to you. VASTA can can assist you with expenses up to $500. Special consideration will be given to proposals that promote the exchange of ideas, techniques, and pedagogy to enhance our work as trainers and coaches. Applicant must be a member of VASTA for two years. Workshop participants need not be VASTA members. As a follow up, we ask that any recipient of a ROW submit a paragraph or two about your event for the VASTA Voice, the on-line news letter.

VASTA Store!

Show your pride in our organization! VASTA now has a number of apparal, accessories, and houseware with the VASTA logo. A portion of all sales go directly to VASTA and its operating costs. Check it out!!!

Voice and Speech Review

The latest issue of the VASTA's Journal, the Voice and Speech Review, Voice and Gender is now available for purchase online.
Voice and Gender explores the relationship between vocal expression and gender identity and the norms associated with gendered roles.

VASTA Medical Advisor
Yolanda Heman-Ackah, M.D. has been VASTA's Voice of medical reason for the past two years. She is available via email to answer any questions about medical voice problems, anatomy & physiology, voice care. You may email Dr. Heman-Ackah at vastamd@hotmail.com. Also, you can access the VASTA MD page via the navigation at the left of every page: it's listed under Resources.

VASTA Vision Available Online
A ten-year VASTA goal-setting retreat was held in Las Vegas on November 12 and 13, 2004. A group of twenty-four current and past VASTA board members met to chart the organization's next decade. The culmination of this experience was the development of the VASTA Vision document, which is now available for your perusal . This document is available under "publications" in the navigation scheme on the left side of every page of the website. (Please note that this was a part of the VASTA Voice Newsletter published in February 2005.)

Member Contact Info Update Form Now Available
Have you moved recently? You can now update your information in the VASTA Database through our online form. Use the navigation on the left of any page to select Membership, and then clik on "Update Your Contact Info." This will take you swifty to the update form. The form sends an email to Krista Scott who will update your entry in the VASTA Database, which we use for all our contact information (like when we email the VASTA Voice). If you would like to update your Professional Index form, you will need to go to the Update form for that separately: the VASTA Database and the Professional Index are separate entities, and are not connected at all.

IPA Fonts

An update has been made to the IPA font set for Windows. It is downloadable as a single zip file and gives instructions to be set up as simply as possible for usage.

International Events New!
Prepared by Kara Tsiaparas, this resource lists events world-wide for Voice and Speech Trainers.

VASTA Bibliography
Brad Gibson, VASTA's Bibliographer maintains an online version of the VASTA Bibliography. Thanks in part to a grant from ATHE, records from the old paper version of the bibliography have been loaded into the new electronic format. The transfer from paper to the electronic format shall be completed shortly. The new, searchable resource is a far more useful version and offers full boolean searching. The bibliography is located on Librarycom.com's website. To log in, follow this link, and enter the words "vasta bibliography" (note: there is a space between "vasta" and "bibliography"). Leave all the remaining fields blank, and check the "login as guest" button; click the login button to enter the site. (Click here to see what this should look like.) Once you've logged in, there will be further instructions on the welcome page. To submit books and resources to the bibliography, please use this online form to forward the information to Brad Gibson.

Though VASTA is an independent, incorporated identity, it is also
a Focus Group of ATHE - The Association for Theatre in Higher Education

Some files on vasta.org use the Adobe Acrobat Reader.

This site is maintained by VASTA Director of Technology, Michael J. Barnes, with assistance from Chris Neher.
Original site design is by Eric Armstrong.

© 1997-2004 The Voice and Speech Trainers Association, Inc.