NATS pretty cool

NATSing

Date: Friday, November 5, 2004
Venue: St John's University, Collegeville, MN

I took part in the National Association of Teachers of Singing (NATS) Competition. This competition saw the best of the midwest region converging to compete in this audition-styled process of a competition. I was in Division 6 (we're categorized according to age) and scheduled to sing at 4:30pm.

9 Carls in total went to this competition, and a bunch of them left at the ungodly hour of 6 in the morning. I was more fortunate. One of my housemates, Pam, was taking part too and she was going to drive up later. So we left at noon. Which is a big improvement on 6am, no?

Anyway, after a 2 1/2 hour journey, we arrived at St John's. We registered. Waited. Warmed up. Waited. And finally 4:30pm came about.

I sang in the Alumni Lounge. It was kind of a big room, and there were three adjudicators sitting in front of me. Just as I was about to start, one judge interrupted and voiced her concern over the length of my first piece - which she claimed would last 5 minutes if sung in its entirety. We only had 10 minutes. So I had to make last minute edit of my song. Only sang half of the first song.

So I sang "Pietà, Signore!" by Alessandro something or other, "Was Ist Sylvia?" by Franz Schubert and "The Roadside Fire" by Ralph Vaughn Williams. I thought they went well. Other than my throat feeling kind of strained - a combination of incessant coughing and nerves I think.

So later on, after everyone was done, we headed off to the hotel where some of us would be staying should we advance to the semifinals. Then we went for dinner, on Ben and Rick (two of the voice faculty from Carleton), at Old Chicago. I ordered deep dish pizza, foolishly thinking it would be like the one I had at Chicago. Nah, no such luck.

Anyway, it was a good dinner, and good company. And although I didn't make it into the semifinals, it was a good eye-opener in a lot of ways. It was definitely a good experience for me, and while I can't say I am looking forward to the next NATS competition, this would be something that I can look back on and say: Hey that was a milestone for me.