UPCOMING EVENTS:

2021 Cascade Chapter NATS CCM Festival

• MASTERCLASS on making videos for teachers and students, TBA end of March
•  April 8^th Thursday: Student audition videos due, registration closes 10 p.m. PST 
• April 15^th 7 p.m. Thursday: Mandatory Adjudicator meeting (with guests)***
• April 16-23^rd: Adjudication period (reserve a chunk of hours to adjudicate during this time frame)
• April 24^th Saturday: CCM themed workshops
• April 25^th Sunday 4 PM: Showcase Recital highlighting singers from each genre livestream

Workshop Descriptions

Workshop #1

When: Saturday April 24, 2021 at 10:30am
Presenters: Morgan and Karen Mallory
Title:  Singing Contemporary Commercial Music Styles = Finding and Feeling the Groove (Creative Rhythmic Exploration for Singers)

Karen Mallory holds BA & MS Degrees in Music Education from Portland State University, and completed Certification as a YogaVoice® Teacher in 2020. Karen has been teaching music and voice for over 40 years privately, as well as at Pacific University, and K-12 general & choral music. Karen’s vocal career focused on and specialized in Contemporary Commercial Music, Nightclub/Pop/Rock venues singing as lead singer in multiple cover bands and musical theatre Cabarets. She is a requested vocal coach and clinician for music theatre companies, high school drama and choral departments, gives frequent master classes and performance workshops, and adjudicating for solo vocal music and music theater competitions and festivals. She is a longtime member of NATS, serving many positions as a Board member over a 10 year span while raising her two highly musical boys.

Morgan Mallory: Riding the line between teacher and performing artist on a daily basis, Morgan Mallory is a full time musician and music instructor in Los Angeles. In his teen years, he was a NATS competitor and music theater lover, before evolving into a touring band musician and solo artist who now writes, records and releases his own songs. His time on The Voice-Season 5, opening for OneRepublic in concert, working as a Singer/Songwriter on recording projects with Grammy award winning producers, have allowed him to amass a wealth of insight into the modern music industry along the way. As a professional actor, he’s played Warner in Legally Blonde, Jesus in the rock opera Jesus Christ Superstar, and won Broadway World’s 2018 Best Actor in a Musical award for his role of Dean in Folk City (musical tribute to famous NY Folk Music Nightclub). Morgan taught voice/guitar/bass/drums/songwriting and audio production at Los Rios Rock School in San Juan Capistrano, CA for 3 years, before founding Mallory-Orazio Artist Development (MOAD), where he mentors musicians, singers, and actors alike. Finding the soul center of music allows him to be effective across multiple genres.

Workshop #2

When:  Saturday April 24, 2021 at 12:30pm
Presenter: Erin McCarthy
Title: Reality TV 101: A Primer for Singers on Navigating the World of Television Singing Competitions

Workshop Description: Auditioning for American Idol, The Voice, or America’s Got Talent is an exciting proposition!  But it can also be confusing, complicated, and scary.  Erin will shed light on the audition process, help singers understand what’s at stake when they engage with a reality show, give some tips on how to best present for the producers and judges, and chart a course for next steps after your audition!  Bring your questions about auditioning for these shows, and learn how you can optimize your social media to get noticed by casting agents.

Soprano Erin G. McCarthy is an award-winning singer who has appeared onstage throughout the Pacific Northwest, New England, and Europe.  A versatile performer, she is equally at home in an operatic role, in front of an orchestra, and in a barnyard; her YouTube channel features Erin singing arias and art songs with the residents of her farm, which include horses, alpacas, goats, and chickens, and several of the videos have gone viral.  She was a featured performer on America’s Got Talent Season 15 (Simon called her “hilarious”) and she received her 3 “Yes” to advance.  Erin has been featured by Classic FM, WFMT in Chicago, and on numerous recording projects, including an award-winning 2006 CD of original compositions by Jeffrey Brody.

Workshop #3

When:  Saturday April 24, 2021 at 2:00pm
Presenter: Melissa Cross
Title: Mal Canto: the Mechanics of Noisy Phonation

Workshop Description: “Mal Canto” delineates 4 source/filter  mechanics involving “noise” (aperiodic output), with particular emphasis on its execution  combining melodic (periodic) voicings with noise to achieve a “roughness” or “damaged sound,” This quality has been popular in rock music since the middle of the 20th century. Melissa has devoted her energy to preserving voices in a musical genre close to her heart for a lifetime.

Melissa Cross is a traditionally trained New York singing teacher of 31 years. During the late 90s, she began specialized discovery and assistance to a rising movement of vocalists where extreme human emotion surpassed beauty as a primary aesthetic. Her  2005 instructional video, “The Zen of Screaming” has sold over 100k copies and she is now considered the “go to” expert on extreme vocals with a roster of over a hundred major label recording artists.

The 2021 CCM Festival Handbook
CCM Adjudicating Rubric

PAST FESTIVAL EVENTS: