National Association of Teachers of Singing Launches Podcast

Music professor Nicholas Perna co-hosts a podcast with MC graduate Sarah Welch Pigott.

“VocalFri” is the name of the new weekly podcast reaching audiences around the world.

Mississippi College music professor Nicholas Perna and MC graduate Sarah Pigott serve as co-hosts of the innovative podcast making a big splash in the new year.

VocalFri partners with the National Association of Teachers of Singing to join the new NATSCast network, officials announced in January.

“We look forward to sharing our mission of joining science, pedagogy and pop culture,” says Perna, the podcast co-owner.

A Clinton resident, Perna has served as an MC professor of voice pedagogy since 2015. He recently earned a major national honor in his field. The published researcher was selected to be a presenter at the 2020 National Association of Teachers of Singing conference.

The organization’s 56^th annual meeting is set for Knoxville, Tennessee June 26-30. With more than 7,000 members in the USA, Canada and over 35 countries, the organization is the world’s largest professional association of teachers of singing.

Music Department Chair Angela Willoughby salutes the creative podcast collaboration between Dr. Perna and Pigott. Sarah is a recent Mississippi College graduate in vocal performance and pedagogy.

“Their presence on this professional space is a validation of current research and is beneficial for all concerned,” Willoughby said.

Dr. Perna created and ran the podcast for voice and music pedagogy for several years. VocalFri was first launched as an MC-based podcast. But the National Association of Teachers of Singing giving its complete support via the partnership is huge news in the new decade. The network of podcasts will offer quality resources for voice teachers and singers.

VocalFri teams with the organization’s other fine shows with names like “New York Vocal Coaching” and “The Full Voice.”

An active NATS member, Perna served as a past governor of the group’s West Virginia District. The tenor has performed with the Mississippi Opera, and twice apprenticed with the Santa Fe Opera. He maintains a music studio in Clinton.

Music instructor Michael Rushing joined the salute to Perna’s work on the Clinton campus and well beyond its front gates. “It’s nice to be part of a faculty who are engaged and passionate about what they do.”

Besides teaching at the Christian university, Perna works at the University of Mississippi Medical Center’s Voice Research Laboratory in Jackson.

Want to know more? The NATSCast network can be found at www.nats.org/NATSCast