Category Archives: Workshops

Dear NATS Ontario Chapter Members,

As previously announced, we are excited to have Elaine Overholt as our guest presenter for the afternoon session of our NATS Ontario Chapter meeting at the Edward Johnson Building, University of Toronto (Room 330) on Saturday, May 7th at 1 pm. We are expecting to have a good turn out at this event. Please send me a quick R.S.V.P. email if you are planning to attend. Include the number of students/others you will be bringing with you so we have enough seats for everyone.

NOTE: There will be a small fee of $15 dollars for each non-NATS member attending the session.

Ms. Overholt will be focusing on her “Big Voice” approach for teaching Contemporary Commercial Music (CCM) styles to singers. During the presentation she will demonstrate how she coaches classically trained singers to sing in a Music Theatre contemporary style. Elaine will work with 2 or 3 singers during the seminar and at this time we are accepting applications from you, the membership teachers, regarding singers you would like to have participate in this session. The acceptance deadline for applications will be April 17th, 2011. Applicants should send contact and some background information including voice type to alisonmoodie@hotmail.com.
Obviously, Ms. Overholt will not be able to work with everyone who might apply so please be understanding if your student is not one of the singers chosen.

Please RSVP as soon as possible.

I look forward to hearing from you.

Alison Watson-Moodie
V.P. of Special Projects, Nats Ont. Chapter.

Elaine Overholt has established herself as one of North America’s most respected and treasured singers, voice teachers and vocal producers. Her musical talents and diverse background began as a young girl studying piano with the famed Marie Thomson and performing gospel music in her church choir. By the age of eleven she was the church organist and by fourteen was the choir director. Her formal musical training continued at The University of Western Ontario where she entered as a Piano Performance Major studying under Gwen Beamish – MacMillan. Elaine had the unique experience of working under all the voice teachers as an accompanist and studied for four years under the legendary choral conductor Deral Johnson. In her last year she fought to become a Vocal Performance Major, studying with tenor Alvin Reimer and graduating with high honours.

Stepping away from the world of opera Elaine ventured into the pop, rock and theatre genres. Her performing career has allowed her the envied opportunity to work with the titans of pop music; Ray Charles, Tina Turner, Dionne Warwick, Anne Murray, and Triumph amongst them. Ms. Overholt has performed as a soloist on world stages, major network television, albums, films, thousands of jingles and recorded two albums and a No. 3 single on Billboard.

Elaine’s gift for teaching is well known in Hollywood and Broadway as she coached Hollywood stars such as John Travolta and Michelle Pfeiffer for ‘Hairspray’ the movie along with Richard Gere, Catherine Zeta-Jones, Renee Zellweger, and Queen Latifah for the Oscar-winning ‘Chicago’. Elaine also coached Ellen Degeneres in a live segment on her hit talk show ‘The Ellen Degeneres Show’ and was invited back for an encore guest appearance.

As a Broadway coach Elaine trained the singers in the lead roles of Broadway hits ‘Hairspray‘, ‘The Producers’ and ‘Mamma Mia’. Also, record labels such as Universal, Capitol/EMI, Sony/BMG and Virgin send their artists to Ms. Overholt where they learn to protect their voices and develop stamina and style.

Elaine is the host of a compelling new TV series entitled BIG VOICE that is airing on The Oprah Winfrey Network in Canada (OWN). The show inspirationally connects Elaine to a group of diverse women ready to discover the true potential of their vocal abilities. Each episode culminates in a spectacular finale where they live their dream on stage.