ANATS NSW Presents: Fly on the Wall Masterclass: Lesson Observations for Early Career Singing Teachers

Join two of Sydney's most experienced singing teachers for this fly-on-the-wall session for early career teachers. Lesson observations are one of the best ways to hone your teaching skills.

Join Debbie Grace and Natalia Melnik as they work with private students in a one-to-one singing lesson. You will gain insight into warm ups, lesson structure, technical work, song work and the teaching methods used by these two master-teacher with over 30 years teaching experience. Natalia will work with a classical student and Debbie with a contemporary student.

Debbie Grace - BIOGRAPHY

Deborah Grace has been a singing teacher for over 20 years, specialising in young voice and particularly in young female voice. She has a large vocal studio at Kambala Girls School as well, as teaching privately in her home studio. She also teaches classroom music and conducts a choir specialising in contemporary music at Kambala. Deborah has performed as a soloist at La Mama Theatre in Melbourne, with University Choral Societies and operatic groups, and as a Cantor at the Leo Baeck Centre in Kew, Melbourne. She has a BMus (Hons), GradDipEd, a GradDipOp from VCA and recently completed her MRes (Masters of Research) through Macquarie University with Professor Diane Hughes, on “The Approaches of Singing Teachers to New and Unfamiliar Repertoire”. Deborah’s students regularly complete AMEB singing exams with great success and her students have gone on to study at the Sydney Conservatorium, AMPA and AIM. Deborah been a member of ANATS since 2003 and joined the NSW committee in 2013. She presented a paper on her MRes research at the ANATS National Conference in 2021 and has also presented a number of workshops for ANATS NSW since 2017. She was the Secretary on the NSW committee from 2014 to 2023 and received a Chapter Certificate award recognising her service to ANATS NSW. Deborah is currently the Secretary on the ANATS National Council, as well as a member of the ANATS 2025 Conference Committee and ANATS Diversity and Equity Committee. Deborah is passionate about young singers and loves helping her students navigate voice change and discover their true voice.

Dr Natalia Melnik BIOGRAPHY

Dr Natalia Melnik holds a Doctor of Musical Arts degree from the Sydney Conservatorium of Music. She is an accomplished classical recitalist, passionate voice teacher, and specialist in Russian lyric diction. For over a decade, Natalia has been dedicated to teaching students of all ages and abilities, working at the Sydney Conservatorium Open Academy, Murray Conservatorium and privately. Her students frequently perform in concerts and musicals, consistently earning top prizes in competitions.