Ian Howell Recognized by The American Academy of Teachers of Singing for COVID-19 Response

The American Academy of Teachers of Singing has recognized Ian Howell ’16 DMA with an inaugural AATS Award for COVID-19 Response. An accomplished countertenor, Dr. Howell directs NEC’s Vocal Pedagogy program and Voice & Sound Analysis Lab and is part of NEC's voice faculty.

Howell’s “work with low-latency platforms and associated technology, and broad dissemination of instruction in its use, has permitted widespread applications that have allowed us to teach and perform successfully in remote settings. These innovations will have a lasting impact on our profession.” The AATS Awards were created “to recognize, honor, and nurture outstanding accomplishment in the teaching of singing and in allied professions.”

“Ian Howell (and his team of colleagues, including Kayla Gautereaux, Nicholas Perna, Joshua Glasner, and Chadley Ballantyne, and a group of graduate students at NEC) worked both immediately and continuously for months to test the technology needed to accomplish sufficiently lagless virtual music instruction,”

said Academy member Kenneth Bozeman.

“He interacted with tech developers to stimulate targeted improvements that teachers needed and continued to test and evaluate new technologies and platforms throughout the summer and academic year, updating recommendations as needed. He shared this information in online documents and conversations, as well as in some short virtual courses (with Kayla Gautereaux).”

AATS will be recognizing award recipients during our session at the National Association of Teachers of Singing National Conference, which will take place in June 2022.

Inaugural AATS Awards for COVID-19 Response have also been presented to ENO Breathe for creating an innovative and compassionate effort between the arts and medicine to help relieve the suffering of individuals experiencing long term post-COVID respiratory and anxiety problems, and to International Coalition Performing Arts Aerosol Study for their research on aerosol transmission to inform safety protocol measures for music performance practices during the COVID-19 pandemic.

About the American Academy of Teachers of Singing

The American Academy of Teachers of Singing is a select group of internationally recognized voice teachers and singing voice experts founded in 1922 with the express purpose of contributing to the singing profession in an advisory capacity. The Academy works as a single body to offer guidance through the publication of position papers on a wide range of subjects, valuing and celebrating all styles of singing.