Faculty
Mr. Russell Watkins is the director of the vocal department at Savannah Arts Academy in Savannah, Georgia. He holds a Bachelor of Music degree from Angelo State University, San Angelo, Texas, and a Master of Music degree from Georgia Southern University, Statesboro, Georgia.
After many years of singing operatic roles and ensembles, Watkins has followed a desire to teach and conduct choral music. Having taught at all levels, from kindergarten to graduate school, Mr. Watkins has developed a passion for teaching high school students. Currently, in his tenth year of teaching high school, he is very pleased to be working with some of the most talented singers in the state of Georgia.
After serving three years as an adjunct faculty member at Georgia College & State University, Mr. Watkins brings to his students a technical approach to singing, teaching a strong yet flexible technique with emphasis on resonance and placement in order to discover the natural voice.
After many years of singing operatic roles and ensembles, Watkins has followed a desire to teach and conduct choral music. Having taught at all levels, from kindergarten to graduate school, Mr. Watkins has developed a passion for teaching high school students. Currently, in his tenth year of teaching high school, he is very pleased to be working with some of the most talented singers in the state of Georgia.
After serving three years as an adjunct faculty member at Georgia College & State University, Mr. Watkins brings to his students a technical approach to singing, teaching a strong yet flexible technique with emphasis on resonance and placement in order to discover the natural voice.
Dr. Jared Register serves on the music faculty at Savannah Arts Academy, where he conducts three choirs and teaches courses in voice, aural skills, and musical theater. Prior to Savannah, he taught public school and directed community music ensembles, where his students earned superior performance ratings and juried invitations to honor choirs hosted by GMEA and ACDA. Concurrent with his teaching duties at SAA, Dr. Register also directs the music ministry at Trinity United Methodist Church, following a decade of similar church music positions throughout the state.
Dr. Register holds the Doctor of Musical Arts degree from The University of Georgia, where he studied choral music education, choral conducting, and sang with Collegium and Hodgson Singers. His dissertation focused on the factors contributing to participation in chorus, where he studied male student attitudes towards singing and motivations/reservations about singing in choir. During his residency at UGA, he also conducted Repertory Singers and served as an instructor for choral education and vocal methods courses. While a student at UGA, Register received several teaching awards including the Simmons Choral Fellowship in Choral Education, E. Pierce Arant, Jr. Scholarship in Choral Music, Outstanding Graduate Teaching Assistant award, and the Hodgson School Director's Excellence Award. Register also holds the Master of Music degree in Conducting from Georgia Southern University, where served as a choral assistant, opera chorus master, and accompanist. He is an active member of Georgia Music Educators Association and American Choral Directors Association. |