Jennifer Barnes is a highly sought-after vocalist, educator, clinician and arranger and the Director of Vocal Jazz Studies at the University of North Texas. Prof. Barnes oversees all vocal activities within the Division of Jazz Studies, including overseeing four vocal jazz ensembles and directing UNT Jazz Singers, who have won Downbeat Student Music Awards for the past 9 out of 10 years. She has taught at seven other universities, served as a guest conductor for District and All-State Music Festivals in fourteen states, taught jazz vocals at the Jamey Aebersold Jazz Camps, and her vocal arrangements are published by Sheet Music Plus, Anchor Music, UNC Jazz Press and self-published on her website. She was awarded the DownBeat 2016 Jazz Education Achievement Award, only the second vocal educator to receive that honor. Jennifer’s voice has been featured on films including “Wall-E”, “Ice Age 2, 3 & 4”, “Enchanted”, “Star Trek” and the television show, “Glee”. She has sung on or appeared in advertising for Chili’s Bar & Grill, Epson, and McDonald’s and released a solo jazz recording, “You Taught My Heart” (Spotify/Apple Music/CD Baby). Jennifer is the alto vocalist and a composer/arranger in the professional vocal group Vertical Voices with Julia Dollison, Greg Jasperse, and Kerry Marsh. Jennifer earned the Master of Music degree in Studio Music and Jazz Performance from the University of Miami (FL) and the Bachelor of Music degree from Western Michigan University.

 

 

Mike Plunkett was the choral director at Carl Albert High School in Midwest City, Oklahoma for 21 years. He received his Bachelor of Music Education from Central State University (OK) and his Master of Music Education with an emphasis in Jazz Studies from the University of Central Oklahoma. Mike has taught at the junior high, high school, and college levels. He has served as an adjudicator/clinician in more than twenty states and Canada and has conducted multiple All-State Jazz Choirs. Mr. Plunkett served as Vice-President, President, and Past-President of the Oklahoma chapter of IAJE (International Association of Jazz Educators), was a member of the National IAJE Strategic Planning Committee in 1999-2001, and the National IAJE Resource Team for “Published Music.”. He was a faculty member for the IAJE 1999 Teacher Training Institutes at Disney World and Kansas City. In 2014, he was given the prestigious “Presidents Award” for service and achievement in Oklahoma Music Education. Mike served as R & S chair for jazz ensembles for the Oklahoma chapter of ACDA and taught the vocal jazz choir as an adjunct professor at both the University of Central Oklahoma and Southern Nazarene University. In 1995, under Mike’s direction, the Carl Albert High School Vocal Jazz ensemble was selected as an honor group for the Oklahoma Music Educators State Conference. He was also a key figure in the implementation and inauguration of adding Vocal Jazz All-State Choir to Oklahoma, now in its 25th year. In July of 2001, Mike was hired as the Administrator of all Fine Arts activities for the OSSAA (Oklahoma Secondary School Activities Association). While serving as administrator, he also served as the Chairman of the Music Committee for the National Federation of High Schools from 2007-2011. After 21 years of service to the OSSAA, he retired in 2022.

Praised as a world-class artist, and with an international reputation in several facets of the music industry, Rosana Eckert wears many hats as a versatile live and studio vocalist, a dynamic improviser, a creative songwriter and arranger, and a masterful educator of jazz and voice. She has performed and recorded with many jazz luminaries, including Christian McBride, Bobby McFerrin, George Duke, Bill Mays, Jon Faddis, Marvin Stamm, and the New York Voices. Recently, she was one of the three vocalists on "Eberhard," the 13-minute mini-symphony and final recording of 11-time Grammy-winning jazz pianist Lyle Mays, which was released posthumously in August 2021 and nominated for a Grammy Award. Performing regularly with her own bands and projects, Rosana's critically acclaimed 5th solo album Sailing Home, produced by Peter Eldridge in 2019, was praised as "bright and innovative" (AllAboutJazz) and “alluring” (Jazz Weekly). In 2021, her Brazilian jazz fusion band, Brasuka, released their highly acclaimed debut album of original songs titled A Vida Com Paixão. Lauded as “addictively joyful” (Exclusive Magazine), "positively infectious" (The Big Takeaway), and “entirely engaging and entertaining"(Phil’s Picks), the album received 4 stars in Downbeat Magazine and All About Jazz.com, and it made several "Best of 2021" music lists. A renowned educator, Rosana is principal lecturer of jazz voice and has helped build the thriving UNT vocal jazz department since 1999, teaching private jazz voice lessons and performance techniques, and creating new courses in songwriting and vocal pedagogy.  Her students have gone on to win awards and prestigious competitions, tour the world as solo artists and back-up vocalists, establish music schools and private lesson studios, publish choral arrangements, produce studio sessions and live music events, and work as studio singers on movie soundtracks and commercials.  Rosana also serves on the faculty of the UNT Vocal Jazz Summer Workshop and the New York Voices Summer Vocal Jazz Camp, and she has been a visiting teacher and lecturer for many institutions and programs, including the Centro Cientifico da Voz in São Paulo, Brazil, the Golden Jazz Music Camp in Zhuhai, China, The Speech Level Singing Summer Program in Hollywood, CA, and the online Jazz Harmony Retreat. A versatile musician, Rosana is also in demand as a commissioned choral composer/arranger, guest conductor, and article/book author. Her many published vocal ensemble arrangements, for all levels of singer, have been performed worldwide, and she has conducted 14 All-State jazz choirs around the country. Her book, Singing with Expression: A Guide to Authentic and Adventurous Song Interpretation, has been called ground-breaking, encyclopedic, and an unparalleled resource for contemporary singers, and she was a contributing author for The Voice Teacher's Cookbook, which features "recipes" from 50 renowned voice teachers from around the country.  Passionate about sharing jazz with children, she co-wrote a jazz musical for young voices with author/educator Sharon Burch titled Freddie the Frog and the Jungle Jazz.  The two also collaborated on an elementary music collection called Jazz And Kids: Songs and Activities for a Swingin' Classroom.  A highly respected improviser, Rosana is a featured artist on the vocal improvisation app Scatability by Michele Weir as well as the female vocalist on the tracks for Darmon Meader’s popular book Vocal Jazz Improvisation:  An Instrumental Approach. During the pandemic of 2020, she and Darmon created the Vocal Jazz Improvisation Boot Camp, an ongoing series of online improvisation classes, attracting singers of all levels from around the globe. In addition to her extensive live performing, writing, and teaching, Rosana works regularly as a studio vocalist, producer, and voice-over actor in Dallas, TX.  As a voice-over actor, she has spoken on many commercials and industrial spots for clients such as AT&T, PetSmart, Direct Energy, Comcast, and EA Games, and she is the in-house voice for KERA TV, Dallas’s award-winning PBS station. She has served as a producer on a wide array of projects, from solo vocal albums to children’s musical theatre, and as a studio vocalist, Rosana has sung on hundreds of commercials, album projects, publishing demos, and radio IDs heard around the world.

Alison Wedding began her music career at age two, singing for family and friends in church and at home. But it was not until she walked into a jazz ensemble at her fine arts high school in Dallas, Texas, that she first discovered her love for jazz. The harmonies, chord progressions, and rhythms fascinated her. She listened constantly to horn players, learning their solos, and with the help of her mentor Dave Alexander, Alison began to explore improvisation which now has become one of her greatest skills. Her early influences included vocalists Ella Fitzgerald and Sarah Vaughan, and horn players Chet Baker, Miles Davis, Freddie Hubbard, and Michael Brecker. She went on to study jazz at the University of North Texas under the guidance of Paris Rutherford and began to sing professionally in the Dallas area. One of her career highlights was singing with the One O'Clock Lab Band with the late Gerry Mulligan. Upon receiving her Bachelor of Music degree in Jazz Studies, Alison moved to Los Angeles to further develop her career. There she spent four years performing professionally, both live and in the studio, as well as teaching voice and piano. Career highlights included touring as a back-up singer with Kevyn Lettau and recording with artists such as Andy Summers (formerly of The Police) on his CD Peggy's Blue Skylight. After moving to Australia in January 2001, in addition to teaching at major music schools in Melbourne, she was fortunate to play with amazing musicians including Sam Keevers, Jamie Oehlers, Colin Hopkins, Peter Knight, Bob Sedergreen, Joe Chindamo, Kate Ceberano, and Richard Clapton. Alison's first solo CD, The Secret, was released in 2003, on the ABC Jazz label. She toured Australia celebrating this release, and shortly thereafter, The Secret went on to win the 2004 Bell Award for the Best Vocal Jazz Album in Australia. Alison’s second CD , Sometimes I Feel, was released on the label Jazzhead in 2005. Later that same year, Alison was named a semifinalist at the Wangaratta Jazz Competition, and the following year she won the Gibson-May award at the London International Vocal Jazz Competition. It was during this time that Alison met and began studying with master vocal improvisation teacher and singer, Rhiannon. Alison's association and work with Rhiannon changed her approach to her own music, her improvisation, and her teaching. Alison moved back to the U.S. in 2007, choosing NY as her new base to continue her musical journey. There, as both a solo artist and background singer, she performed at various venues including Rockwood Music Hall, Cornelia St. Cafe, and The 55 Bar. Her 4th album, This Dance, featuring strings and special guests Chris Potter, Lionel Loueke, and Theo Bleckmann, was released on the GroundUP label in May 2012. Also, she toured multiple times as an opening act for the three-time Grammy award-winning group, Snarky Puppy. In the fall of 2008, Alison joined the faculty of Berklee College of Music as an Assistant Professor in the Voice Department where she taught for the past eleven years. While still in New York, Alison also began studying with Jeanie Lovetri, the creator of Somatic Voicework and eventually became certified in all three levels of this method. Alison relocated to Miami to join the Frost School of Music faculty as a Jazz Lecturer in 2019, teaching Jazz Ear Training, Jazz piano, voice lessons, and small ensembles. Her latest album, On The Brink, was released in November 2019. Alison currently resides in the Dallas area and teaches at The Dallas School of Music as well doing studio work and other diverse musical projects.

• $30 – Registration Fee
• $850 – Tuition 
• $420 – Adult Housing (optional; private room with private bath)
  • $60 additional night (late departure) 

• $200 – Meal Plan (optional; Saturday breakfast-Friday lunch)
  • No option for additional meals. Those who require an extra night of housing can pay with cash or card in the dining hall or go off campus. 

• $40 – Commuter Parking Permit (optional)
• $20 – Continuing Education Unites Certificate (optional) 

Participants residing on campus must provide their own bedding (extra-long twin size), pillows, towels, and toiletries.

To register, visit https://app.getacceptd.com/untmusicworkshops. Begin by selecting your Area (Jazz) and Program (Vocal Jazz Educator Seminar & Vocal Jazz Summer Workshop COMBINED). For technical questions, please visit the Acceptd Help Desk.

Registration Deadline

• May 23, 2025

Registration Policy

• Payment is due in full at the time of registration.
• Participants must be at least 18 years of age to participate.
• Enrollment is limited.
  • Email to be placed on the waitlist if workshop is full – music.camps@unt.edu.  

• Requested by May 23, 2025 – Full refund less $130 ($30 registration fee + $100 administrative fee)
• Requested by June 6, 2025 – Full refund less $230 ($30 registration fee + $200 administrative fee)
  • We are unable to process refunds requested after June 6, 2025.
  • No refunds will be made should a participant be dismissed for violating UNT policy or program rules provided on the first day.