Private Instruction

Arlington High School choir students are fortunate to have three talented and caring individuals as private instructors. If you, or your student are interested in private lessons, please complete the form, and see Ms. Wade.

Pam Wade

Pam Wade is the Voice Department Chairperson at Arlington High School. She received a Bachelor of Music in Vocal Performance/Pedagogy from Baylor University. She also earned a Bachelor of Music Education with an emphasis in choral work. Upon graduation, she taught elementary music for five years. She then began teaching private voice lessons in the Arlington ISD. Pam is a member of TMEA and National Association of Teachers of Singing. She is a 1979 graduate of Arlington High School where she enjoyed singing with Colt Chorale, Choraliers, and was a two year member of the Texas All-State Choir. Pam and her husband Mark celebrated their twentieth anniversary in July of 2004. They have two boys, Caleb and Taylor.

Natalie Mitchell

Natalie Griffin Mitchell began her professional career in Dallas, studying privately with the late Sheila Harms and gaining “real-life” experience as a chorister with the Dallas Opera. In 1991, she began her formal training in New York City as a Young Artist at the Juilliard School in a special tuition-free program called the Juilliard Opera Center (JOC). Only 20 students from around the world are invited each year to be part of this program. While there, she studied with Marlena Malas and was chosen to participate in Master Classes led by the late Luciano Pavarotti (pictured below with Ms. Mitchell) and Marilyn Horne.

In 1993, she was hired by New York City Opera to understudy a role in the world premiere of Lukas Foss' Griffelkin. After Juilliard, she began private study with Arthur Levy in New York City. The New York Metropolitan Opera Company has contracted her three different seasons to understudy the role of a Valkury in Richard Wagner’s Die Walküre. Natalie returned to New York in January 2000 to fulfill her third contract and was a member of the Met’s “Ring Cycle 2000”.

In 1999, after the birth of their second child, Natalie and her family returned to Texas, having lived the previous eight years in New York. Natalie is an active soloist in the DFW area and she teaches voice both at Arlington High School and privately. She is a soloist/section leader for East Dallas Christian Church and the Harris Hospital Chorale in Fort Worth. She currently studies with Dr. Stephen Austin, who is a member of the voice faculty of the University of North Texas. She lives in South Arlington with her husband David and their two children Becca and Danny.

Rachel Shirk

Rachel Shirk is thrilled to join the Arlington High School Choral program as the newest private voice instructor.

Beginning with children’s choirs and musical theater shows, Ms. Shirk moved up through high school choirs and summer music camps and went on to earn her B.A. in Vocal Performance at Bennington College in Vermont. While in the Northeast, she had the opportunity to work and perform with internationally-renowned artist Meredith Monk in Monk’s opera Mercy at the Brooklyn Academy of Music. She also studied and performed with acclaimed composer Ricky Ian Gordon in his song cycle The Family Project.

In recent years, Ms. Shirk has performed in both classical and avant-garde settings, from singing with the UT Austin choir and the Fort Worth Opera Chorus to appearing in I/O, a new interdisciplinary performance piece created by New York City based composer Joe Diebes and director Phil Soltanoff. Her own most recent performance piece, Pocket Lyric, premiered last spring at 1919 Hemphill in Fort Worth

Ms. Shirk currently lives in Fort Worth, studying with TCU’s David Brock. She plans to pursue graduate studies in voice beginning in fall 2010. Ms. Shirk teaches private voice at North Crowley High School, Arlington High School and Arts Fifth Avenue.