NATS was founded in 1944 in Cincinnati, Ohio. As an outgrowth of the development of the Music Teachers National Association (MTNA) in the early years of the twentieth century, a group of singing teachers incorporated the association in the state of New York on November 27, 1906. The first annual meeting of the new organization was held on January 7, 1908 at Steinway Hall in New York City. In 1917 it changed its name to the New York Singing Teachers' Association (NYSTA). In 1922 the Los Angeles Guild of Teachers of Singing was chartered, and two years later it published a Code of Ethics that was later embraced by the national organization. The Chicago Council of Teachers of Singing was organized in 1930.