Craniosacral Therapy (CST) is a gentle, hands-on approach that aims to release deep tensions in the body. it’s purpose is to support relief from pain and dysfunction. It is a non-invasive approach and can enhance whole-body health, performance and a sense of well-being. Singers and voice teachers are just as vulnerable as the rest of […]
As the clock declares January’s arrival and renditions of ‘Auld Lang Syne’ are warbled, listen carefully and you might just hear the utterance of New Year’s resolutions floating into the atmosphere; proclamations of ‘new year, new me’ are celebrated with the clink of a wine glass, and promises are made to quit bad habits, to […]
One of the things that we love about Dr Jenevora Williams is her open, intelligent and enquiring mind. She has contributed to the BAST webinar library and past live training events. In this interview we find out more about what makes Jenevora tick. She talks about her journey which started as a Botany undergrad, to […]
“So, tell me,” says the singing coach with a smile. “How have you got on since our last session with the practise we set?” *Cue montage* Oliver: “I forgot to do the vocal exercises, but I sang my song a few times.” Pippa: “I’ve been really busy this week so I haven’t had time to […]
Dr Meribeth Dayme is a familiar name to many singing teachers. From her detailed but comprehensible books on vocal anatomy, The Performer’s Voice and Dynamics of the Singing Voice, to her holistic and energy-based approach to singing and vocal training, CoreSinging®, thousands of singers have benefited from Dr Dayme’s passion for voice and treating the singer as a ‘whole’. […]
Imagine this: a new client, 13-year old Polly Peters, arrives promptly for her singing lesson. As you welcome her to your studio you notice her clinging to the sleeve of her jumper and presenting a stiff posture. Polly’s jaw pulses as she chews the corner of her mouth, and when you ask a question you […]
Imagine this: 10-year old Sally Simpson arrives at our studio for a singing lesson; she argues loudly with her twin brothers between bites of a chocolate muffin and bouts of throat clearing. She bounds into the room like an excited puppy dressed in a football kit and grass stains on her knees, detailing the multiple […]
Stephen King started his performance career with great promise. On the road to a dance and MT career, Stephen had to take a dramatic turn away from performing after a serious knee injury. With all the physical therapy and medical attention he received Stephen found himself pulled into the world of manual therapy and decided […]
For most of us, teaching is fuelled by the passion for voice – not by the desire to become the next Dragon in the Den. Website design, marketing approaches and creating pricing strategies didn’t crop up in school – things which would have been far more helpful than working out the perimeter of Gary’s garden […]
In this podcast Line Hilton talks to Laurel Irene and Dr David Harris from VoiceScienceWorks. These two met several years ago on Dr Ingo Titze’s Summer Vocology Institute at the National Center for Voice & Speech and have not been apart since! In the beginning, like many singers and singing teachers, they struggled to translate […]
Being self employed has its perks. However, being solely responsible for all aspects of a business comes with its own set of obstacles, and we may find ourselves trying to combat symptoms of ‘Sole-Traderitis’: I love my boss; she doesn’t mind if I come to work dressed in my husband’s oversized jumper, or if I […]
Now based in Melbourne, Australia, Lisa Perks started her singing and teaching career in the UK. In this podcast she talks about moving to a new country as a well established singing teacher, and having to completely start over with her teaching practice. One of the ways she built her new business was to put […]
In The larynx, home of the voice! we looked at the outer aspect of the voice box, this time we move inside the larynx and take a look at the sound making apparatus, the vocal folds. Where are the vocal folds? Housed within the larynx are two band-like structures, which stretch horizontally across the opening […]
Unlike other instruments, the singer’s instrument is not easily seen or accessed. This makes teaching singing quite challenging, but not impossible. By understanding the structure and mechanics of the vocal instrument we can help guide the singer through exercises and instruction to control the voice, access range, transition smoothly between registers, build vocal stamina, develop […]
This podcast’s guest is Manchester-based vocal coach Hannah Smikle. Hannah attended the Brit School and talks about her experience giving advice on how a singing teacher can help prepare a student who wants to, or is attending a performing arts school like this. As a teacher she got thrown into the job, quickly realising she […]
If you’re a fan of The Naked Vocalist podcast then this guest’s voice will be a familiar one to you. Line Hilton chats with Steve Giles who is a vocal coach, member of the board of directors and authorised coach for Vocology in Practice and co-founder and co-host of the world’s leading singing podcast, The Naked […]
You may already have seen Ryan Luchuck in his two-part webinar series breaking down voice science for beginners (Part 1 & Part 2). One of those multitalented types; Ryan sings, plays the keys, guitar, and a variety of other instruments as well as being a sound engineer and producer. All of this he puts to […]
Not to be confused with singer/songwriter, Cat Stevens, Kat is a singing teacher and owner of Aspire Arts Academy in Towcester. As with many teachers, Kat is trying to balance home life with business. Her academy enrolls around 100 students a term and along with this and her privates, Kat also runs a choir for […]
In this podcast we hear from singing teacher & Intuitive Confidence Coach, Lilli Badcock. Lilli started performing arts at a dancing school as a child but found herself wanting to sing the song rather than dance to it. Lilli talks about her journey from a singer, to choir leader, singing teacher and now confidence coach. […]
Like many singing teachers, Juliet juggles a variety of hats including as a singer/songwriter, a vocal coach, choir director and music festival organiser. As well as running her own practice working with artists, Juliet loves to work with choirs, recently arranging and featuring in the Pamper’s tribute to midwives with Paloma Faith on lead vocals. Juliet […]
In this podcast Line Hilton talks to Joshua Alamu, a professional voice coach with over 15 years experience as a singing teacher in the music and television industry. He has been a voice coach for the TV talent shows such as The Voice UK and Pop Idol and is currently working with acts such as Fleur East, […]
This podcast is a bit different as I am talking to recent BAST Graduate, Matt Thorns, about his journey. Matt started out singing as a six-year-old chorister in Oxford. He talks about his vocal experience going through puberty. He then moved into general performing arts and eventually music production and songwriting. He noticed that he was […]
Many of you will have already encountered this podcast’s guest, the humorous, John Henny. He’s a singing teacher and music school business owner and also provides training and education for singing teachers. His voice journey started when he realised that singing was going to give him the edge as a drummer, aka better gigging opportunities. […]
Singer and songwriter Whitney Nichole started her teaching studio back in 2008. Over the past 10 years, her studio has grown from a 2 person operation to 19 teachers, nearly 400 students, from babies and their mums to the elderly, in 4 locations around San Fransisco. As you can imagine a lot has been learned along […]
Gemma Sugrue is one of those natural entrepreneurs. She started her own wedding singer business at college and on finishing her degree joined forces with a friend to set up a singing teaching studio, Voice Works, in Cork where they now have 300+ students, and are earning enough to employ a manager whilst she […]
From a humble beginning in a local choir to one of the most highly regarded vocal pedagogs in the UK and co-founder of the very popular The Naked Vocalist Podcast, Chris Johnson talks to Line Hilton about his journey from singing as a hobby to career. Eventually, his inclination to vocal geekery pulled him into […]
In this podcast Line Hilton talks to BAST graduate, Sarah Nixey, who did the BAST course online with trainer, Lisa Haupert. Sarah has extensive industry experience as a backing vocalist and signed artist as the lead singer of UK based, indie rock group, Black Box Recorder. As often happens circumstance lead her to teaching and Sarah […]
Mindy Pack hails from Salt Lake City, Utah. She began singing professionally from a young age, taking up teaching as it seemed the right thing to do. Like many of us took her voice for granted until the day it wasn’t there. This event was a turning point for Mindy as it took her down an […]
Line Hilton talks to BAST Trainer, vocal coach and sound engineer Gareth Henderson. A British expat now ‘living the life’ in Perth, Australia, Gareth came to singing and teaching through lucky circumstance, and along the way scored his lovely wife, Louise – he says she was part of a package deal of singing lessons he had with […]
Greetings singing teacher from all over the world and I hope you’re having a very good World Voice Day! What began in Brazil in 1999 has now been spread across the globe and today there will be 311 events, celebrating the voice in all its various guises, taking place in at least 43 countries,which I’m […]
There is a lot of information on singing, coaching and pedagogy out there. A brief Google or YouTube search can be enough to start feeling slightly overwhelmed at times and with the pressure on for us to be more visible via social media it’s understandable why some of us can feel a bit inadequate from time […]
Line Hilton, talks to BAST Trainer, Ian Davidson who is based in Liverpool. They discuss his musical journey and how he became a singing teacher as a result of working for the Liverpool Institute of Performing Arts (LIPA). Line and Ian discuss the benefits and constraints of being a part of a specific teaching methodology. […]
Line Hilton, talks to BAST Trainer, Lisa Haupert. They discuss her musical journey from piano to singing journey, becoming a singing teacher after initially studying psych then training as a Registered Nurse (something she and Line have in common), the differences she’s noticed in singing students in the different locations she’s worked in (USA & […]
As an artist, the best feeling in the world, is knowing that YOU LEFT EVERY OUNCE OF ENERGY ON THAT STAGE; that the audience received the gift of your Presence & Authenticity. By accomplishing this objective, we can minimize the feeling of regret… wondering if our performances were compelling or impactful enough to leave an […]
I don’t get excited too often, but I am definitely excited about our latest project the Teachers On Teaching podcast. I recorded the first one this week and it is now available through BAST membership (Free and Paid). You can listen to it on Soundcloud or watch it via the site. Why a podcast? Admittedly the podcast […]
In our inaugural Teachers On Teaching podcast, BAST founder, Line Hilton, talks to BAST Trainer, Kaya Herstad Carney. They discuss her singing journey, becoming a teacher (by being thrown in at the deep end), how her MA helped her teaching, working with choirs, teaching technique in a classroom setting and how working with people recovering […]
For me, one of the most rewarding parts of being a singing teacher is being witness to changes in my students that go beyond just their singing ability. With great training, singers can improve their self awareness, self esteem, confidence, mental health, and many other transferable life skills. As a champion of the Person Centred […]
Transgender singers are currently on the forefront of voice pedagogy discussions. Emerald Lessley’s recent dissertation provides significant experiential evidence as well as addressing important medical and social concerns in working with this unique population. As trans individuals are increasingly able to live openly, voice teachers will begin to see more transgender singers in their studios. […]
Over the years, I have been fortunate enough to have had the pleasure and privilege (carefully choosing my words here) to evaluate dancers in the singing component of their audition onto the BA in Dance at the Liverpool Institute for Performing Arts. The whole process has always for me been equal parts excruciating and hilarious; […]
What is it? This is a very cool piece of kit that sits at the base of your tongue and essentially keeps you alive! It’s necessary to write about this incredibly significant part of your anatomy because there is still so much confusion out there about the vocal cords/folds, the larynx itself, and their relationship […]
The BAST Singing Teacher’s Retreat 2016 was about as inspiring and uplifting a weekend as a vocal geek like me could hope for. My brain was filled to bursting with new science, research, techniques and teaching methodology. I left feeling invigorated by the people I’d met and the lectures I’d attended and eager to get back to my students to put it all into practice. For […]
Do you want to understand the differences between classical and non-classical responses to the Acoustic Landscape all singers inhabit? Well this webinar could be just what you’ve been looking for. For many years, voice teachers believed that the challenges of range and vocal registers were entirely matters of laryngeal muscular adjustment. While there certainly are significant muscular adjustments of the vocal […]
The Ageing Voice The Baby Boomer generation was born between 1946 and 1964. That means the eldest of this generation are 70 now. And there are a LOT of us! Many Boomers fully intend to be doing lots of activities into their 80’s. Those who are retiring are looking for meaningful activities and many are […]
You know that moment when you’re having a conversation with your student, and they’re so animated, and you’re having a great back and forth, and they’re totally acting like a human… and then they start singing and turn into a robot?! It’s really challenging to deal with this moment as a singing teacher. You want […]
Stylistic differences remain one of the most challenging perceptual walls for singers. We hear an operatic soprano next to a belter and think they must just be built differently, or that they are simply talented and magically able to make those sounds. In reality, they are making different acoustic and laryngeal choices that allow them […]
The term ‘vocology’ is being used increasingly in the voice and singing world. The word originates from voice scientist, Dr ingo Titze, who even has a book titled ‘Vocology. The Science and Practice of Voice Habilitation’. As singing teachers we deal with vocalisation on a daily basis so it makes sense that we understand the implications […]
From the age of 12 until 40, most of what I experienced as a voice student can best be described as voo-doo. I teach singing because no voice teacher or singing student or vocal artist should have to put up with voo-doo.
I cannot not sing and I’ve been doing that for all my life. A chronic sufferer of compulsory harmony disorder, and with at least two song ideas in my head at any time – singing teaching came as a natural yet unexpected progression of this.
So you are thinking about becoming a singing teacher. Fantastic! What a fabulous opportunity to take all the knowledge and skills you have accumulated so far and share it with others interested in singing, and who are willing to pay for your service.
Like many others before me, I fell into teaching singing. I had recently graduated from the Liverpool Institute for Performing Arts with a BA in Performing Arts Music and was trying to figure out what happens next.
My first brush with singing tuition was, like many I’m sure, a result of being a gigging singer who did not know how to use their voice correctly and did it some harm as a result.
As with many singers I started off believing I was going to “be famous”. It was a very vague and undefined goal, and given that I started as a clarinetist and ended up choosing the jazz route I was unlikely to be able to attain the kind of commercial success that a pop/rock singer might do.