MA/PGCERT Professional Practice (Voice Pedagogy):
Specialising in Performance Coaching
Now Taking Applications for April 2022

We have tailored content, designed to explore the core issues in Performance Coaching. These include the following:

• The Psychology of the Performer

Identity, Self Efficacy, Self Conscious Emotions, Perfectionism, Self Criticism, Self-doubt and Procrastination, Occupational Relationships, Working Conditions, Financial Concerns, Career Progression and Burnout.

• The Social Psychology of the Performer

Social Identity and Self Categorisation, Social Comparison, Group Norms and Social Exclusion, Social Cohesion, Social Facilitation and Self Presentation.

• Coaching and Mentoring

Coaching and Mentoring definitions, Values and Ethics, Person-Centred Coaching, Solution-Based Coaching, Acceptance and Commitment Coaching, Narrative Coaching, Psychodynamic Coaching, Existential Coaching, Ontological Coaching, Positive Psychology Coaching, Somatic Coaching, Coaching Models, Active Listening and Coaching Skills

• Music Performance Anxiety

Symptoms and causes of MPA, Kenny Attachment Theory, Triple Threat Vulnerability, Coaching strategies including Acceptance and Commitment Coaching and Mindfulness and other relevant coaching strategies

• Sports Psychology and Peak Performance

You will examine two critical approaches; Psychological Skills Training and The Mindfulness Acceptance and Commitment approach. You will examine its efficacy in terms of performance enhancement and explore how to incorporate aspects into your coaching.

• Motivational Interviewing

You will examine the Transtheoretical Model of Change, the general principles of motivational interviewing, alongside the research to support its application.

Will I be able to fit it into my working commitments and family life?

The course is designed specifically for practitioners who combine a busy working life and family life. The course is designed to study one module at a time. The deadlines are set and students work in tandem with one another. The deadlines give a generous time allocation as your working life is factored into the calculation. Our retention rate is very high with the majority of our students continuing onto the MA.

Tutorial support is pivotal to your development throughout the course.

You will be offered contact via Zoom, and you can book in for sessions as you need them. We can provide advanced support where necessary, and eligible students with registered disabilities receive additional one-to-one support from the university.

It is beneficial to discuss project ideas and to re-shape projects as they progress. We also offer group sessions on Zoom to ease isolation and share ideas with other students. We try to provide these at a time that suits everyone, although time differences and work commitments may make this problematic, and for this reason, we will record the sessions for you to access the content at a later date.

With regards to other support, you will have access to the UWTSD online library, as well as their support structures.

These include learning support, disability advice, and counselling services.

You will be able to access a tutor five days a week, between the hours of 9am-5pm (UK time).

Meet our Lecturers

Dr Motje Wolf

Dr Motje Wolf was awarded a PhD in Music Education from De Montfort University Leicester (UK) and an MA from the University of Leipzig (Germany) in Musicology and Dramatics. Her research focuses on vocal pedagogy, epistemology and pedagogic knowledge exchange.

She is fascinated by knowledge: who holds it, how is it constituted and shared, how has it developed? Hence, her current research projects include the investigation of Models in Vocal Education (MOVE) where she investigates knowledge models in vocal pedagogy.

Furthermore, Dr Wolf is the Editor-in-Chief of the Music MESHGuide project aiming to share relevant pedagogic research with music (and singing) teachers globally. Dr Wolf is an active member in the European Association of Music in Schools, where she is part of the steering committee of the Special Focus Group ‘Singing in Music Education’.

Moreover, she sits on the editorial board of the International Journal of Research in Choral Singing. She is a Trustee of the Sing Up Foundation and a member of the Mary Seacole Research Centre at De Montfort University Leicester, UK, where she also holds a position as Senior Lecturer in Education. As part of this role, she carries out research and works with Undergraduate and PhD students in Music Education. Dr Wolf also works as a mezzo-soprano, choir conductor and singing teacher.

Teresa Shaw

Teresa Shaw graduated with a B.Mus  from Manchester University and went on to study as a postgraduate at the Royal Academy of Music where she was awarded a Dip.RAM and subsequently made an ARAM. She went on to work as a soloist for the English National Opera in works including The Marriage of Figaro, Orfeo, and King Priam. Her solo performances extend to the London Symphony Orchestra, The London Sinfonietta, The Berlin Symphony Orchestra, and the Monteverdi Choir.

She gained a Distinction in her Voice Pedagogy Masters, and she is pioneering in her work with singers and Music Performance Anxiety. Her paper Piloting a New Model for Treating Music Performance Anxiety: Training a Singing Teacher to Use Acceptance and Commitment Coaching With a Student was published in Frontiers of Psychology. She was a keynote speaker at the AOTOS Autumn Conference in 2020.

Kate Cubley

Kate Cubley (BA (Hons), MA) is an advanced level Voice Coach, Singing Teacher, singer and researcher working predominantly from her private studio in Cheshire. Kate has a particular interest in encouraging singing for fun, whilst incorporating her specialist knowledge in voice pedagogy, vocal health, body alignment, phonetics, emotion and performance skills. 

Continually committed to teacher training and personal development through practical education, Kate completed the Voice Workshop and UWTSD MA in Professional Practice and Voice Pedagogy in 2019 with Distinction. Her body alignment research was shortlisted as a finalist for the Van Lawrence Prize in 2016 and her poster gained 1^st Place at Teaching Singing in Higher Education – Core Competencies. 

Kate has a BA (Hons) from the University of Sheffield in English Language and Linguistics and is a qualified Level 7 coach and mentor. She is a certified CoreSinging® Teacher, has attended Estill teacher Training Courses, a selection of Vocal Process Singing Teacher Retreats. She is an active member of the British Voice Association, AOTOS, The Musicians Union and The European Voice Teachers Association. 

Emily Foulkes

Emily gained a Distinction in her Master’s in Voice Pedagogy, specialising in Singing for Mental Health, Pain Management, and Trauma-Informed Practice. Her pioneering work within this field led her to establish the Signing for Health Network, attracting National funding to sustain and build the initiative. With a clear mission statement to bridge the gap between theory and practice, Emily has drawn together leading academics and practitioners to engage in knowledge dissemination and research.

Emily has presented at several conferences and events, including the BVA, Voice Geek conference, the MARCH Network, and the Spheres of Singing conference. She was also invited to peer review for the World Health Organisation (WHO). Emily’s recent research Exploring Online singing and Mindfulness for Mental Health is published in the peer-reviewed International Journal for Community Music.

She is a trainer for Trauma-Informed Schools UK and is the Director of Music for Good, a music for well-being charity based in Cornwall. In her work in Cornwall, Emily is a practitioner for the Music Education Hub, Primary Healthcare (Social Prescribing), and local hospital.

She has delivered training/workshops for Cornwall Music Education Hub, Arts & Health South West, Sing for Pleasure, Voice Workshop, ArtsLink (West Midlands), Trinity Laban (London), NYMAZ (for Music Education Hub leads in Yorkshire), Sing Space and for the Centre for Child Mental Health (London).

International Applicants

If an applicant has:

• Successfully completed a recognised undergraduate or postgraduate qualification, at a recognised institution based in one of the above majority English speaking countries (certificates, transcripts and/or other documents stating language of delivery and assessment may be required by the University prior to an offer being made).
• Successfully completed within the last five years a recognised undergraduate or postgraduate qualification at a recognised institution that has been certified as being taught in the medium of English (certificates, transcripts and / or other documents stating language of delivery and assessment may be required by the University prior to an offer being made).
• A UKVI recognised Secure English Language Test awarded within 2 years of applying for entry to the University.
• One of the following English Language Test documents awarded within 2 years of applying for entry to the University:

The MA consists of 180 credits in total. There is an opportunity to exit with 60 credits and a Post Graduate Certificate.

An MA is a lengthy commitment, spanning 33 months of intensive work, which needs to be combined with a demanding professional life and family commitments. For this reason, we advise you to enrol on the PGCert and then continue on the MA pathway.

Please be aware that the PGCert is part of the MA as it forms the first 60 credits; it is NOT a separate course.

Is it possible to enrol onto the MA rather than the PGCert?

It is possible to enrol onto the MA from the outset, allowing an application for a student loan to take place. For UK students, this is an important consideration.

We currently 186 have students on this programme, and we are expanding our provision to cater for an increase in both UK based and international students.

To enable us to accurately forecast, we have an early bird fee.

The early bird fee rate will end on 31st December 2021.

Please contact us for the early bird payment schedule.

May 2022 Fees

The SLC will provide up to £11,500 of your tuition fees, which will be paid in instalments. Please note that once you enrol onto the MA, you are contractually bound even if you do not complete it. Also, be aware that our instalment programme may not match the Student Loan Company, and temporary borrowing may be necessary.

For student loan enquiries, please follow this link.

For UK based MA students, do be aware that student finance instalments may not align with the tuition fee schedule. In this case, you will still have to abide by the tuition fee deadlines. This is due to differences in student loan schedules that individual applicants receive and it is not possible to facilitate differing agreements. We would advise you to make sure that you are able to financially commit to this before your application.

May 2022 Payment Schedule

PGCert & MA Course fees

Course fees are all non-refundable (apart from the initial £1,000 which has the refundable 14-day cooling off period) and must be paid in accordance with the instalment schedule below.

Students from Northern Ireland are eligible for finance for the fees payable to the university only.

Students from Scotland are not eligible for student finance, however, as policies do change please consult Student Finance Scotland.

ALL MAJOR CREDIT CARDS ACCEPTED

May 2022 – MA Fee Payment Schedule

UWTSD fees are payable in instalments.

May 2022 – PGCert Fee Payment Schedule

UWTSD fees are payable in instalments.

For full student experience stories and testimonials, please follow the links below.

What opportunities will the course give me?

Until recently, all of our students have been based in the UK and the opportunities created are therefore relevant to their locality.

We have recently seen the completion of our first MA and from this cohort of 20:

• 3 have been accepted to present at EuroVox 2020.
• 3 have been accepted to present at the Society of Music Education in Ireland.
• 1 has been asked to present at Mental Health Network conference specialising in Singing and Health.
• 1 presented her research at the British Voice Association – Vocal Health Forum in 2019.
• 3 have moved into teaching at University level on the basis of their qualification.