Voice Study Centre Alumnus Jennifer Rhodes to Present at the AOTOS Summer Conference!

Jennifer works as a freelance Singing and Voice/Accents tutor, predominantly in conservatoire settings.  Her work with singing actors has often been cross-curricular and covering a variety of musical styles.   Jennifer’s studies throughout the MA Voice Pedagogy programme have enabled her to deepen connections between the fields of spoken voice, linguistics and singing, and to implement this into her teaching studio.  The culmination of this work was the designing of a teaching strategy to assist students with singing in regional accents. 

Jennifer is excited to present her work at the upcoming AOTOS Summer conference:

Singing in Regional Accents: The Cause for a Teaching Strategy

Accent coaching in conservatoires typically occurs in Spoken Voice lessons.  The challenges that may arise from transitioning between spoken and sung text, led to the development of a teaching strategy for Singing in Regional Accents.  A recent focus group enabling experienced Singing teachers to give their feedback on the strategy revealed overwhelmingly positive results (Rhodes, 2024).  It is hoped that this strategy is developed and that it ignites broader discussions surrounding accent training and representation in musicals.