Short Courses & Events / Archive

A Football Player Pirouettes: Principles and Application for Cross-Training

Thursday 27th May 2021, 5:00 PM - 7:00 PM (London Time)

In the past decade, the emerging benefits of cross-training voices have provided insight into developing healthy, efficient, and versatile singers.

Cross-training voice athletes refers to building a balanced vocal mechanism regardless of the anticipated performance genre.

For example, Western classical singers engage in “belting” exercises and CCM singers vocalize in registration and resonance strategies necessary for Western classical repertoire.

Singers must train as complete voice athletes for optimal vocal efficiency, and in the twenty-first century be ready to sing in a variety of styles for optimal employment opportunities.

Both opera houses and music theatre companies are programming innovative seasons to keep patrons engaged.

Singers and the teachers that train them must be ready!

This workshop will include a PowerPoint presentation to highlight some physiologic and acoustic differences between variable high-intensity singing genres and a demonstration with singers for studio application insights.

Dr Kari Ragan

Singer, author, and voice pedagogue Kari Ragan holds degrees from the University of Washington (DMA) and Indiana University (MM, BM). She was the recipient of the prestigious Van L. Lawrence Award (2012), the NATS Foundation Pedagogy Award (2009), and the Wicklund Singing Voice Specialist Certificate (2010), and she was selected as a Master Teacher for the NATS Intern Program in 2021.

Sorry, this is an archived short course...

We have plenty of upcoming short courses coming soon. See details of some of them below or look at the full list of short courses.

Simultaneous Singing and Dancing in Musical Theatre: A Cross-Disciplinary Evidence Review
Tuesday 17th February 2026
10:00 AM - 12:00 PM
(London Time)

Simultaneous Singing and Dancing in Musical Theatre: A Cross-Disciplinary Evidence Review

Debbie Winter
Dr Claire Thomas

This short course invites participants to critically examine the latest cross-disciplinary evidence on the physical and vocal demands of musical theatre performance. Drawing on a comprehensive literature review conducted by Debbie Winter and Claire Thomas (Voice Study Centre, University of Essex), the course explores research from voice science, dance medicine, sports science, and performance pedagogy.

It’s not a virus! Reconceptualizing and De-pathologizing Music Performance Anxiety
Thursday 19th February 2026
8:30 AM - 10:30 AM
(London Time)

It’s not a virus! Reconceptualizing and De-pathologizing Music Performance Anxiety

Rebecca Herman

Performance Anxiety is one of the most widespread and debilitating challenges facing musicians across all ages, nationalities and musical genres. Despite decades of research and the development of numerous interventions, we do not yet have an established way of supporting performers experiencing performance anxiety. Aimed at performers, teachers, researchers and students, this presentation will first summarise the current state of play in performance anxiety research, before exploring alternative ways to think about performance anxiety, drawing on new research outside of performance psychology...

Performing Pain: Vocal Health in Emotional Roles!
Thursday 19th February 2026
1:00 PM - 2:30 PM
Thursday 26th February 2026
1:00 PM - 2:30 PM
(London Time)

Performing Pain: Vocal Health in Emotional Roles!

Louisa Morgan

How connected are acted emotions to our real-life emotions? Are they expressed differently? Do they feel different in the body? This 2-part course with Louisa Morgan looks at the potential impact of acted emotion on vocal health, why we should consider it as voice practitioners, and how to care for our performers needing to work with it.