Short Courses & Events / Archive

Beyond the Notes: How Opera Singers Express Emotion Through Voice and Face

Tuesday 11th March 2025, 5:00 PM - 7:00 PM (London Time)

Opera singers are unique performers who must balance vocal mastery, emotional depth, and theatrical expression. Unlike actors, who can rely solely on dialogue, opera singers must convey emotions through their voices while adhering to the demands of music, technique, and expressiveness. This intricate interplay between facial expressions and vocal parameters is central to the emotional authenticity of operatic performances.

This course, " Beyond the Notes: How Opera Singers Express Emotion Through Voice and Face", dives deep into the multimodal communication of emotions in opera, focusing on how facial movements align with vocal acoustics to convey anger, joy, fear, and sadness. Drawing on research and practical insights, participants will explore the facial action units (AUs) most relevant to emotional expression in singing, such as eyebrow movement (AU1, AU4) and jaw displacement (AU26), as well as the corresponding vocal features like vibrato rate, pitch modulation, loudness, and spectral characteristics.

A key highlight of this course is demonstrating a new motion-capture method developed specifically to analyse singers' facial expressions during performance. This innovative system, which combines lightweight motion-capture helmets and video analysis tools, allows for the accurate tracking of facial markers even in non-laboratory settings. Participants will gain hands-on exposure to how these tools can quantify subtle changes in facial dynamics during emotional singing, offering valuable insights into performance practice.

We will discuss practical applications of this research, such as how performers can refine their emotional portrayals while maintaining technical precision. For example, anger may involve pronounced jaw lowering and vocal fold adduction, leading to greater vocal intensity, while sadness may exhibit softer dynamics and subtle facial movements. By understanding these correlations, singers, vocal coaches, and directors can optimize emotional expressivity.

The course will be structured into two main segments:

  1. Theoretical Foundation: An overview of the emotional communication framework in opera, integrating studies on facial expressions and vocal acoustics.
  2. Practical Demonstration: A step-by-step presentation of the motion-capture method and examples of emotional singing analysed through facial markers and acoustic data.

By the end of this course, participants will leave with a deeper understanding of the dynamic connection between facial expressions and vocal emotion in opera. This knowledge will provide individuals with tools and insights to enhance their performances, enabling them to strive for a balance between vocal mastery, emotional depth, and expression, tailored to their unique strengths and styles.

🏷️ Price £30 (UK VAT inclusive)
🎥 Recording automatically sent to all who book (even if you cannot attend live)
▶️ Rewatch as many times as you like
📜 Certificate of attendance available

Tiago Lima Bicalho Cruz

Tiago has dedicated his career to helping singers from various musical genres refine their technical skills and enhance their expressive potential, always focusing on individual development.

CPD Course Logo

Attend this course for as little as £22 as part of the Voice Professional Training CPD Award Scheme.

Learn More

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.

Certificate in Acting Approaches for Singing Teachers
Tuesday 5th August 2025
1:00 PM - 12:00 PM
Tuesday 12th August 2025
1:00 PM - 2:00 PM
Tuesday 19th August 2025
1:00 PM - 2:00 PM
Tuesday 26th August 2025
1:00 PM - 12:00 PM
Tuesday 2nd September 2025
1:00 PM - 1:00 PM
Tuesday 9th September 2025
1:00 PM - 2:00 PM
Tuesday 16th September 2025
1:00 PM - 2:00 PM
Tuesday 23rd September 2025
1:00 PM - 2:00 PM
(London Time)

Certificate in Acting Approaches for Singing Teachers

Louisa Morgan

Are you a singing teacher looking to elevate your students’ performances? Join our very own Louisa Morgan, as she takes a deeper dive into acting approaches that singing teachers can use to integrate powerful acting techniques into singing lessons. This 8 session course is perfect for those who want to help their singers connect deeply with the story behind the song. Gain practical tools and techniques that you can immediately apply in your teaching! Come along live for an interactive experience, or watch on playback at your leisure.

The Cannabis Question: What Voice Practitioners Need to Know!
Thursday 18th September 2025
5:00 PM - 7:00 PM
(London Time)

The Cannabis Question: What Voice Practitioners Need to Know!

Dr Dann Mitton

As cannabis use has become more common, socially accepted, and legalized, voice professionals are increasingly fielding questions about its effects. This two-hour session with Dr Dann Mitton offers a clear, research-informed overview of what we currently know about cannabis and the singing voice. The session is built around real-world questions voice teachers and singers are asking: Does smoking cannabis dry out the vocal folds? Is vaping safer than smoking? What should I know if my student uses cannabis for anxiety or pain? Could some voice types be more at risk than others?

How to Put the Perceptible Breath at a Singer's Disposal
Tuesday 23rd September 2025
2:00 PM - 4:00 PM
(London Time)

How to Put the Perceptible Breath at a Singer's Disposal

Tanya Aspelmeier

Join the renowned Tanya Aspelmeier in this breath-related workshop specifically designed for the singer and singing teachers. Participants will learn exercises based on Professor Ilse Middendorf's therapeutic breathing method "The Perceptible Breath". This somatic discipline trains a person’s skills of perception to learn about their individual breath, body and nervous system and how they can regulate it by harnessing their own mental powers.