Short Courses & Events / Archive

Compassion Focused Training: An Updated Course for Singers, Singing Teachers, and Other Music Professionals

Monday 12th May 2025, 5:00 PM - 7:00 PM (London Time)

Tuesday 13th May 2025, 5:00 PM - 7:00 PM (London Time)

Wednesday 14th May 2025, 5:00 PM - 7:00 PM (London Time)

During the 1980’s & 90’s, British psychologist Paul Gilbert & colleagues noticed a trend among certain patients who received Cognitive Behavioral Therapy for depression: they would berate themselves for not improving in their treatment, despite having put effort into it.  This astute observation led him to believe the likely reason for their lack of progress was the patients’ relentlessly self-critical thinking styles, which not only contributed to the maintenance of their depression, but likely to its origin as well.  What followed was the creation of a groundbreaking new therapy called Compassion Focused Therapy (CFT; Gilbert, 2000) that aimed to alleviate suffering by helping individuals with high shame and self-criticism to generate affiliative feelings towards themselves and a more compassionate inner voice.  Rooted in evolutionary psychology, neuroscience, Buddhism, CBT, & social and developmental psychology, CFT asserts the human brain is actually quite tricky to navigate, and thus, it’s not our fault we find ourselves struggling or suffering with it, or with life’s inevitable stressors.

Since its inception, CFT and related therapy models, e.g., Kristin Neff and Christopher Germer’s Mindful Self-Compassion (2013), have received increasing empirical support as treatments for anxiety, depression, and stress.  In recent years, compassion-based programs are starting to arise within non-clinical settings as well, e.g., with athletes, university students, and musicians, as tools for coping with similar psychological challenges.  When used with athletes in particular, self-compassion is promoted as an alternative to “mental toughness,” as it helps to develop courage to face the inherent challenges within competitive sports.  Although the role self-compassion plays in alleviating musicians’ psychological stressors is still under investigation, it is believed to benefit them in similar ways.

In this updated, three-part course, you will learn about the role shame and self-critical thinking play in maintaining psychological distress, and about the theoretical underpinnings of Gilbert’s CFT model and Neff & Germer’s model of self-compassion. You’ll also learn about the three emotion regulation systems, and specifically how to increase activity in the Soothing & Contentment system, which is known to create feelings of safeness within oneself & with others, when activated.  Specifically, you’ll learn compassion-enhancing strategies to help manage common sources of stress for musicians, i.e., dealing with mistakes & negative feedback of one’s work, audition setbacks, perfectionistic concerns of one’s performance, coping with burnout, career uncertainty & transitions, and others.

🏷️ Price £150 (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

Dr David Juncos

David Juncos, PsyD, is a clinical psychologist, lecturer, performance coach, author, and music performance researcher based in Philadelphia, PA. He has 20 years of experience in treating a variety of clinical problems, including anxiety, mood, and substance use disorders.

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 Science Underlying Semi-Occluded Vocal Tract Exercises (SOVT)
Tuesday 16th September 2025
5:00 PM - 7:00 PM
(London Time)

The Science Underlying Semi-Occluded Vocal Tract Exercises (SOVT)

Dr Ingo Titze
Karin Titze Cox

Semi-occluded vocal tract exercises have a long history. Humans and animals have discovered that aerodynamic and acoustic pressures above the larynx can position the vocal folds for better self-sustained oscillation. Join Dr Ingo Titze and Karin Titze Cox as they unpick this fascinating topic!

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?