Do you practice what you preach? Strategies for optimal practice
Tuesday 28th October 2025, 7:00 PM - 9:00 PM (London Time)
“Best practices.” “Practice makes perfect.” “Practice what you preach.” There are many popular phrases about practice that people toss about in conversation – but what is practice anyway, how does it work, and what is the relationship between practicing, learning, and performance?
This course will examine current evidence from motor learning research on how we learn motor skills like singing. We’ll define practice, learning, and performance, and the importance of distinguishing learning from performance in how we practice. Next, we’ll look at the different kinds of practice and how they impact learning and performance. We’ll look at examples of each kind of practice and when we might want to use them. Then, we’ll consider how what we know about practice might impact how we structure a lesson, how we prepare for a recital/stage role/gig, and how we warm up immediately before a performance.
We’ll also talk about goal setting, weekly practice reflections, diaries/journaling, and performance road maps, and how they can help us better track our progress and detect trends in our practicing. We’ll also talk about the role of technology in assisting our practice.
There will be ample time for questions and sample materials you can use in improving your practice and that of your students.
🏷️ 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
Professor John Nix
John Nix is Professor of Voice and Voice Pedagogy and chair of the voice area at the University of Texas at San Antonio. His mentors include Barbara Doscher...
Attend this course for as little as £22 as part of the Voice Professional Training CPD Award Scheme.
Learn MoreSorry, 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.
Thursday 18th December 2025
3:00 PM - 5:00 PM
(London Time)
Improving Lyric Italian Diction for Classical Singers
Professor Conroy Cupido
Join Professor Conroy Cupido as he offers an in-depth exploration of the most frequent pronunciation errors made by classical singers in Italian lyric diction. Designed for both emerging and advanced singers, the course provides a structured and practical approach to mastering Italian pronunciation as used in opera, oratorio, and art song.
Monday 12th January 2026
12:00 PM - 1:30 PM
Tuesday 13th January 2026
12:00 PM - 1:30 PM
Wednesday 14th January 2026
12:00 PM - 1:30 PM
Thursday 15th January 2026
12:00 PM - 1:30 PM
Tuesday 20th January 2026
12:00 PM - 1:30 PM
Wednesday 21st January 2026
12:00 PM - 1:30 PM
(London Time)
Level One Certificate in Accents and Phonetics
Louisa Morgan
Are you a voice, acting, or singing coach looking to expand your expertise and add accents and phonetics to your teaching repertoire? This 6-session course covers essential topics such as articulatory, acoustic, and auditory phonetics, the International Phonetic Alphabet (IPA), and ethical approaches to accent and dialect coaching. By the end of this course, you'll be equipped with the knowledge and practical skills to start to bring phonetics and accent coaching into your coaching and provide more comprehensive support to your clients.
Monday 12th January 2026
2:00 PM - 4:00 PM
(London Time)
Emerging and Developing Voice: Singing and Speech
Karen Brunssen
How does the singing voice influence the speaking voice? How does the speaking voice influence the singing voice? When is there a disparate relationship between the two? Can they help each other? Can one harm the other? How can we use them positively in the voice studio. During this short course we will consider the voice as we sing and as we speak. The acquisition of language is a very interesting journey from birth through old age. We will broach the topics of “lexical” which refers to learning words, and “semantic” which is how we use words in the context of language.