Emotion in the Singing Voice
Thursday 4th July 2024, 2:00 PM - 4:00 PM (London Time)
While there has been a significant amount of research conducted into how speakers use emotion in the voice and how listeners hear it, how this relates to singing is a relatively new field. This session will explore what we know about how natural and acted emotion impacts the voice, and how singers might be able to use it to enhance their performance.
Singers are required not only to perform with technical skill, but also to communicate on an emotional level to the audience. Knowledge of how listeners decode emotion can improve how a singer implements emotion in a performance. This session will demonstrate how an academic understanding of this can also inform practical applications for singers and voice teachers.
Singers can become concerned about intense emotional performance overwhelming their technique and either destabilising the vocal performance or putting their vocal health at risk. By understanding more about how the body responds physiologically to different emotions and how listeners perceive the emotion, singers can learn to make choices to allow the listener to experience the emotion without the singer needing to feel it so deeply within their own bodies.
This two-hour session will cover:
- How do we perceive emotion in the voice?
- How much control do we have over our emotional response?
- What is the difference between natural and acted emotion?
- How do listeners perceive genuineness of emotion?
- How can performing intense emotion affect our vocal health?
- What characteristics of emotion do we hear?
- What are the practical applications?
- Workshop – some listening exercises and an opportunity to try out the practical applications in the voice.
Louisa Morgan
Louisa Morgan is a lecturer, voice teacher and researcher, with a special focus on spoken and sung emotion. Louisa lectures with Voice Study Centre (spoken voice lead) and teaches Musical Theatre students on the MA/MFA course at the Guildford School of Acting (GSA).
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.
Tuesday 9th December 2025
5:00 PM - 7:00 PM
(London Time)
Low Male Voices (LMVs): Development, Technique, and Repertoire
Dr Dann Mitton
Join Dr Dann Mitton for this two hour workshop where he explores the Development, Techniques, and Repertoire favoured for Low Male Voices (LMVs). Typically labelled as 'Bass' and 'Baritone', these classifications are used in classical music, choral settings, and vocal pedagogy to help determine suitable repertoire and vocal roles. In contemporary music, the distinctions are less rigid but still useful for understanding vocal range and timbre.
Thursday 11th December 2025
8:00 AM - 10:00 AM
(London Time)
Picking Up Good Vibrations: Pedagogical and Clinical Voice Analysis!
Dr Calvin Baker
Voice teachers and clinicians strongly rely on auditory perceptual modes of voice evaluation. These are considered the gold standard for assessing voice quality and training effects (e.g., a singer’s progress from lesson to lesson or across voice therapy). Join Dr Calvin Baker as he explores techniques for instrumentally analysing the singing voice. Specific considerations for the challenges of obtaining reliable, robust, and comparable data will be presented, and practical recommendations for recording and analysing the singing voice in pedagogical and clinical contexts will be made.
Thursday 11th December 2025
5:00 PM - 7:00 PM
(London Time)
The Pedagogy of Vibrato: Integrating Science and Studio Practice
Dr Justin John Moniz
Vibrato is more than just a shimmer in the sound—it’s one of the voice’s most powerful tools for artistry and expression. In this dynamic course, Justin John Moniz—Associate Director of Vocal Performance and Coordinator of Vocal Pedagogy at NYU Steinhardt, and Associate Editor of the Journal of Singing—pulls back the curtain on vibrato, blending history, science, and studio know-how into an engaging exploration for singers and teachers alike.