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). Previously, Louisa taught technical singing for the MA/MFA Musical Theatre students at the Guilford School of Acting (GSA) and Italia Conti, and she was also a spoken and singing voice coach for the Acting students at the Cygnet Training Theatre.
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.
Monday 15th June 2026
1:00 PM - 2:30 PM
Tuesday 16th June 2026
1:00 PM - 2:30 PM
Wednesday 17th June 2026
1:00 PM - 2:30 PM
Thursday 18th June 2026
1:00 PM - 2:30 PM
Friday 19th June 2026
1:00 PM - 2:30 PM
(London Time)
Introduction to Postgraduate Academic Skills - Summer Bootcamp - Join Live!
Debbie Winter
Hosted by our very own Director of Studies (Debbie Winter), join our comprehensive Introduction to Academic Skills course, designed to equip you with essential tools and strategies for success in higher education. Perfect for bridging the gap between undergraduate and postgraduate study, this course offers a pathway to our full MA for students without an existing degree. We offer both live, interactive sessions and standalone, pre-recorded content.
Thursday 18th June 2026
9:00 PM - 11:00 PM
(London Time)
Body wisdom for vocal performers and educators: What the heart and lungs can teach us about sustainable and joyful vocal practice!
Dr Mark Seton
Join Dr Mark Seton as he discusses his recent research with creatives (260 participants) on how many are seeking to be more empowered in their personal and professional lives, as well as more embodied and enduring in the midst of rapidly changing life and work. This foundational and interactive workshop takes us on an embodied journey into how the actual heart functions and its crucial partnership with our lungs. In this course we’ll learn from their collective wisdom how to remain healthily ‘opened’ and ‘closed’ at the same time, to breath in and breath out, allowing time for both refreshment and recovery between each beat of our hearts, and each drawing of breath.
Friday 19th June 2026
5:00 PM - 7:00 PM
(London Time)
Singing for Lung Health: The Basics
Dr Rachel B. Goldenberg
According to a 2016 study, nearly 1 in 5 people living in the UK have received a diagnosis of lung disease, making it highly likely that clinicians and voice teachers will encounter a singer living with a lung disease. Join Dr. Rachel B. Goldenberg, a singing teacher and speech-language pathologist, as she introduces the foundational concepts of Singing for Lung Health (SLH) and discusses the evolution of the field and its practical applications for respiratory health. While there was little research 15 years ago, SLH is now described as an "exploding field" that bridges the healthcare and music worlds!