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.
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.
Tuesday 13th January 2026
12:00 PM - 2:00 PM
(London Time)
A Critical Overview of Perceptual Motor Learning: Coaching Implications
Michele Capalbo
Perceptual motor learning (PML) theory is characterised by the convergence of perception and action. PML focuses on how we teach, not what we teach, in order to optimise learning and ultimately, performance! This short course will outline strategies for teaching and coaching with both long- and short-term goals in mind. These strategies have been adapted for the voice from motor learning theory and the Alexander Technique.
Tuesday 13th January 2026
2:00 PM - 4:00 PM
(London Time)
Vocal Health in Children and Young People
Olivia Sparkhall
Children’s vocal health, and issues affecting their wellbeing, is a subject which is now benefiting from increased scrutiny and research. Teachers, vocal coaches, choir leaders and musical directors are aware that this field of study exists, but where is all of this information condensed into one session that covers what they need to know? This short course is designed to provide you with exactly that – an up-to-date overview of the issues and how you can help the young people you work with, answering their questions with age-appropriate vocabulary.