Establishing a Jazz Voice Curriculum
Tuesday 21st October 2025, 5:00 PM - 7:00 PM (London Time)
As the jazz voice major represents a relatively new program of comprehensive singing study in higher education it most often absorbs the course requirements of other related majors with which it is grouped. Does it belong in the jazz major with “voice” as the primary instrument, aligning with the curriculum and graduation criteria that are the same as those of instrumental jazz majors? Or should it align more with the department of voice, although it represents a non-classical genre? Or perhaps it fits best in a generalized commercial music major alongside rock, folk, gospel, metal, hip-hop, R&B, alternative, and popular styles?
Since there are many ways today’s institutions of higher learning have structured programs for jazz singers, this discussion is important for advancing this program of study while meeting the genuine needs of enrolled students. This course will reach across a multitude of program requirements in three academic contexts: grouping jazz singers with jazz instrumental majors; grouping jazz singers with voice majors; and grouping jazz singers with commercial music majors. The merits and challenges of each context will be examined and core curricular work integral to the jazz singer (regardless of academic context), as well as electives, will be recommended. These considerations yield important ramifications and a wide spectrum of variation depending on whether the student is instructed at an institution that views and categorizes jazz voice as an extension of the jazz program, the voice program, or the commercial music program. This course seeks to unify the core curricular requirements for jazz voice majors across all three academic contexts in order to better meet their needs.
Dr. Tish Oney tackles this topic with the authority of one who has pioneered the way for student jazz singers while teaching in jazz departments, classical voice departments, and commercial music departments. Dr. Oney presents a curriculum model that is adaptable to many structures of organization of the jazz voice major within schools of music, conservatories, classical voice departments, commercial voice departments, jazz departments, liberal arts programs having a jazz voice concentration, and the like. She provides practical guidance for structuring (or restructuring) the curricular requirements for the jazz voice major in order to address the practical and academic needs of every working jazz singer.
🏷️ 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
Dr Tish Oney
Internationally touring jazz singer Dr. Tish Oney has sung as soloist with Detroit Symphony, Williamsburg Symphony, Symphoria, Rochester Philharmonic, Aiken Symphony, Spartanburg Philharmonic, North Carolina Baroque Orchestra, U.S. Army Jazz Ambassadors, Army Blues, and Army Voices. Oney tours as a Blujazz recording artist with five albums to her credit. Oney’s vast experience as a jazz singer / recording artist while teaching thousands of students in multi-genre singing at USC, SU, and USC Upstate, among other institutions, led to her authoring the critically acclaimed, definitive guide to teaching jazz voice: Jazz Singing: A Guide to Pedagogy and Performance (Bloomsbury, 2022) which has been lauded by The Journal of Singing and professional singers worldwide.
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 2nd December 2025
2:00 PM - 4:00 PM
(London Time)
Vocal Health, Well-being and Hindustani Classical Music
Dr Sunny Sandhu
Join Dr Sunny Sandhu for a 2-hour course that introduces participants to the ancient practice of kharaj exercises in the Dhrupad tradition, focusing on the deep and resonant lower octave of the voice. Through guided breathing, slow tonal exploration, and sustained notes, students will learn techniques that strengthen the vocal cords, expand range, and develop clarity and stability in sound production!
Thursday 4th December 2025
5:00 PM - 7:00 PM
(London Time)
(R)evolutionary Voice Training: harnessing human instinct to accelerate vocal transformation!
Maddie Tarbox
Human beings and our vertebrate ancestors have been communicating via vocalization for millions of years – those sounds did not start as complex language, but as animal mimicry, acoustic cuing, and emotional primal sounds. Join Maddie Tarbox for this two hour session as she unpicks the repertoire of instinctive shortcuts that can lower cognitive load and accelerate vocal change!
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.