Short Courses & Events / Archive

Getting Down to Business: Exploring Business Structures that Provide Creative Flow

Tuesday 25th February 2025, 5:00 PM - 7:00 PM (London Time)

Many singers begin teaching voice lessons early in their careers, even while completing their own studies. After all, you’ve taken voice lessons with your own teacher(s) for years and you already have a pretty good idea of how to teach functional warmups, vocalizes, and basic repertoire in various styles. It is tempting to simply announce yourself as a voice teacher and begin accepting voice students—anyone who wants to learn to sing better. Unlike other fields of study, no license, apprenticeship, certificates, degrees, or minimum requirements are needed to establish yourself as an independent “professional” voice teacher. That means that anyone can teach singing. And they do. Your goal is to stand out from the crowds (and TikTok influencers) and build your studio or creative business with knowledge, integrity, intention, and business acumen.

Some new voice teachers invest time and resources into exploring independent voice teaching business models before they begin accepting students. Others dive in and begin teaching, figuring it out as they go—learning from their mistakes and successes. Many, however, find themselves overwhelmed with the realities of founding and running an actual business. The truth is that unless your creative business or other income streams are sustainable, it will affect your ability to maintain your art and performance, as well as the quality of your life.

In this brief workshop, we’ll explore some strategies for planning, structuring, building, and growing your creative business, beginning with Who/What/Where/How and most importantly Why you wish to become a voice teacher or other creative business owner. We’ll touch on Basics of Business including banking, taxes, policies, procedures, onboarding (and offboarding) clients. (Yes, you are a service-based business, and your students are clients whether you refer to them that way or not.) We’ll highlight a few different business models and payment structures.

Once you’ve established your business, your potential voice students must have a way to find you. We’ll discuss networking, word of mouth, social media, blogs, client-facing websites, and other ways to create visibility and credibility for your studio. We’ll explore high tech and low-tech resources for studio management, scheduling, client databases, invoicing, accepting payments, do-it-yourself admin and when to hire virtual or onsite assistants.

When your business is sustainable, you can spend more time on your art, family and friends, hobbies, travel, and life interests.

🏷️ 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

Cynthia Vaughn

Cynthia Vaughn is a respected teacher/clinician, author, and performer with over forty years of experience, currently based in Norfolk, Virginia, USA. She taught at universities (Colorado State University, Cedarville College) for a decade, and founded and directed a multi-teacher studio for fourteen years.

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Attend this course for as little as £22 as part of the Voice Professional Training CPD Award Scheme.

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Sorry, 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.

Certificate in Acting Approaches for Singing Teachers
Tuesday 5th August 2025
1:00 PM - 12:00 PM
Tuesday 12th August 2025
1:00 PM - 2:00 PM
Tuesday 19th August 2025
1:00 PM - 2:00 PM
Tuesday 26th August 2025
1:00 PM - 12:00 PM
Tuesday 2nd September 2025
1:00 PM - 1:00 PM
Tuesday 9th September 2025
1:00 PM - 2:00 PM
Tuesday 16th September 2025
1:00 PM - 2:00 PM
Tuesday 23rd September 2025
1:00 PM - 2:00 PM
(London Time)

Certificate in Acting Approaches for Singing Teachers

Louisa Morgan

Are you a singing teacher looking to elevate your students’ performances? Join our very own Louisa Morgan, as she takes a deeper dive into acting approaches that singing teachers can use to integrate powerful acting techniques into singing lessons. This 8 session course is perfect for those who want to help their singers connect deeply with the story behind the song. Gain practical tools and techniques that you can immediately apply in your teaching! Come along live for an interactive experience, or watch on playback at your leisure.

The Cannabis Question: What Voice Practitioners Need to Know!
Thursday 18th September 2025
5:00 PM - 7:00 PM
(London Time)

The Cannabis Question: What Voice Practitioners Need to Know!

Dr Dann Mitton

As cannabis use has become more common, socially accepted, and legalized, voice professionals are increasingly fielding questions about its effects. This two-hour session with Dr Dann Mitton offers a clear, research-informed overview of what we currently know about cannabis and the singing voice. The session is built around real-world questions voice teachers and singers are asking: Does smoking cannabis dry out the vocal folds? Is vaping safer than smoking? What should I know if my student uses cannabis for anxiety or pain? Could some voice types be more at risk than others?

How to Put the Perceptible Breath at a Singer's Disposal
Tuesday 23rd September 2025
2:00 PM - 4:00 PM
(London Time)

How to Put the Perceptible Breath at a Singer's Disposal

Tanya Aspelmeier

Join the renowned Tanya Aspelmeier in this breath-related workshop specifically designed for the singer and singing teachers. Participants will learn exercises based on Professor Ilse Middendorf's therapeutic breathing method "The Perceptible Breath". This somatic discipline trains a person’s skills of perception to learn about their individual breath, body and nervous system and how they can regulate it by harnessing their own mental powers.