Short Courses & Events / Archive

If You Can Talk, You Can Sing

Tuesday 28th May 2024, 5:00 PM - 7:00 PM (London Time)

Frankie believes passionately that singing is our birthright. For thousands of years, our ancestors sang as naturally as they spoke. They sang to accompany everyday activities – at work, at play, at devotion and dance – and for their own pleasure. No one was excluded, so everyone’s skill and confidence developed naturally.

Some cultures do not even have a word for ‘singer’ as everyone sings, just as we do not have a word for ‘breather’! It’s only in the past couple of centuries that the notion that there are people who can’t or shouldn’t sing has come about, largely in white Western European culture. This elitist idea has impacted on millions of people, who have been told they are non-singers, have unacceptable voices or are ‘tone-deaf’. They have therefore never had the chance to experience the stepping stones that have traditionally encouraged people to sing - in the same way as they learned to talk. Hence they have been robbed of one of the essential forms of human expression.

To quote the Institute of Education, we now know 'music is hard-wired into us', and that it is criticism and judgment as a child that has robbed many people of their innate musicality. As voice practitioners and singing teachers, how can we help to unlock this innate capacity for those people?

Since 1975, Frankie has developed a teaching approach that provides stepping stones, with permission and encouragement, for people to explore confidence in their voices and self-belief in their musicality. She has used this in contexts including community groups, hospitals, theatre companies and schools, as well as at the National Theatre Studio, London, for over 20 years, and she has presented at international voice conferences in Europe, North America and Australia.

She uses the body and imagination to invite people to be curious and adventurous in exploring their voices in a non-judgemental atmosphere, without the need to "get it right”. The aim is to tap into the joy, strength and energy of singing with others, and to find a range of colour and expression in each of our voices.

🏷️ 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

Frankie Armstrong

Frankie Armstrong has has been singing professionally since 1964. In 1975, she began her pioneering voice workshops based on ethnic styles of singing, where singing is as natural as speaking.

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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.

Body Mapping: Integrating the Whole (three-part course)
Tuesday 12th November 2024
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Tuesday 19th November 2024
5:00 PM - 7:00 PM
Tuesday 3rd December 2024
5:00 PM - 7:00 PM
(London Time)

Body Mapping: Integrating the Whole (three-part course)

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During this workshop series, we will explore the 6 dynamic places of balance of Body Mapping. Through discussions, exercises, and stretches, we will discover how to recognize and release muscle tension, and correct and adjust our own body’s maps.

’Mal canto’ and the cultural politics of voice pedagogy: provocations from a critical disability studies (CDS) perspective
Thursday 14th November 2024
5:00 PM - 7:00 PM
(London Time)

’Mal canto’ and the cultural politics of voice pedagogy: provocations from a critical disability studies (CDS) perspective

David Cane

In this short course, I apply the insights of critical disability studies (CDS) to voice pedagogy and the academic discipline of voice studies, more broadly. I suggest that disability is highly relevant to our field in significant (and potentially surprising) ways!

Pedagogic Misconceptions and Their Correction
Thursday 21st November 2024
5:00 PM - 7:00 PM
(London Time)

Pedagogic Misconceptions and Their Correction

Ken Bozeman

Things are not always as they seem. Many fairly prevalent conceptions of vocal function and resultant studio directives are either inaccurate in part or in whole, misleading, and therefore in need of correction or at least significant qualification.