Short Courses & Events / Archive

Inhalation hazards and the performing vocalist

Tuesday 10th December 2024, 5:00 PM - 7:00 PM (London Time)

Vocal production requires inhalation.  But in some performance venues there are chemicals in the air we inhale.   Examples include the glycols, glycerine or mineral oil mists in special effects such as haze, fog and smoke.  There also is combustion smoke and metal fumes from pyrotechnics, bullet hits (squibs), fire bars and cold spark gerbs.  Or there are particles from dust effects, artificial snow, and Holi powders.

While we rarely have to deal with tobacco smoke anymore, there is marijuana and vaping smoke in many locations.  In fact, some new information on the hazards of haze fog and smoke chemicals are from studies of vaping since the same chemicals are used in both.

Then there are air pollutants in the dressing and make up rooms including from hair sprays, from powders including talc, from air brush makeups, solvents from lotions, and more.

Next, there are air pollutants from some of the venues themselves. Old buildings may contain lead paint, asbestos sources, or mould.  New buildings often contain plastic and resin materials and polymer paints that off-gas chemicals.  The ventilation systems in both old and new venues are often less than helpful.

And we can’t ignore the airborne particles that spread infectious diseases which are changing the way we plan events, design ventilation systems, and select air purifiers.

In this course we will look at the respiratory system as a structure that is potentially vulnerable to many types of air pollutants. We will cover the physics needed to understand how particles, gases, and vapours behave in the air. We will review some of the studies of the chemicals encountered in performance venues and view short videos showing typical exposures.  Lastly, we will cover strategies to protect ourselves and our voices both on and off the job.

🏷️ 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

Monona Rossol

Monona Rossol was born into a Vaudeville family, began working as a professional entertainer at age three, and continues to perform occasionally to this day.  She has a BS in Chemistry with a minor in Math, an MS and MFA with majors in art and a minor in music. 

CPD Course Logo

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

Learn More

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.

Learn to Coach RP and SSBE – a Certificate in Accent Coaching
Wednesday 4th March 2026
1:00 PM - 2:00 PM
Wednesday 11th March 2026
1:00 PM - 2:00 PM
Wednesday 18th March 2026
1:00 PM - 2:00 PM
Wednesday 25th March 2026
1:00 PM - 2:00 PM
Wednesday 1st April 2026
1:00 PM - 2:00 PM
Wednesday 8th April 2026
1:00 PM - 2:00 PM
(London Time)

Learn to Coach RP and SSBE – a Certificate in Accent Coaching

Louisa Morgan

This six-week course is an opportunity to learn about both Received Pronunciation and Standard Southern British English. Rather than a course in learning how to speak RP/SSBE (there are many brilliant available courses for this already), this course is about learning how to coach it.

Acting Emotion: Perspectives from the Masters
Thursday 5th March 2026
1:00 PM - 2:30 PM
Thursday 12th March 2026
1:00 PM - 2:30 PM
(London Time)

Acting Emotion: Perspectives from the Masters

Louisa Morgan

Stanislavski said, “our artistic emotions are, at first, as shy as wild animals and they hide in the depths of our souls.” Michael Chekhov said, our bodies should be like a “sensitive membrane, a kind of receiver and conveyor of the subtlest images, feelings, emotions and will impulses.” And Meisner said we should be “living truthfully under imaginary circumstances.” Join Louisa Morgan in this 2-part course as she explores a range of well-known acting practitioners to investigate what they believed (or believe) about emotion and how they approached it in their work. She'll compare their work to see where they align and where they diverge.

The Use of Vibrato in Belt and Legit Styles of Singing in Professional Female Musical Theatre Performers
Tuesday 17th March 2026
5:00 PM - 7:00 PM
(London Time)

The Use of Vibrato in Belt and Legit Styles of Singing in Professional Female Musical Theatre Performers

Dr. Alyssa Becker

Shaped by the popular music of its time, musical theatre blends storytelling with an ever-evolving range of vocal styles—from classical legit singing to jazz, hip-hop, and powerhouse belting. Despite its importance, much of what we understand about vibrato comes from laboratory-based studies that strip singing of its musical, stylistic, and performance context. Join Dr Alyssa Becker as she connects current research with real-world pedagogy, revealing how elite musical theatre performers strategically use vibrato to shape style and storytelling, and showing how these insights can be applied in the voice studio to train stylistic flexibility and control!