Short Courses & Events / Archive

It’s Personal: How Personality Impacts Perception and Symptoms of Voice Problems

Thursday 10th April 2025, 5:00 PM - 6:00 PM (London Time)

For over 25 years, researchers have investigated the intersection of personality traits and voice disorders, uncovering a predictive relationship between a person’s personality and their likelihood of experiencing certain voice issues. For instance, extraverts, who are naturally more talkative, often face problems like inflammation or nodules due to high vocal use. However, recent research aims to dig deeper, exploring whether there's more to this story than just "extraverts talk a lot, so they have voice problems."

This course takes you on an intriguing journey into the relationship between personality traits and voice fatigue, shedding light on how specific personality characteristics can predict the likelihood of experiencing voice disorders. Students will dive into cutting-edge research examining the correlation between the Big Five Personality traits—Extraversion, Agreeableness, Conscientiousness, Neuroticism, and Openness—and various voice conditions.

Throughout the course, learners will gain a comprehensive understanding of how personality traits, especially extraversion, are linked to voice problems such as inflammation and nodules. They will explore current perspectives on personality science and the behaviours that underlie voice problems, providing a deeper insight into this complex relationship.

Join us to uncover the nuances of how our personalities can influence our vocal health and discover the latest findings that could revolutionize the way we understand and manage voice disorders.

🏷️ Price £20 (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

Lynn Maxfield

Lynn Maxfield is the director of the Utah Center for Vocology at the University of Utah where, in addition to research activities, he coordinates and teaches at the Summer Vocology Institute.

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.

Sex differences in VOICE!
Tuesday 3rd March 2026
5:00 PM - 7:00 PM
(London Time)

Sex differences in VOICE!

Dr Richard Lissemore

This two-hour workshop, led by performer, articulatory phoneticist, and voice physiologist, Dr. Richard Lissemore, will examine in detail the role that biological sex plays in the perception and pedagogy of singing voices. We'll consider how parameters such as anatomy, physiology, articulation, resonance, and radiated acoustics influence the perceptions and pedagogical decision-making of singing teachers.

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.