Jazz Vocals – The Key Elements
Tuesday 19th March 2024, 12:00 PM - 2:00 PM (London Time)
Over this short course, we will discuss the key qualities that a singing student needs if they wish to delve deeper into singing jazz/improvised music. Although there are many things that go into becoming a jazz singer, the three things we will talk about first are:
1. Sense of time – does the singer feel swing time? Do they understand the importance of 2 and 4 in the bar? Do they embrace the idea of having complete artistic control over their phrasing – are they taking enough risks with time? How do we study phrasing when we are supposed to be ‘in the moment’ with jazz? Claire will demonstrate early and late phrasing and also discuss the more ‘speech quality’ singing that is used a lot by jazz singers. How to be more conversational with the lyric is also something we will explore.
2. Sense of harmony – does the singer understand basic harmony? Do they have any ear for intervals, chord types (jazz often adds sevenths or flat 5ths) and some understanding of a piano keyboard? For a singer to be able to make note substitutions they need to trust what will fit the chord and harmony. We will look at good ways of adding 9ths and flat 5ths into a warm-up scale to start ‘hearing’ these notes.
3. Vocal tone and placement – jazz suits chest voice or ‘thick folds’. Head voice is usually only used for colour or when scat singing. We will discuss vocal range, tone colours, what works best to serve the lyric, how to help a student get more tone from lower larynx position and how to find the right keys for standard repertoire. We can also touch on accent, and how one can create a believable and authentic ‘mid-Atlantic’ singing accent (if British) but also sound like themselves.
We will also expand on the importance of listening to the great singers of this genre, and Claire will give out her 'top 10 singers to study' list during this course!
Claire Martin OBE
Claire Martin OBE has established herself as a tour de force on the UK jazz scene, gaining many awards including winning the British Jazz Awards eight times during her career which spans over three decades. In 2018, she was the proud recipient of the BASCA Gold Badge Award for her contribution to jazz.
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.
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.
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!
Wednesday 18th March 2026
5:00 PM - 7:00 PM
(London Time)
Facilitating Jaw Release Through Improved Habits of Stance and Alignment
Ruth Williams Hennessy
Are you a singer or speaker struggling with stubborn jaw tension that just won't quit? Even with elite training, the "stuck" jaw is often a symptom of a surprising culprit: your feet! Join Ruth Hennessy in this interactive workshop where she bridges the gap between podiatry and phonation, moving beyond "temporary fixes" to address the physical misalignments that bottleneck your performance.