Money Notes for Days: Sustainable Singing for Popular Styles
Thursday 28th March 2024, 5:00 PM - 7:00 PM (London Time)
It’s a fact that most university training for singers is in the acoustic, Western classical genres. It’s also a fact that most clients and students of independent voice instructors want training in popular styles and contemporary music theatre. The obvious outcome of this disconnect is that most voice teachers and coaches are ill-equipped to meet the needs of their clients.
Understanding how to be an effective coach for singers of popular musics requires more than just a few handy exercises. Being an effective coach means understanding why you’re not a teacher, what your client’s assumptions are around the coaching process, and which tools they need to navigate the world of amplified music.
Your brain sings before you do. It also turns sound waves into hearing. When voice coaches know how to work with the way people are 'wired', they can stop guessing, and feel empowered in their abilities to help their clients.
In this workshop, you’ll begin to train your ears to what you’ve been missing in popular styles. We’ll identify the 'it' factor, and learn how it can be the magic to sustainable high, rock 'belt'; the sound singers of contemporary music theatre, R&B, indie, rock and jazz, and your singer-songwriters nearly all want to achieve.
We’re going to look at two concepts, both the 'why' and the 'how'. You’ll also find out about a single word you may be using that could be holding your students back! You’ll get to watch your own brain in action, and you’ll leave with powerful tools to apply to your teaching.
Meredith Colby
Author, teacher, coach and speaker Meredith Colby is the author of Money Notes: How to Sing High, Loud, Healthy, and Forever, and the creator of Neuro-Vocal, an approach to singing for popular styles based on neuroscience.
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.
Tuesday 9th December 2025
5:00 PM - 7:00 PM
(London Time)
Low Male Voices (LMVs): Development, Technique, and Repertoire
Dr Dann Mitton
Join Dr Dann Mitton for this two hour workshop where he explores the Development, Techniques, and Repertoire favoured for Low Male Voices (LMVs). Typically labelled as 'Bass' and 'Baritone', these classifications are used in classical music, choral settings, and vocal pedagogy to help determine suitable repertoire and vocal roles. In contemporary music, the distinctions are less rigid but still useful for understanding vocal range and timbre.
Thursday 11th December 2025
8:00 AM - 10:00 AM
(London Time)
Picking Up Good Vibrations: Pedagogical and Clinical Voice Analysis!
Dr Calvin Baker
Voice teachers and clinicians strongly rely on auditory perceptual modes of voice evaluation. These are considered the gold standard for assessing voice quality and training effects (e.g., a singer’s progress from lesson to lesson or across voice therapy). Join Dr Calvin Baker as he explores techniques for instrumentally analysing the singing voice. Specific considerations for the challenges of obtaining reliable, robust, and comparable data will be presented, and practical recommendations for recording and analysing the singing voice in pedagogical and clinical contexts will be made.
Thursday 11th December 2025
5:00 PM - 7:00 PM
(London Time)
The Pedagogy of Vibrato: Integrating Science and Studio Practice
Dr Justin John Moniz
Vibrato is more than just a shimmer in the sound—it’s one of the voice’s most powerful tools for artistry and expression. In this dynamic course, Justin John Moniz—Associate Director of Vocal Performance and Coordinator of Vocal Pedagogy at NYU Steinhardt, and Associate Editor of the Journal of Singing—pulls back the curtain on vibrato, blending history, science, and studio know-how into an engaging exploration for singers and teachers alike.