Performing Pain: Vocal Health in Emotional Roles!
Thursday 19th February 2026, 1:00 PM - 2:30 PM (London Time)
Thursday 26th February 2026, 1:00 PM - 2:30 PM (London Time)
What is the link between acted emotion and vocal health in speech and singing?
How connected are acted emotions to our real-life emotions? Are they expressed differently? Do they feel different in the body? The intensity of internalised emotion can be a worry for some performers. In real emotion, sympathetic arousal can increase cardiovascular circulation (the sensation of the heart racing), impact respiration (short, shallow breaths) and increase muscular activity as a preparation to flee, brace, or fight (which can cause pitch to rise, vocal folds to become pressed, and the jaw to become locked). What happens when we experience this while singing or speaking for performance? Are there times when performed emotion can start to present physiologically as real emotion?
This 2-part course looks at the potential impact of acted emotion on vocal health, why we should consider it as voice practitioners, and how to care for our performers needing to work with it.
Who is it for?
This course is for voice practitioners (speech or singing) who work with performers needing to use acted emotion. The focus will primarily surround negative emotion in the acting voice and the musical theatre voice.
Session 1: What happens in the body when we experience real and acted emotion?
We will explore the physiological responses to real life emotion and look at research that has compared this to acted emotion. We will discuss the boundaries between real and acted emotion and discuss how this plays out in our work.
Session 2: How to prepare for it
In the second session we will move to focusing on practical strategies for preparing for emotional work from a vocal health (rather than performative) perspective and how to care for the voice when heightened emotional performance causes difficulties.
🏷️ Price £50 (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
Louisa Morgan
Louisa Morgan is a lecturer, voice teacher and researcher, with a special focus on spoken and sung emotion. Louisa lectures with Voice Study Centre (spoken voice lead). Previously, Louisa taught technical singing for the MA/MFA Musical Theatre students at the Guilford School of Acting (GSA) and Italia Conti, and she was also a spoken and singing voice coach for the Acting students at the Cygnet Training Theatre.
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.
Tuesday 18th August 2026
3:00 PM - 5:00 PM
Tuesday 25th August 2026
3:00 PM - 5:00 PM
Tuesday 1st September 2026
3:00 PM - 5:00 PM
Tuesday 8th September 2026
3:00 PM - 5:00 PM
Tuesday 15th September 2026
3:00 PM - 5:00 PM
Tuesday 22nd September 2026
3:00 PM - 5:00 PM
(London Time)
Musical Theatre Vocal Pedagogy Certificate
Kevin Wilson
Join Kevin Wilson for this six-part certificated course, offering an in‑depth, practical exploration of contemporary voice teaching for musical theatre. Across six focused classes, participants develop a systematic approach to vocal technique, diagnosis, and repertoire selection that reflects the stylistic, physical, and emotional demands of the genre. The curriculum integrates vocal science, embodied voice work, registration theory, and stylistic awareness across the five major sub‑genres of musical theatre.
Thursday 20th August 2026
5:00 PM - 7:00 PM
(London Time)
AI Assisted Voice Training and Business Development
John Henny
Join John Henny as he builds on the foundations of AI for voice educators by focusing on practical applications for running and growing a teaching studio. Designed specifically for voice teachers, the session shows how AI can support studio operations, content creation, research, and business development, with one foundational skill at its core: training AI in your own teaching voice, pedagogy, and communication style.
Wednesday 26th August 2026
5:00 PM - 7:00 PM
(London Time)
The Vocal Tract and Singing: A Research Overview!
Dr Brad Story
Fine control of the vocal tract shape is important for producing acoustic characteristics that may be targeted in singing. Join Dr Brad Story as he focuses on how the vocal tract shape can be tuned (i.e. modified) in both large and subtle ways to enhance the signal radiated from a singer to an audience. The session will include the vocal tract shape contributions to the ‘singing formant’, enhancement of vibrato, and harmonic/formant alignment.