Pop Pedagogy
Monday 17th February 2025, 5:00 PM - 7:00 PM (London Time)
As the ‘newest’ of the singing styles to be taught in music institutions and private studios, the pedagogy for teaching popular singing is still in its early stages relative to other styles of singing, particularly classical singing. However, pop pedagogy has been developing steadily since the year 2000 when the author was part of the team that developed and delivered one of the very first degrees in Popular Music in the UK. Since then, pop music courses have proliferated worldwide.
We also live in a time when some successful pop stars are celebrating career lengths of over sixty years, having been around since the 1950s when pop music emerged and diversified from jazz, so pop singing has been in existence sufficiently long now that, for teaching purposes, we can observe and analyse what type of approach serves it best, in and of itself.
Whilst contemporary singing certainly shares many areas with other styles of singing, the specifics are distinctive and “non-generic”, thereby requiring a certain level of specialised knowledge, training, experience, and competence to perform it authentically. This course will deliver an overview of the requirements for teaching contemporary singers, presented under three main headings: Technique, Musicianship and Interpretation.
To further fill out the content for each category, the author has reverse engineered what pop singers need to be able to do and know about to be effective in the music industry, so it’s based on observations from her many years of high-level performing, teaching experience and post-graduate studies. These findings have been published in book form and summarised as a curriculum poster.
Kim Chandler
Kim Chandler (MMus BMusEd) is a renowned contemporary vocal coach & session singer. She runs a busy private studio in Marbella, Spain, where she coaches an elite clientele of stadium band singers, including BRIT award winners & GRAMMY nominees, artists from a range of genres, professional singers and vocal coaches online.
Attend this course for as little as £22 as part of the Voice Professional Training CPD Award Scheme.
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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.
Friday 12th June 2026
3:00 PM - 5:00 PM
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Dr David Cane
The benefits of group singing are well documented and well known. Singing together can foster a sense of social connection and community as well enhancing wellbeing and mood. However, group singing is not only a shared cultural and artistic experience, but can also be a powerful site of learning. While many of the developments in voice pedagogy have tended to centre around the one-to-one model of teaching, this course with Dr David Cane explores the pedagogical (and potentially the political) potential of teaching and learning to sing collectively.
Monday 15th June 2026
1:00 PM - 2:30 PM
Tuesday 16th June 2026
1:00 PM - 2:30 PM
Wednesday 17th June 2026
1:00 PM - 2:30 PM
Thursday 18th June 2026
1:00 PM - 2:30 PM
Friday 19th June 2026
1:00 PM - 2:30 PM
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Debbie Winter
Hosted by our very own Director of Studies (Debbie Winter), join our comprehensive Introduction to Academic Skills course, designed to equip you with essential tools and strategies for success in higher education. Perfect for bridging the gap between undergraduate and postgraduate study, this course offers a pathway to our full MA for students without an existing degree. We offer both live, interactive sessions and standalone, pre-recorded content.
Thursday 18th June 2026
9:00 PM - 11:00 PM
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Dr Mark Seton
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