Short Courses & Events / Archive

Psychological Influences on Voice Production: An Exploration of Emotional and Cognitive Processes

Tuesday 3rd September 2024, 5:00 PM - 7:00 PM (London Time)

Voice Production is a complicated balance within the systems of respiration, phonation, resonation, and articulation.  What we know about this balance can help create training and rehabilitation strategies in the voice studio and voice clinic.  However, beyond these physiological factors, deeper psychological factors influence voice production and without a solid understanding of the psychosocial influences on voice production, even the best training tools can be rendered insufficient. 

This workshop will cover the major psychological domains of emotion and cognition and how these domains interact with the physiological systems of voicing and speech.

The workshop will include a brief introduction to the domains of attention, working memory, self-regulation, interoception, effort, threat sensitivity, and reward seeking behaviours, providing solid theoretical foundations of each domain and how these domains interact with the systems of voice and speech.

Following theoretical instruction, the workshop will present how research investigates each domain, how specific research paradigms in the psychological sciences are modified to address the unique neurological underpinnings of motor behaviour in voice and speech, and why modifications are necessary.

Following a discussion on the research into each domain, the workshop will discuss how research findings can be applied to pedagogical and clinical practice.

Lastly, the workshop will discuss how these basic psychological domains contribute to higher level psychological processes such as the sense of self (including impression management), confidence, performance anxiety, and practice behaviours.

This workshop will include didactic presentations and topic directed discussions.

🏷️ Price £30 (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

Miriam van Mersbergen

Miriam van Mersbergen is an Associate Professor in the School of Communication Sciences and Disorders at the University of Memphis where she teaches Anatomy & Physiology of the Speech Mechanism, Voice Disorders, Advanced Clinical Instrumentation for Voice, and Dysphagia.

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Attend this course for as little as £22 as part of the Voice Professional Training CPD Award Scheme.

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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.

Trauma-Sensitive Voice Professional Certificate with Dr Elisa Monti
Thursday 15th January 2026
5:00 PM - 7:00 PM
Thursday 22nd January 2026
5:00 PM - 7:00 PM
Thursday 29th January 2026
5:00 PM - 7:00 PM
Thursday 5th February 2026
5:00 PM - 7:00 PM
Thursday 12th February 2026
5:00 PM - 7:00 PM
(London Time)

Trauma-Sensitive Voice Professional Certificate with Dr Elisa Monti

Dr Elisa Monti

Updated for 2026, this five-part certificate course is designed to help participants learn the theory and practice of trauma-sensitive approaches. The concepts and activities included are tailored to meet the needs of voice specialists who want to acquire more specific tools to navigate the space with their students and colleagues.

Simultaneous Singing and Dancing in Musical Theatre: A Cross-Disciplinary Evidence Review
Tuesday 17th February 2026
10:00 AM - 12:00 PM
(London Time)

Simultaneous Singing and Dancing in Musical Theatre: A Cross-Disciplinary Evidence Review

Debbie Winter

This short course invites participants to critically examine the latest cross-disciplinary evidence on the physical and vocal demands of musical theatre performance. Drawing on a comprehensive literature review conducted by Debbie Winter and Claire Thomas (Voice Study Centre, University of Essex), the course explores research from voice science, dance medicine, sports science, and performance pedagogy.

It’s not a virus! Reconceptualizing and De-pathologizing Music Performance Anxiety
Thursday 19th February 2026
8:30 AM - 10:30 AM
(London Time)

It’s not a virus! Reconceptualizing and De-pathologizing Music Performance Anxiety

Rebecca Herman

Performance Anxiety is one of the most widespread and debilitating challenges facing musicians across all ages, nationalities and musical genres. Despite decades of research and the development of numerous interventions, we do not yet have an established way of supporting performers experiencing performance anxiety. Aimed at performers, teachers, researchers and students, this presentation will first summarise the current state of play in performance anxiety research, before exploring alternative ways to think about performance anxiety, drawing on new research outside of performance psychology...