The Empathetic Voice Teacher
Tuesday 23rd January 2024, 11:00 AM - 12:00 PM (London Time)
Studies show that empathic voice teachers generate more successful singers. This is unsurprising as empathy is considered to be one of the most important emotional characteristics among teachers as it enables successful communication and connection with students. For voice teachers specifically, empathy is further considered essential for training students both physically and psychologically.
But how exactly do we demonstrate empathy in voice teaching?
Join Dr Heather Fletcher (The University of Melbourne) and Dr Amanda E. Krause (James Cook University) as they delve into the impact empathy has on voice teaching practices. In this session, you will learn how fostering empathy in one-to-one lessons can facilitate the voice teacher’s ability to:
- listen and communicate effectively;
- generate positive, moral, caring, and trustworthy relationships;
- support a student’s ability to cope in the performing arts industry; and
- assist in diagnosing vocal issues in students.
They will further draw on their research on expert voice teachers to discuss how successful empathic teaching facilitates student success. You will learn how to integrate these aspects into your own pedagogy and consider how such skills might benefit your teaching, your studio, and your students.
Dr Heather Fletcher
Dr Heather Fletcher is a lecturer and voice teacher at The University of Melbourne. Her PhD in music psychology focused on the practices of expert voice teachers in Australia and her research has been disseminated in both academic journals and conferences worldwide.
Dr Amanda E. Krause
Dr Amanda E. Krause is a Lecturer (Psychology) in the College of Healthcare Sciences at James Cook University (Queensland, Australia). She also currently serves as President of the Australian Music & Psychology Society.
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 2nd December 2025
2:00 PM - 4:00 PM
(London Time)
Vocal Health, Well-being and Hindustani Classical Music
Dr Sunny Sandhu
Join Dr Sunny Sandhu for a 2-hour course that introduces participants to the ancient practice of kharaj exercises in the Dhrupad tradition, focusing on the deep and resonant lower octave of the voice. Through guided breathing, slow tonal exploration, and sustained notes, students will learn techniques that strengthen the vocal cords, expand range, and develop clarity and stability in sound production!
Thursday 4th December 2025
5:00 PM - 7:00 PM
(London Time)
(R)evolutionary Voice Training: harnessing human instinct to accelerate vocal transformation!
Maddie Tarbox
Human beings and our vertebrate ancestors have been communicating via vocalization for millions of years – those sounds did not start as complex language, but as animal mimicry, acoustic cuing, and emotional primal sounds. Join Maddie Tarbox for this two hour session as she unpicks the repertoire of instinctive shortcuts that can lower cognitive load and accelerate vocal change!
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.