The Neuroscience of Stammering
Tuesday 27th August 2024, 5:00 PM - 7:00 PM (London Time)
This lecture will provide brief revision of neuroscience generally, and use this knowledge to develop an understanding of why we stammer.
Michel will demystify neuroscience and take you beyond merely looking at colourful blobs and brainwaves. While the colourful blobs will certainly be there, much of the lecture will focus on understanding what they mean, and more importantly what they mean for brains that stammer and the people who have them.
Stammering is heritable, some people just have brains that work that way. When they speak sometimes they speak with hesitations, prolongations, or repetitions that they cannot control. The fact that their brains work differently is an excellent opportunity for us to learn more about how the brain controls speech. Stammering even has a special relationship with singing: it’s hard to stammer when you sing. We can learn a lot by trying to understand why!
People who stammer sometimes find it inconvenient and they may try to reduce their stammering with speech therapy. Sometimes the therapies even work. However, much more often they find the way that people treat them because of their stammer is a bigger problem. There is growing discussion that they probably should not have to have speech therapy is they don’t want it. It may be a kinder society that simply accepts them as they are and accommodates stammering as a form of disability. We will discuss these contemporary social issues as well as their practical implications for the lives of people who stammer.
Dr Michel Belyk
Dr Michel Belyk is a Senior Lecturer in Psychology at Edge Hill University. He studies the human voice, all the things that it says, and how it is able to say them.
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.
Monday 6th January 2025
5:00 PM - 7:00 PM
Monday 13th January 2025
5:00 PM - 7:00 PM
Monday 20th January 2025
5:00 PM - 7:00 PM
(London Time)
Acceptance and Commitment Training (ACT) for Music Performance Anxiety (MPA) (3-week course)
Dr David Juncos
In this updated three-part course, you will learn how to detect symptoms of music performance anxiety (MPA) among your students/clients and whether those symptoms are problematic or not. You will also learn about Acceptance and Commitment Training (ACT), an evidence-based psychotherapy and coaching model that aims to promote mindfulness and acceptance of one’s MPA symptoms, while also enhancing performance skills by increasing actions consistent with a musician’s values.
Tuesday 7th January 2025
5:00 PM - 7:00 PM
(London Time)
Hormones and female voices: an overview across life span
Filipa M.B. Lã
This seminar provides an overview of how sex steroid hormones affect the morphology and function of the female voice across life span. Special emphasis will be given to menopause and aging and how associated changes may affect respiratory, phonatory and resonatory subsystems of the vocal apparatus and, consequently, voice quality and speech.
Wednesday 8th January 2025
11:00 AM - 12:30 PM
Wednesday 15th January 2025
11:00 AM - 12:30 PM
Wednesday 22nd January 2025
11:00 AM - 12:30 PM
(London Time)
The Acting Through Song Toolkit: a 3-part course
Louisa Morgan
Do you work with students who struggle to connect their acting skills with their singing skills? Are your students currently auditioning for professional work, drama schools or entering competitions? Perhaps you are a singing teacher needing to work on performance, but you don’t have a background in acting.