The Science of Sound: Optimizing Vocal Acoustics for Contemporary Styles!
Tuesday 4th November 2025, 3:00 PM - 5:00 PM (London Time)
Course Description:
This course explores the scientific principles underpinning vocal production, acoustics, and the care of the singing voice, drawing from both foundational texts and contemporary research. Students will engage deeply with concepts from Titze’s Principles of Voice Production and Bozeman’s Practical Vocal Acoustics, including the nature of sound, pressure waveforms, harmonics, formants, and the spectral envelope. Emphasis is placed on understanding both linear and non-linear source-filter models, highlighting how the glottis produces sound and how the vocal tract selectively reinforces harmonics to enhance vocal power, timbre, and efficiency.
Through analysis of pitch, timbre, spectral slope, and inertive reactance, students will learn how these principles apply to varied vocal styles, from classical operatic singing to theater belting. The course also integrates pedagogic applications, offering strategies for body alignment, breath management, onset, laryngeal posture, vowel tuning, and vocal coordination, emphasizing sustainable and expressive performance.
Practical applications include formant tuning for different voice types, exploration of source-filter interactions, and understanding how acoustic properties of the vocal tract influence vocal fold vibration. By connecting acoustical theory to performance and pedagogy, students will gain the tools to make informed, efficient, and artistically nuanced choices for their own singing and for guiding others in vocal instruction.
Dr Ana Flavia Zuim
Dr. Ana Flavia Zuim is a voice scientist and musical director whose research in vocal dosimetry has earned recognition from CBS and awards including the Van L. Lawrence Fellowship and the NYU Steinhardt Fellowship. With experience directing and performing in over 70 musical theater productions, she has been recognized for her work as a pianist, conductor, and musical director.Her research bridges the art and science of voice, informing both performance practice and clinical applications. This expertise has also made her a sought-after expert witness in forensic voice analysis.
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.
Tuesday 3rd March 2026
5:00 PM - 7:00 PM
(London Time)
Sex differences in VOICE!
Dr Richard Lissemore
This two-hour workshop, led by performer, articulatory phoneticist, and voice physiologist, Dr. Richard Lissemore, will examine in detail the role that biological sex plays in the perception and pedagogy of singing voices. We'll consider how parameters such as anatomy, physiology, articulation, resonance, and radiated acoustics influence the perceptions and pedagogical decision-making of singing teachers.
Wednesday 4th March 2026
1:00 PM - 2:00 PM
Wednesday 11th March 2026
1:00 PM - 2:00 PM
Wednesday 18th March 2026
1:00 PM - 2:00 PM
Wednesday 25th March 2026
1:00 PM - 2:00 PM
Wednesday 1st April 2026
1:00 PM - 2:00 PM
Wednesday 8th April 2026
1:00 PM - 2:00 PM
(London Time)
Learn to Coach RP and SSBE – a Certificate in Accent Coaching
Louisa Morgan
This six-week course is an opportunity to learn about both Received Pronunciation and Standard Southern British English. Rather than a course in learning how to speak RP/SSBE (there are many brilliant available courses for this already), this course is about learning how to coach it.
Thursday 5th March 2026
1:00 PM - 2:30 PM
Thursday 12th March 2026
1:00 PM - 2:30 PM
(London Time)
Acting Emotion: Perspectives from the Masters
Louisa Morgan
Stanislavski said, “our artistic emotions are, at first, as shy as wild animals and they hide in the depths of our souls.” Michael Chekhov said, our bodies should be like a “sensitive membrane, a kind of receiver and conveyor of the subtlest images, feelings, emotions and will impulses.” And Meisner said we should be “living truthfully under imaginary circumstances.” Join Louisa Morgan in this 2-part course as she explores a range of well-known acting practitioners to investigate what they believed (or believe) about emotion and how they approached it in their work. She'll compare their work to see where they align and where they diverge.