Short Courses & Events / Archive

Using Acoustic Registration to Train Range, Laryngeal Registration, and Passaggi

Friday 17th October 2025, 5:00 PM - 7:00 PM (London Time)

There are acoustic vocal registers as well as laryngeal registers. Acoustic registers correspond to the historic Italian categories translated by this author as: voce chiusa (close timbre), voce aperta (open timbre), and voce piena di testa (roughly equivalent to whoop timbre).  There are additional, lower levels of acoustic registration within open timbre.  The physical mechanism of acoustic registers is based on the relationship between the inherent harmonic set of the sung pitch and the first resonance of the vowel being sung.  Since first resonances lie from just below the bottom to the top of the treble clef and vary per vowel by as much as an octave, the locations of acoustic register transitions also vary per vowel by as much as an octave.  Fortunately, acoustic register locations and migrations are predictable by vowel and voice type.  Vowel tone color, auditory roughness (buzziness), and locational somatosense necessarily migrate across range, especially at acoustic register transitions. Knowledge and awareness of the timbral and somatosensory migrations of vowels at each acoustic register change is useful in training efficient range negotiation and forms a productive basis for strategies that address transitions through passaggi. Levels of registration that occur within open timbre lie in the bass clef and provide useful “training wheels” experiences at easier pitches for non-treble voices, preparing them for the more challenging, higher transitions from open (aperta) to close (chiusa) timbre that lie between the clefs. Clarifying the sound and sensation migrations of the transition from close timbre into whoop timbre, most of which occur in the top half of the treble clef, is similarly useful for training upper range success of treble voices. This talk will chart, describe, and play examples of these transitions, and offer pedagogic approaches that facilitate their training.  (Given the complexity of this topic and the need for multiple video examples, this is best done with a 45-minute slot in order to include a longer Q & A).

🏷️ 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

Ken Bozeman

Kenneth Bozeman, BM, MM,Professor Emeritus of Music, taught at Lawrence University for 42 years where he chaired the voice department and from...

CPD Course Logo

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

Learn More

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.

A VOICE FOR THE VOICELESS | Person-Centred Singing Teaching
Thursday 30th July 2026
2:00 PM - 4:00 PM
(London Time)

A VOICE FOR THE VOICELESS | Person-Centred Singing Teaching

William Leigh Knight

Only around 3% of the population fall into the category of amusia while over 17% consider themselves ‘tone-deaf’; and this does not account for non-singers, a wider group sometimes described as ‘tuneless’. So, who are ‘the voiceless’? Join William Leigh-Knight as he unpicks this question and considers the purpose of training a voice, when it is considered such a natural human attribute, and he expands on the principles that drive his own practice, which may be summarised as ‘person-centeredness’

Level Two Certificate in Accents and Phonetics with Louisa Morgan
Monday 3rd August 2026
1:30 PM - 2:30 PM
Tuesday 4th August 2026
1:30 PM - 2:30 PM
Wednesday 5th August 2026
1:30 PM - 2:30 PM
Thursday 6th August 2026
1:30 PM - 2:30 PM
Friday 7th August 2026
1:30 PM - 2:30 PM
(London Time)

Level Two Certificate in Accents and Phonetics with Louisa Morgan

Louisa Morgan

Build on your foundational knowledge of accents and phonetics in this week‑long lunchtime course designed specifically for voice teachers. Whether you have completed our Level 1 Certificate or already possess a basic working knowledge of phonetics and accent work, this Level 2 course will help you deepen your skills, sharpen your analytical ear, and expand your practical toolkit for teaching.

Meisner in Music: Merging Beautiful Singing with Emotional Acting
Monday 3rd August 2026
5:00 PM - 7:00 PM
(London Time)

Meisner in Music: Merging Beautiful Singing with Emotional Acting

Jillian Paige

In our workshop with the Voice Study Centre, participants will learn the foundational tool of the Meisner Technique, 'repetition', and gain insight into additional aspects of the technique that are particularly useful for singers such as emotional preparation and 'the physical impediment'.