Vocal Health in Children and Young People
Tuesday 13th January 2026, 2:00 PM - 4:00 PM (London Time)
Children’s vocal health, and issues affecting their wellbeing, is a subject which is now benefiting from increased scrutiny and research. Teachers, vocal coaches, choir leaders and musical directors are aware that this field of study exists, but where is all of this information condensed into one session that covers what they need to know? This short course is designed to provide you with exactly that – an up-to-date overview of the issues and how you can help the young people you work with, answering their questions with age-appropriate vocabulary.
Delivered by Olivia Sparkhall, author of the acclaimed book, ‘A Young Person’s Guide to Vocal Health’, the course will cover the following topics:
- Healthy voices before adolescent voice-change
- Hydration – why, when, how much?
- Voice-change (long-term effects)
- Hormones (short-term effects)
- Risky behaviours and vocal health
- Performance anxiety
- Recovering from illness
This talk will consider aspects of vocal health particularly pertinent to children and young people from about age 8 to age 19.
The focus will be on issues which affect this age-range, with an emphasis on both dispelling myths and providing evidence-based advice which voice professionals can pass on with confidence.
This will be deeply relevant to primary and secondary school music teachers, singing teachers, vocal coaches, and children’s choir directors
Olivia Sparkhall
Olivia Sparkhall is a composer, choral conductor, voice coach and music teacher based on the edge of the New Forest in Hampshire, UK. She is a Voice Study Centre (University of Wales...
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 28th September 2026
1:00 PM - 2:30 PM
Tuesday 29th September 2026
1:00 PM - 2:30 PM
Wednesday 30th September 2026
1:00 PM - 2:30 PM
Thursday 1st October 2026
1:00 PM - 2:30 PM
Friday 2nd October 2026
1:00 PM - 2:30 PM
(London Time)
Certificate in Executive Voice Coaching and Communication
Louisa Morgan
This five-day course is designed for professional coaches who want to extend their practice into executive coaching, leadership communication, and professional corporate voice work.
Friday 2nd October 2026
12:30 PM - 2:30 PM
(London Time)
Muscle Tension Dysphonia in the Singing Voice!
Dr Claire Thomas
Join Dr Claire Thomas for a practical 2-hour workshop for singing teachers and voice practitioners! Building upon the previous course to create a practical teacher pathway in order to recognise what is happening, reduce unnecessary effort, transfer coordination into singing, manage load and recovery and know when to refer back. Not one size fits all, but a guide to making informed choices with voice users. Based on a five-year investigative project, the course equips singing teachers with the knowledge and practical tools needed to confidently understand MTD, and support singers experiencing MTD beyond their initial therapeutic input.
Tuesday 6th October 2026
5:00 PM - 7:00 PM
(London Time)
Inspired Not Bound: The Promise of Science-Informed Voice Pedagogy
Lynn Helding
Lynn Helding defines Science-Informed Voice Pedagogy in her upcoming book Practicing Science-Informed Voice Training as, “A type of hybrid singing voice pedagogy that unites science and art by researching current voice science, translating it, combining it with extant historic voice knowledge, and transmitting it to singers.” Join Lynn Helding as she seeks to understand human behaviour of both sides of the “Science versus Art” debate via research from the fields of cognitive science and behavioural science, focussing particularly on lessons learned due to several societal shifts.