Short Courses & Events / Archive

Voice Evaluation: How it Shapes Action in Voice Work

Tuesday 12th August 2025, 4:00 PM - 6:00 PM (London Time)

Whether we work in singing or spoken voice teaching, or voice therapy, exploring what a new client/student is feeling about their voice, and the detective work to find out what is ‘going on’ in that voice is a crucial part of a first meeting. The particular kind of focussed listening in perceptual vocal analysis can help us to identify what is going in a voice, and ideally, to provide guidance as to what we might then do. When we explain to the client some of what is contributing to their voice qualities and sensations, we offer a conscious understanding that can give a speaker a new sense of control, so we can then discuss the action that can be taken to change things.

This course will outline some ways that we can both explore and evaluate how a person feels about their voice, including the use of numerical self-rating, and both informal and formal assessments. The latter will include reference the Voice Handicap Index and the Singing Voice Handicap Index. We will then investigate the use of perceptual analysis schemes to describe the key features that we can hear, see and feel. This will include reference to the GRBAS (Hirano 1981), but the focus will be on the eight parameters of the Voice Skills Framework (Shewell 2009/2025) in the context of the definition of the ‘free voice’. Participants will have the opportunity to use the Voice Skills Framework in a practical exercise to evaluate a particular voice, and to discuss how their findings can guide a choice of the suggestions and exercises they might give to the client.

 

🏷️ 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

Christina Shewell

Christina Shewell, MA, FRCSLT ADVS is spoken voice teacher, and speech/ language therapist with long experience in voice work with a wide range of clients, in both voice therapy and voice development.

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

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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.

Navigating Vocal Aging for Singers
Thursday 9th October 2025
2:00 PM - 4:00 PM
(London Time)

Navigating Vocal Aging for Singers

Karen Brunssen

As singers approach their senior years, they can benefit greatly from a voice teacher who understands the normal changes involved as they navigate vocal aging. This course will focus on the realities of aging voices for senior singers and what can be done to address vocal production and peripheral issues that can affect the activity of singing.

Introduction to Vocal Acoustics for Spoken and Sung Voice
Friday 10th October 2025
3:00 PM - 5:00 PM
Monday 13th October 2025
3:00 PM - 5:00 PM
(London Time)

Introduction to Vocal Acoustics for Spoken and Sung Voice

Gökçe Kutsal

This course is designed to break down the fundamentals of acoustics for both spoken and sung voice in a beginner-friendly, accessible way — so you can easily understand and apply these concepts to your teaching or research.

Water Resistance Therapy and Semioccluded Devices for Voice Training
Monday 13th October 2025
5:00 PM - 7:00 PM
(London Time)

Water Resistance Therapy and Semioccluded Devices for Voice Training

Dr Marco Guzmán

Several voice devices to perform water resistance therapy (WRT) and some oscillatory positive expiratory pressure devices (OPEP) (e.g. Acapella Choice, Shaker Medic Plus, New Shaker) are now commonly used for both voice training and voice therapy. Are these devices truly good for voice training? Are these devices the treatment by themselves? and how much evidence currently supports the use of these devices?