PHOENIX AGAIN - voice tuition for speech and song

Private clients .Schools & colleges .Charities .Residential homes '

'Voicework for Wellbeing'
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Private clients

One-to one

Many people come for singing lessons after years of dreaming about singing and thinking they have not got ‘a voice’ or that they are ‘not musical’.

The fact is that we are all musical and that barring a severe medical problem we all have a voice. Certainly all voices respond to tuition and can be improved so that their owners can feel more confident.

Some people want to sing at a family event. Some come with pitching problems. Some come to work on their exam or audition pieces. Some want to join a choir and feel a bit rusty or nervous. Others want to join a local operatic or musical society and need to work on an audition piece. Some are professionals wanting help with a particular song or to keep in good vocal health for the rigors of eight shows a week or the pantomime season.

Whatever it is you want to do, some vocal tuition can help you back into vocal, physical and emotional balance. Working on your voice can put you back in control of your life.

Private clients coming for singing lessons may be as young as 9 or 10 years old particularly if they are involved in ‘Song and Dance’ at competition level and need some extra help to keep the singing voice happy and healthy.

Otherwise it is probably a good idea to save individual lessons until students are 14 or 15 years old unless they get referred by a Speech and Language Therapist because of functional vocal habits which have been causing vocal damage.

Once the student has had a proper medical examination and been cleared of any problems or treated for them then a course of carefully monitored singing lessons can help the student back on the road to a healthy vocal future.

This applies to anyone at any age when they have started to suffer some kind of persistent vocal problem which does not respond to rest and the usual careful functional vocal exercise.

Any persistent problem needs proper medical investigation at one of the numerous voice clinics that specialise in the care of the human voice.

A course of voice sessions concentrating on the foundation work for good voicing (posture, warm-up, breathing, etc.) will not only improve the singing voice but also strengthen the speaking voice as well.

Schools and colleges

Teachers, trainee teachers, PGCE and BA QTS students

Many teachers are terrified of using their singing voices and leading their pupils in musical activities.

Others who are actually music specialists or music coordinators have never had any formal voice tuition especially if they are primarily instrumentalists and soon find that their voices are tiring and becoming husky or croaky at the end of the day and worse by the end of the week. By the end of term they may be more or less voiceless.

Many teachers do not realise that work on their singing voice will actually strengthen their speaking voices and therefore offers a very real benefit in terms of maintaining the voice even if they teach maths at secondary level and are not in the habit of breaking into song!

It’s a good stress buster too!

One-to-one

Many music specialists need private sessions to get back on track vocally and build up their confidence again. Voice loss or debility is potentially devastating for teachers as it takes away their number one teaching asset.

Six sessions with practice in between should put them back on the right vocal road unless the problems persist. In this case teachers must seek medical advice.

Group workshops

As with the speaking voice, INSET and twilight training sessions for extending the speaking voice into singing for staff in schools and student sessions in teacher training colleges can help to maintain and strengthen the vocal stamina of teachers whatever their vocal load.

It will also help to convince them that they can use their voices freely for whatever they choose whether it is spoken communication or singing songs.

Charities

Alzheimer’s and other dementias, Parkinson’s disease and stroke groups, carers and support workers

For 3 years, from 2004 – 2007, Liz McNaughton has been involved as singing facilitator, leader and trainer with a project called ‘Singing for the Brain’.

Started under the auspices of the West Berkshire Branch of the Alzheimer’s Society, ‘Singing for the Brain’ offers a regular weekly social session for those who struggle with Alzheimer’s and other dementias and their carers with singing as its core activity.

As a result of the success of the scheme, Liz McNaughton has been asked to run similar singing sessions for people with Parkinson’s disease and those who have had strokes.

There is also evidence to suggest that the singing sessions could be a benefit to people with other neurological illnesses such as multiple sclerosis and those who have suffered head injury in accidents.

The benefits of these singing sessions have been cognitive, physical, emotional and social and have made an otherwise bleak future much more bearable. They hold out some hope of improved quality of life and wellbeing for both the cared-for and their carers as they enjoy an opportunity to do something pleasurable together.

Group workshops

Group workshops for singing have been run in church halls, day hospitals and sports centres – in fact, anywhere where there is easy access for parking and wheelchairs, good toilet facilities and the ability to make a cup of tea as well as space for a large circle of chairs and a live acoustic to encourage the singers.

Sessions either begin or end with a ‘meet and greet’ time and refreshments, The voicework, including singing, lasts for an hour and the whole session is just under 2 hours.

Residential care homes

Many residents in homes for the elderly suffer from a sense of boredom and the need for something different in their weekly routine. Many are incapacitated by neurological illness and need stimulation to slow down memory loss and keep them as active as possible.

Singing and voicework in general offers a very successful way of involving a large number of people socially in a healthy and happy activity which makes them feel more alive.

Group workshops

Singing and voicework sessions can be arranged in the residential home at a time to suit the daily schedule of the residents.

An hour is usually the best unit of time to keep the residents engaged and to fit in with their other activities.

‘Voicework for Wellbeing’ courses

Due to the success of voicework and singing workshops, there has been a demand for more groups of this kind.

These can be arranged on an ad hoc basis in community settings. It is also extremely useful if professional and family carers have some training so that they have the confidence to initiate and run voice groups themselves.

Training courses for those who would like to be involved in leading and participating in therapeutic group voicework can be organised at any time and in any place to suit.

Please see Latest news if you think you could be a leader of a group to bring health and happiness together through voicework for those with neuro illness and their carers in particular and for other groups in general.