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BREAKTHROUGHS AND BOUNDARIES: Exploring multi-disciplinary voice work

Sunday 17th July 2022: 11:00 - 13:00 & 14:00 - 16:00 GMT

BVA@home online forum presented via Zoom

Central to the ethos of the British Voice Association is its multidisciplinary reach across professions dealing with the spoken and singing voice. From the start the BVA was set up to bring together scientists and artists, researchers and voice practitioners, specialists in their respective fields, to share knowledge, promote research and to collaborate in solving real life issues related to vocal identity, function and communication.

With 'Breakthroughs and Boundaries' the BVA mounts a one-day online forum to review the landscape of multidisciplinary voice work, whether in private practice or within the NHS. We shall hear about the subtle solutions that multidisciplinary approaches allow, while also examining the limitations and tensions of working across professional boundaries. The event takes on three particular challenges: namely:
1) the lack of shared vocabulary across disciplines;
2) the research and practical application divide; and
3) the boundaries of professional specialism, certification and authority.

The forum will be introduced and convened by Professor Graham Welch, founding member of the BVA and former President. To enliven and guide our discussion we have invited the following experts and multidisciplinary practitioners and researchers: Tori Burnay (speech language therapy), Dawn Estefan (psychology-psychoanalysis), Jacob Lieberman (osteopathy), Paul McKenna (speech language therapy, hypnotherapy), Mr Guri Sandhu (laryngology), Dr Jenevora Williams (singing teaching and rehabilitation). Each speaker offers a unique perspective on multi and cross-disciplinary voice practice and experience.

But this forum can only be as thoughtful, lively and productive as your contribution. We thus invite you (or your team) to contribute a short 10-minute presentation on any of the issues outlined above as they relate to your work as a researcher, teacher, therapist or clinical practitioner. OR you may present up to three questions for our panel to engage with. Please send your proposal and/or questions to administrator@britishvoiceassociation.org.uk. The deadline for submitting your presentation proposal is: Thursday 30 June.

What outcomes do we hope for? - Differing perspectives, lively and respectful discussion, and nuggets of knowledge to re-invigorate our (multidisciplinary) practices and thinking. Some agreement on shared concepts and vocabulary to talk fluently with one another across voice disciplines would be ideal. Most importantly, the BVA, as the 'Voice for Voice', welcomes pointers from you for its future multidisciplinary direction. We look forward to having you join the discussion.

All sessions will be recorded and available to paid-up delegates for a limited period after the event.

Programme

 

11.00 - 13:00	INTRODUCTION	Graham Welch
	3 x 15 minute presentations	Invited speakers
	2 or 3 x 10 minute presentations	From call for presentations
	Q&A Forum (30-45 minutes)
14:00 - 16:00	3 x 15 minute presentations	Invited speakers
	2 or 3 x 10 minute presentations	From call for presentations
	Q&A Forum & Summary (45 minutes)

 

SPEAKERS

 

Graham Welch PhD, MA, BEd (Hons), FORUM CONVENOR - founding member of the BVA and former President

Graham studied education 3-13y, as well as music, at the Froebel Educational Institute and University of London prior to completing his Masters in Music Education and Doctorate at the same institutions. He taught in London Primary schools for 14 years, and also spent over two decades as a part-time professional singer in London. He holds the UCL Institute of Education (formerly University of London) Established Chair of Music Education since 2001, is Chair of the Society for Education, Music and Psychology Research (SEMPRE), and is a Past President of the International Society for Music Education (ISME). He holds Visiting Professorships at universities in the UK and overseas, and is a former member of the UK Arts and Humanities Research Council (AHRC) Review College for Music. His publications number approximately four hundred, amongst them, The Oxford Handbook of Singing. Key research themes embrace musical development, music education, teacher education, the psychology of music, singing and voice science, and music in special education and disability.

 

Tori Burnay BSc, MRCSLT, MHPC

Tori leads a team of voice specialist speech and language therapists working with adults at Guy’s and St Thomas' NHS Foundation Hospitals. Tori has been instrumental in the development of Voice Clinic Services at GSTT since 2003 and has run specialist SLT-led endoscopy clinics since 2005 with a recent addition of a performers’ clinic in conjunction with a singing voice rehabilitation coach. Her clinical areas of interest include the management of complex voice disorders and working with professional performers. Tori is a guest lecturer in Voice Therapy at UCL and has contributed to several publications produced by the Voice Clinic Team at GSTT. She has been a member of the British Voice Association since 2004 and joined their Education Working Party in 2013. Besides managing a busy private practice, she is also a BAPAM registered practitioner and sits on their Vocal Health Committee.

 

Dawn Estefan BSc, DipHE, MSc

Dawn is a psychoanalytic psychotherapist with clinical expertise in working with trauma and a special interest in the intersectionality of race, culture, gender and spirituality and their impact on mental health. She is also a keen advocate for the use of psychoanalytic thought and thinking as an exciting way to make sense of our lives and the world we live in. She uses psychoanalytic theory to create bold and innovative platforms through collaborations with artists, brands and institutions that help us to think about our own mental health. Dawn is a regular BBC Broadcast mental health pundit and columnist for "Healthcare and Psychotherapy Journal" and most recently Dawn has become a Board member of the organization, Action for Diversity & Development (in partnership with the performing rights body, PPL) for the music and creative industries.

 

Jacob Lieberman MA, DO (Israel)

Jacob is a registered osteopath and psychotherapist, and an internationally acclaimed expert on physical and psychological management of voice disorders. He has co-authored articles on the clinical relevance of muscle and joint dysfunction. He researched and developed protocols for the examination and treatment of muscle tension dysphonia and associated symptoms. He has contributed chapters to a number of textbooks including: Diagnosis and Treatment of Voice Disorders, Treatment of Voice Disorders, The Voice Clinic Handbook and others. Jacob pioneered laryngeal osteopathy and physical therapy in the UK and Europe. His interest in the underlying emotional issues in voice disorders resulted in him developing some of the first clinical tools, combining psychotherapeutic concepts with specific laryngeal palpation, to identify such issues. That these therapies have become more commonplace is, in no small part, due to his courses on osteopathic medicine in laryngology at the Deutsche Stimmklinik (Germany) with Professor Markus Hess and his team.

 

Paul John McKenna BSc (Hons) MRSLT, HCPC, ABNLP

Paul is a nationally recognised specialist in the performing voice. Paul runs one of the UK’s leading and most established NHS laryngeal endoscopy clinics for professional voice users at Wythenshawe Hospital in South Manchester. Prior to retraining as a speech and language therapist, Paul worked as a gigging musician, singer and guitarist, experience that helps him appreciate the vocal and psychological demands that professional vocalists deal with in their careers. Alongside his work as an SLT, Paul has continued to train and study methodologies of hypnosis and NLP, incorporating these therapeutic modalities into rehabilitating injured and disordered voices. Paul also provides voice assessment and therapy interventions privately, and workshops and masterclassess to performing arts establishments on vocal optimization and health. Paul has contributed to national guidance for Speech and Language Therapists in the management of voice in the context of COVID-19, and was until recently a Council member of the British Voice Association.

 

Guri Sandhu MBBS, MD, FRCS, FRCS (ORL-HNS)

Guri Sandhu is a leading surgeon, academic and pioneer in otolaryngology. He treats the full range of ear, nose and throat (ENT) conditions in both adults and children. He has a specialist interest in voice, airway and swallowing problems as well as minimally invasive techniques for the management of head and neck tumours. He has a large practice managing the problems experienced by professional voice users from stage, music and media and is ENT surgeon to the Royal Society of Musicians. He has recently been awarded honorary fellowship of the Royal Academy of Music. Mr. Sandhu has published over 100 research papers, 15 book chapters and two textbooks. He is committed to education and training, runs several postgraduate courses and is frequently invited to lecture nationally and internationally. Working at the forefront of ENT surgery, he receives frequent visitors from premier medical institutes around the world. He is co-founder of the British Laryngological Association and serves on the committees of several ENT charities.

 

Jenevora Williams PhD, BA (Hons), ARCM

Jenevora is a leading exponent in the field of vocal health and singing teaching. After a successful career in Opera, Jenevora turned her attention to investigating healthy and efficient vocal function. The combination of academic study and practical experience has resulted in a unique perception for understanding the human voice. She was the first singing teacher to be awarded a PhD in voice science in the UK, and won the 2010 BVA Van Lawrence Prize for her outstanding contribution to voice research. Her book, Teaching Singing to Children and Young Adults, has been enormously popular with singing teachers throughout the world. She is well known for her imaginative and rigorous international training courses for singing teachers and voice professionals. She now runs Vocal Health Education and Evolving Voice, training the first generation of voice rehabilitation specialists worldwide. As a teacher of singing, she works with professional singers of all ages in both voice rehabilitation and career mentoring.

 

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