Logo/icon
the british voice association

events

World Voice Day (branding)

World Voice Day 2016

 

The British Voice Association's contribution to World Voice Day 2016


Difficult Vocal Problems (leaflet cover)

Once again the British Voice Association produced a voice information leaflet which we hope will be useful for voice clinic staff, patients and our membership. We also encouraged our members to give interviews or host events to celebrate healthy voices and educate the public, highlight the importance of voice and raise awareness of World Voice Day.

This year's leaflet focuses on less common vocal problems such as vocal fold cysts, sulci and scarring, the effect these problems have on the voice, and how they are diagnosed and treated, and can be used by voice clinics, speech therapy clinics, our membership and members of the public. We hope they will be useful to anyone who may have received such a diagnosis.

The leaflet is available to download from our 'Free Resources' section and an extended version of the text is available in our 'Voice Care' section).

 

Posters

World Voice Day Posters were sent out as usual along with other World Voice Day material.

 

Other World Voice Day activities 2016


 

UK, Bath

Rebecca Moseley Morgan gave a workshop at Bath Spa university for World Voice Day entitled the ‘Singer’s Toolbox’. She distributed British Voice Association literature and promoted the Association at this event.

 

UK: Lancaster

Ben Hennessy-Garside and Kelly Anne SharpBen Hennessy-Garside and Kelly Anne Sharp teamed up to do a workshop for World Voice Day 2016.

Ben Hennessy-Garside gained his degree in Music Production in 2006 & a PGCE in 2008. He has been a music educator ever since, working with classes & in one to one settings. Alongside looking after his son, he is currently a lecturer in voice, working with undergraduates at Leeds College of Music.

Kelly Anne Sharp began her career as a drama voice coach and singer, gaining qualifications in music theatre in 2000 & a degree in Speech and Language Pathology in 2009. She now has over 22 years experience of coaching voices in creative and corporate settings and is the director of Voice Work.

Their workshop was entitled "Learn Voice on World Voice Day". And during the event, they covered the following aspects of voice:

– Warming up and cooling down.
– How to "support" the voice.
– Vocal health, care and maintenance.
– Creating different vocal sounds.

The feedback they received was very positive:

'It was great! Coaches are very friendly, welcoming and fun! I felt very confident and comfortable, I even sang in front of strangers and I never ever do that!'

'Ben Hennessy-Garside and Kelly Anne Sharp created an open and relaxed atmosphere that enabled all participants to have a go.'

'I think the teaching approach helped individuals within the group to focus on developing their own techniques and confidence. I feel I will take away something that will facilitate me to improve my overall singing ability and guide me in the direction I wish to go.'

'I have learned that I am not tone deaf... Really enjoyed today – I will practise the warm up/down. I have never sang in front of anyone – Thank you for improving my confidence.'

 

UK, London

Spoken Voice teacher, Phyllida Furze has sent an article to University and College Union in London for World Voice Day as a point of focus for people to think about and look after their voices.

 

UK, London: Harrow

Harrow Philharmonic Choir organised an open choral afternoon on 16 April, devoted to a rehearsal and then a performance of the Mozart Requiem. Over 60 singers attended; the four soloists gave their services free. It was an enjoyable and rewarding occasion.

 

UK: Hampshire

The Spring Arts and Heritage Centre, Havant, Hampshire, UK

The Igloo ChoirThe Igloo Choir is part of Igloo Music UK, and we sing together for pleasure, stress relief, health, friendship and creativity. We write our own songs together collaboratively, and perform at charity and community events. An example of our original work can be heard here http://igloochoir.bandcamp.com/track/so-far-away written by the choir members, most of whom were novice songwriters.

For World Voice Day 2016, we invited members of the public to join us for a rehearsal and celebrated the sound of the human voice, by learning from scratch an ‘a capella’ vocal arrangement of The Pink Panther theme tune, made entirely of nonsense words. This was musically, vocally and mentally challenging! At the end of the day, the choir gave a short private performance of our original works to our guest members. All the participants were exhausted by the end of the day, but had a great time and great sense of achievement.

The following feedback was received:

"Very friendly and enjoyable" – Anna, guest member

"Sounded great - I really enjoyed it!" – Viv, choir member

"Everyone worked very hard as the content was much more challenging today – the harmony intervals are tricky and having no words at all is very hard for some people! We had a great day and were thrilled to welcome some guest singers with us"

 

UK London: Waterloo

The Voice Care Network celebrated World Voice Day with a study day on ‘The Working Voice’ at St Andrews Church, Waterloo.

The day began with a talk from Alexander Teacher, Trevor Davies, entitled 'From the Ground Up: the voice in context', illustrating the power and value of the Alexander Technique. Sara Harris spoke about the vocal challenges facing people who rely on vocal communication for their living, including technical, environmental and emotional issues and Tom Harris concluded the morning session with a talk about the medical voice care issues that contribute to vocal problems in professional voice users, including how to recognize them, when to refer on and how they can be addressed medically in the voice clinic. In the afternoon, Voice Teacher Barbara Houseman gave a practical workshop entitled 'The Effective Voice' on how to develop healthy, confident and expressive voice for effective communication. Voice Coach, Dr Margaret McAliskey concluded the day with a talk about 'Working with voice-dependent professions', which provided the delegates with an opportunity to share practice in small group discussions and address questions raised. The day was well attended and well received.

 

UK, Nottingham

Lynne Wayman, Singing Teacher, Vocal Coach and Vocal Rehabilitator and Editor of the British Voice Association Newsletter, has produced a short video with Help Musician’s UK to celebrate World Voice Day. The video includes footage of Lynne working with a client, talking about her approach and her best tips for keeping the voice healthy.


 

UK, Oxford

The Igloo ChoirWorld Voice Day Event at Oak House, Kidlington, Oxford. Supper was followed by an evening of discussion with globally acclaimed ENT consultant, Declan Costello; world-famous mezzo soprano, Sally Burgess and singer-turned-researcher and director of the British Voice Association, Rebecca Moseley-Morgan. The evening was a superb overview of the advances in voice science and the impact this is having on the training of singers. It was also an opportunity to network, collaborate and celebrate World Voice Day with fellow musicians.

Sally Burgess, mezzo, director and educator, sent this report on the study day at Oak House, Kidlington Oxford. Sally teaches singing privately; one to one at the Royal College of Music, where she also takes a weekly Performance Class and regular Opera scenes. At Guildhall School Music and Drama she takes the Introduction to Opera project each year, this year directing the year group in Janacek's Cunning Vixen. www.aormanagement.com/artists/sally-burgess/

For World Voice Day, Sally gave a Master Class at the evening of talks about how the voice works organised by Rebecca Moseley-Morgan who also spoke about voice function. Sally’s Master Class went very well and received the following feedback:

A singer from the audience wrote: "Thank you so much for yesterday evening - it was completely fascinating!"

Rebecca Moseley-Morgan wrote: “I can't thank you enough for your contribution to last night's event. Your knowledge and expertise was wonderful to watch as you drew so much improvement out of those young singers, and equally fascinating for the audience to observe. I love the way you use your body to express what you want from the music and to see those young singers respond, and your method of using levels of energy is so clever and extremely effective."

 

Australia: Melbourne

Leslie Cartwright is a voice teacher at the National Theatre Drama School where they train professional actors in an accredited, three year, full-time program. They celebrated WVD 2016 with the first year actors in a special, two hour session. The session Started with a warm-up that focused on spontaneous, creative vocal response, followed by giving voice to [reading aloud] a selection of excerpts by Australian writers. The final component addressed voice care, particularly in relation to acting. The students were most interested in the Vocal Health and voice care aspects. Thanks to the British Voice Association for stimulating us into action.

 

 

Feedback


Once World Voice Day is over, please send us information, reports and photographs about your events to put up on the website. Our feedback form to make it easier for you to tell us about what you have done and how it went. Everyone’s experience helps and encourages others to get involved, spread the word and celebrate healthy voices. Please return your form to: administrator@britishvoiceassociation.org.uk

 

Get involved


We actively encourage our members to become involved in celebrating World Voice Day each year. If you would like ideas please read our World Voice Day Guidelines. You can also browse our archive of past World Voice Day content.

 

Calendar icon What's on:
bva Seminars and Events plus much more

Button iconJoin us Now!
Great savings on event tickets plus other benefits

Newsletter (cover) our newsletter
Published 3 times a year – Download a sample

Leaflet (cover) free voice care leaflets & information – download here

Give as you live (logo) Help our work by donating while you shop