VocalScope

As voice coaches and singing teachers we are often reminded and acutely aware of ‘staying in our lane’ and whilst its fully appreciated and respected that vocal coaches and singing teachers are not (unless previously trained) psychotherapists or trauma specialists, this doesn’t mean that we won’t come across students, clients, choir members, performers or colleagues who are in the throes of a trauma response during our work together. The voice is an emotional tool and we can’t escape the fact that trauma is something that affects the voice, the learner, the performer, the human.

So, in today’s podcast, we are going to begin to discuss what it means to be “trauma-informed” in relation to voice use and our voice and rehearsal studios.

We’ll be discussing mental health and trauma-related factors in professional singers whilst we also considering the prevalence and impact of trauma, exploring ways for voice professionals and voice users to embody a trauma-informed approach - so that we can start to understand what feeling comfortable and confident in own roles and scopes of work might look like if were to become ‘trauma informed’.

My guest, Dr. Elisa Monti is a voice-specialized experimental psychologist with a PhD from The New School for Social Research.

Elisa is a certified Performance Wellness Therapist trained in the Montello Method for Performance Wellness and in Vocal Psychotherapy.

Her focus is the relationship between psychological trauma and different measures of voice. Her mission being to contribute to furthering our understanding of this relationship.

Elisa is a co-founder of the Voice and Trauma Research & Connection Group and she is also a co-Founder of Monti Bianchi Performance Wellness.

Recommended Further Reading & Training

In the VocalScope Book Club we read The Body Keeps the Score: Mind, Brain and Body in the Transformation of Trauma By Bessel van der Kolk.

The Voice Study Centre is now offering an online Trauma-Informed Voice Professional (Level 4 Course) which Dr.Elisa Monti is leading https://voicestudycentre.com/trauma-informed-voice-professional-level-4-qualification-course/

Elisa's Websites: www.voiceandtrauma.com

www.montibianchi.com

mbpw.teachable.com

https://voicestudycentre.com/trauma-informed-voice-professional-level-4-qualification-course/

Elisa's Social Media:

https://www.instagram.com/voice.and.trauma/

https://www.instagram.com/monti_bianchi_pw/

https://www.instagram.com/performancewellnessinc/

VOICE CHOICE Listen to Elisa’s favourite 'Simone Simons' from Epica singing Unleashed on the VocalScope Podcast Guests Playlist on Spotify:

https://open.spotify.com/playlist/4pjclKQVRnnUnMW0vgu0H0?si=8380f4264b42464e

VOCALSCOPE BOOK CLUB - Join the VocalScope Book Club: https://vocalscope.ac-page.com/book-club-sign-up

VOCALSCOPE Linktree: https://linktr.ee/vocalscope

VOCALSCOPE Socials: @vocalscope

Professor of Practice in Voice and Vocal Pedagogy at USC’s Thornton School of Music, Helding is also the author of The Musician's Mind: Teaching, Learning & Performance in the Age of Brain Science. Lynn also authored the chapter “Brain” in Your Voice: An Inside View. At the time of recording this episode she was an associate editor of the Journal of Singing and since recording this interview she has been made Editor in Chief.

A devoted teacher, she was recognized as a “legendary figure in the field of voice pedagogy” by the Contemporary Commercial Music (CCM) Vocal Pedagogy Institute at Shenandoah University, receiving their 2020 Lifetime Achievement Award.

Her stage credits include leading roles with Harrisburg Opera, Nashville Opera and Ohio Light Opera, and solo recitals throughout the US, Italy, France, England, Germany, Spain, Australia and Iceland

Lynn created the “Mindful Voice” column in the Journal of Singing, authoring over thirty researched articles published there under her byline from 2009-17.

Other writings include articles for Journal of Voice, the chapters “Science-Informed Vocal Pedagogy” in The Routledge Companion to Interdisciplinary Studies in Singing, and “Voice, the Music of the Soul,” in Singing: The Timeless Muse with her writing described as “ground breaking and exciting,” “profoundly captivating” and “tremendously important”.

Lynn's Website: https://lynnhelding.com

VOICE CHOICE Listen to Lynn’s favourite 'Voice Choice' Hector Berlioz on the VocalScope Podcast Guests Playlist on Spotify:

https://open.spotify.com/playlist/4pjclKQVRnnUnMW0vgu0H0?si=8380f4264b42464e

VOCALSCOPE BOOK CLUB - Join the VocalScope Book Club: https://vocalscope.ac-page.com/book-club-sign-up

VOCALSCOPE Linktree: https://linktr.ee/vocalscope

VOCALSCOPE Socials: @vocalscope

Lead Singer of British Rock Band 'Inglorious', Singer-Songwriter Nathan James, discusses his career, how he manages the demands of being an internationally touring Rock Singer, and the unique relationship that can exist between a Singer and Vocal Coach when they have worked together for nearly two decades. 

Nathan's Twitter & Insta: @thenathanjames

Inglorious: http://inglorious.com

Inglorious Socials: @weareinglorious 

VOICE CHOICE Listen to Nathan’s favourite 'Voice Choice' on the VocalScope Podcast Guests Playlist on Spotify: 

https://open.spotify.com/playlist/4pjclKQVRnnUnMW0vgu0H0?si=8380f4264b42464e

VOCALSCOPE BOOK CLUB - Join the VocalScope Book Club: https://vocalscope.ac-page.com/book-club-sign-up

VOCALSCOPE Linktree: https://linktr.ee/vocalscope

VOCALSCOPE Socials: @vocalscope

This episode is dedicated to all those taking a stand in the #menopauserevolution

Joanne Bozeman introduces herself to us:

“I grew up in a musical home with lots of singing in our daily life, and great music playing on the stereo. I trained at University as a Classical Singer, and performed a wide range of repertoire in my community and regionally.

My career as an independent singing teacher began when I was at university, and I was fortunate to work 26 years at a fine undergraduate conservatory. Now retired from academia.

My long interest in hormones and female voice resulted in the book "Singing Through Change: Women's Voices in Midlife Menopause, and Beyond" (2020) co-authored with Nancy Bos and Cate Frazier-Neely.

My husband and I raised 3 wonderful children, and we are blessed with 5 grandchildren.”

Joanne is a presenter on The Vocal First Aid Course

https://vocalhealth.co.uk

Joanne is giving presentations for The Sing Space on Nov. 3 and Dec. 1, 2021

https://thesingspace.com

Joanne is presenting on Opera Programs Berlin 2022 Pedagogy Conference: Feb. 16-March 6. https://www.operaprogramsberlin.com/vocal-pedagogy-symposium-feb2021.html

JOANNE BOZEMAN

Webpage

https://www.lawrence.edu/conservatory/faculty/joanne_bozeman

LinkedIn:

https://www.linkedin.com/in/joanne-bozeman/

Singing Through Change Facebook Group: https://www.facebook.com/groups/singingthroughchange/

Singing Through Change Instagram: @singingthruchange

Joanne gave a NATS Chat: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9aS0BYAkEMM&t=9s

Joanne's Interview with Dr. Dan: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JpQGlg02_ao&t=2732s

This Embodied Voice Podcast with Susanne Lis: http://www.suzannelis.com/this-embodied-voice

PERIMENOPAUSE & MENOPAUSE

www.themenopausecharity.org

www.balance-menopause.co.uk

The Balance App: https://www.balance-menopause.com/balance-app/

Recommended Further Reading:

Singing Through Change by Nancy Bos, Cate Frazier-Neely & Joanne Bozeman

Preparing for the Menopause & The Menopause by Dr. Louise Newson

The Evolving Singing Voice: Changes Across The Lifespan by Karen Brunssen

The Estrogen Question by Dr Sandra Rice

The New Hormone Solution by Erika Schwartz, M.D.

Blog: https://yourestrogenquestions.com

VOICE CHOICE

Listen to the VocalScope Spotify Podcast Guests playlist:

https://open.spotify.com/playlist/4pjclKQVRnnUnMW0vgu0H0?si=8380f4264b42464e

Joanne recommended the documentary Twenty Feet from Stardom

https://g.co/kgs/Z112Ld

VOCALSCOPE PODCAST & BOOK CLUB  

Linktree: https://linktr.ee/vocalscope

https://vocalscope.ac-page.com/book-club-sign-up

About John:

JOHN COLAPINTO began his career as a journalist in his native Toronto before moving to New York City in 1989 where he worked as staff writer at Rolling Stone magazine and, later, The New Yorker.  He won a National Magazine Award for his Rolling Stone story about the world’s first infant sex reassignment and expanded the story into the New York Times bestselling book As Nature Made Him (currently in development with Peter Jackson as a feature film). His articles have been anthologized in the annual compendiums The Best American Science and Nature Writing (2008, ’10, ‘11); Crime Reporting (‘09); and Sports Writing (2017).

His first novel, About the Author (a tale of literary envy and theft), was published in 2001 and, in 2019, it was named, by the Times of London, as one of the top 100 thrillers published since 1945. His novel Undone (2015) challenged the new prudery around sex and was promptly rejected by almost 50 publishers worldwide, but was finally brought out in the US, UK and Canada by small, brave publishing outfits.

He published This is The Voice, in January 2021.

Colapinto is also a singer in the NYC-based rock bands Rack of Lamb and the Sequoias and in May 2021 he extended his adventures into vocal expressiveness by co-starring in the upcoming short film “The File.”

About This is the Voice:

This is the Voice takes a deep dive into all aspects of the noises we make with our mouths, from the goose-bump inducing power of song to the intellectual stimulation of conversation and monologue, and reveals how these extraordinary acoustic signals (which began with the grunts and wheezes of the lungfish, 400 million years ago, and which our species refined into speech) shot us to the top of the food chain. Emotion, accents, speech disorders and injuries (like the vocal polyp suffered by the book’s author), are among the many topics addressed—all with an eye (or ear) toward showing how our unique vocal signals are an indelible badge of identity, a key to our geographic origins, level of education, socioeconomic status, race and even sexual orientation. Because the very sound of the voice is so important to how we choose our political leaders (from the rolling orotundity of a Churchill to the ripping shriek of a Hitler), the book also shows how unexpectedly important the vocal signal is to the fate of a species whose leaders must guide us through the dangers of thermonuclear weapons to the ravages of global pandemics. Ultimately, This is the Voice argues that voice is our most important faculty of all, the complex gymnastic achievement of lungs, lips and tongue that made us human.

John's Favourite Voice: Neil Young singing Harvest. 

Listen to John's 'Voice Choice' on the VocalScope Podcast Guests playlist: 

https://open.spotify.com/playlist/4pjclKQVRnnUnMW0vgu0H0?si=8380f4264b42464e

Join the VocalScope Book Club: https://vocalscope.ac-page.com/book-club-sign-up

Nick Clinch is founder of Notable Voices, currently London's highest reviewed voiceover and voice reel service, and there’s a reason for that. After working in audio for 15 years - first as a touring session musician, then as a qualified audio production lecturer - Nick decided to put all this experience into what he refers to as a “much better use” and built his own Voice Reel company.

Unlike any other voice reel recording service you come across, you can work with their experienced engineer and director for up to a full day! Nick takes the time to learn, explore and understand your voice and how you fit in this expanding industry. He will teach you top techniques and give you insights into how you can kickstart your career and market your voiceover business. All at half the price of bigger Soho studios. Nick offers a free consultation and gives VocalScope listeners a 10% discount.

Favourite Voice:

Justin Vernon of Bon Iver

Song to listen to:

Woods

Spotify playlist of VocalScope Guest Favourite Voices:

https://open.spotify.com/playlist/4pjclKQVRnnUnMW0vgu0H0?si=iWuMOaAIRe-KSMzb_VdsRg

Nick’s Notable Voices website:

www.notablevoices.co.uk

VocalScope Episode Sponsor Discount Code

Listeners can receive a fabulous 10% discount on voice reels at www.notablevoices.co.uk by using VOCALSCOPE at check out or mentioning us at the point of contact.

Dr. Ian Howell is a member of the voice faculty of the New England Conservatory of Music, where he also directs the graduate voice pedagogy program and coaches students in Baroque voice repertory.

Dr. Howell's work explores the special psychoacoustics of the singing voice, with an eye toward practical applications for singers and voice teachers. Human senses interpret reality according to a dependable set of rules. These same senses also perceive greater detail once we internalize more precise labels and conceptual models. Dr. Howell’s work produces new aural/visual models that better characterise the perceptual qualities of sung vowels and voice registration. He unpacks and identifies the perceptually coherent components of a vowel, showing how absolute, objective labels apply to the relative scale of tonal brightness.

Dr. Howell has presented original research at the Pan American Vocology Association's Symposium (2015, 2016), The National Association of Teachers of Singing's National Convention (2016), Harvard's ArtTechPsyche III (2017), and The Society for Music Perception and Cognition (upcoming summer of 2017). He is a guest faculty member at the Vocal Pedagogy Professional Workshop at the Boston Conservatory at Berklee (2017), and Kenneth Bozeman's Acoustic Vocal Pedagogy Seminar (2017).

As a classical countertenor, Ian Howell has sung on most major international concert stages as both a soloist and a member of the Grammy Award winning ensemble Chanticleer. He appears on recordings on the Warner Brothers, Rhino, Gothic, Yale, American Bach Soloists, and Naxos record labels and has published multiple live concert performances on YouTube. Ian Howell hold the Doctor of Musical Arts degree from NEC, the Master of Music degree from Yale University, and the Bachelor of Music degree from Capital University.

Favourite Voice:

Emily Saliers from the Indigo Girls

Song to listen to:

History Of Us

Spotify playlist of VocalScope Guest Favourite Voices:

https://open.spotify.com/playlist/4pjclKQVRnnUnMW0vgu0H0?si=iWuMOaAIRe-KSMzb_VdsRg

Ian's website:

ianhowellcountertenor.com

Ian’s Soundjack Guide:

https://www.ianhowellcountertenor.com/soundjack-comprehensive-user-guide?fbclid=IwAR3Cb29hi_UWwj-NZFKKUs_BI0HOEDrjxB_ZcHeKrOWVIqp-ALQUKhqojsk

Examples of lagless online music making:

https://www.ianhowellcountertenor.com/what-we-did-and-how-we-did-it-soundjack-examples?fbclid=IwAR1gnqB-jj-pIW9W9jFcC4nep8Zsmqp_owwFk8yT9kWzKfHr0Dy80poLodY

VocalScope Episode Sponsor Discount Code

Listeners can receive a fabulous 25% discount on tracks from the bespoke service at www.theaccompanist.co.uk by using VOCALSCOPE at check out.

A vital listen for all voice users, music makers and audiences alike - Declan Costello ENT, discusses his very recent research into aerosols and the risks and challenges associated with singing in the Covid era. 

 Mr Declan Costello is a highly experienced consultant laryngologist with extensive expertise in treating all aspects of voice disorders and hoarseness – from vocal cord nodules and cysts to polyps, papilloma, vocal cord paralysis and spasmodic dysphonia.

As a singer himself, he has a particular interest in treating voice disorders in performers. He is also one of the leading exponents of local anaesthetic laryngeal procedures, which can be particularly beneficial for patients with vocal fold paralysis.

He regularly runs workshops for singers and performers on voice health and anatomy.

Mr Costello studied music at St John’s College, Cambridge, where he was a choral scholar under Christopher Robinson. He went on to study medicine at Imperial College and undertook his ENT specialist training in the Oxford region.

He was appointed as a consultant ENT surgeon (specialising in voice disorders) at the Queen Elizabeth Hospital in Birmingham in August 2010. In December 2018 his NHS practice moved to Wexham Park Hospital in Berkshire.

Mr Costello runs weekly private clinics in London and Maidenhead and weekly NHS clinics in Wexham Park (Slough) and Heatherwood (Ascot).

Amongst his non-clinical duties, he is the editor of ENT & Audiology News magazine.  During the Coronavirus pandemic, he has worked with a team to develop and distribute the Covid Airway Screen.  Through a Crowdfunder campaign, this novel protective device is now being distributed, free of charge, to hospitals in the UK.  He has spoken to BBC Radio 3 about this in interviews on In Tune.

Favourite Voice. 

Declan's chose Samuel Boden as his favourite voice and selected his John Blow works. 

http://www.samuelboden.com/john-blow-an-ode-on-the-death-of-mr-henry-purcell-other-works/

Declan's website.

http://www.voicedoctor.co.uk

Aerosol Research Video mentioned in podcast

https://vimeo.com/402577241

VocalScope Sponsor Discount Code

Listeners can receive a fabulous 25% discount on backing tracks from the bespoke service at www.theaccompanist.co.uk by using VOCALSCOPE at check out.