Send us a text Today we're asking the question "What matters to you?" Do you already know, or do you need time to think about it? As singing teacher and vocal coach we can direct our careers to include doing what we love and what matters to us. In this episode we share the important things in our lives, what we MUST do for our own peace of mind. The parts of our individual careers that bring us joy. What brings you joy? Answers on a postcard... 0:00 Aiming your career 1:47 What matters to Jeremy...
Oct 24, 2023•29 min•Season 8Ep. 4
Send us a text She's back! Social media expert and app lover Karen Michaels shares her favourite tools for your singing studio We explore finding your "voice" (your social media persona) and how to write your value statement in 1 hour. Analysing who you love working with and shifting your business to embrace them. How to coach a song even when you've not heard it before. And Karen shares her three best apps for helping you in the singing studio. It's a cracking episode and we're rocking and roll...
Oct 10, 2023•26 min•Season 8Ep. 3
Send us a text Social media expert Karen Michaels joins us for a fascinating discussion on the transformative impact of Artificial Intelligence (AI) in the world of singing, voice education and singing teacher marketing. Karen shares her wealth of knowledge on harnessing the power of apps and AI in your socials. We’re chatting about the importance of authenticity in your online presence, avoiding burnout on social media and curating your feeds to create a positive and inspiring online environmen...
Sep 26, 2023•27 min•Season 8Ep. 2
Send us a text We've been off the air for two months - so where were we? And where are we going? In this opening episode for Season 8, we reveal our future plans for singers, singing teachers, choral leaders and theatre MDs 00:00 Our 80th podcast episode! 01:05 Our Teacher Accreditation Programme 02:14 Our discoveries on the Discovery Calls 06:10 SIXTY contact hours 07:32 Changes to our online singing teacher courses 08:45 In-person appearances and masterclasses 12:33 Podcast guest and AI 15:36 ...
Sep 12, 2023•28 min•Season 8Ep. 1
Send us a text Part 2 of our deep conversation with jazz singer, composer & educator Louise Gibbs. Has Beyonce been teaching you this week? Moving from imitation to authenticity, finding your "groove" and dealing with bad self-talk. ***Warning! Some swearing, mostly from Gillyanne*** 0:00 Dealing with bad self-talk 1:37 Artistry - who is teaching you this week? 3:53 Study practice rehearse perform 7:11 Being in the moment 9:50 Dealing with self-editing singers 12:04 Why Louise is a singer no...
Jun 26, 2023•36 min•Season 7Ep. 12
Send us a text Our special guest for this week's This Is A Voice #podcast is jazz singer, recording artist, composer, educator and past president of the British Voice Association Louise Gibbs. It's a meeting of three practical minds in a deep & fascinating conversation about authenticity (for the singer and for the music), training authentic singers, exploring style envelopes and when to push their boundaries. 00:00 Being yourself to stand out 02:10 Why Gillyanne didn't like "I don't know ho...
Jun 19, 2023•32 min•Season 7Ep. 11
Send us a text Wonder what we do in our private coaching sessions? It's a secret. We don't normally reveal what happens (or who we work with) but in this podcast episode we're sharing some of the techniques and "happenings" that make up a great mentoring session. Jeremy has a particular passion for mentoring other singers, singing teachers, Musical Directors, vocal coaches and choir leaders. He describes why his Career Mentoring sessions are becoming so popular. Where do you want to be in a year...
Jun 05, 2023•29 min•Season 7Ep. 10
Send us a text You've probably seen our books, you've listened to the podcasts, but you may not know what we really do in our 1-1 lessons and masterclasses. We're Dr Gillyanne Kayes and Jeremy Fisher, and we own and run VocalProcess. We'll be sharing with you some examples of what we do in our 1-1 singing and coaching sessions, and why we do it. 0:00 Building new brain pathways 2:28 Talking about our singing lessons 3:54 Being client led & power imbalance 4:40 The extremes and Guru Gone Mad ...
May 29, 2023•38 min•Season 7Ep. 9
Send us a text What's the most efficient way to practice? And how can you set up your singing students to practise successfully? Jeremy's been doing it for years but we had it confirmed by Kittie Verdolini Abbott at our latest conference - Jeremy talks Variable Practice! Gillyanne shares how she collected a multi-disciplinary team for her Round Table conversation at UEP in Turkey on voice problems, boundaries and vocal challenges. Things you need to tell a surgeon if you're having surgery of any...
May 15, 2023•27 min•Season 7Ep. 8
Send us a text Why DO we do professional development? We're already professionals! What IS comfort zone and when should we be in it or out of it? Dr Gillyanne Kayes and Jeremy Fisher chat about comfort zone, continuing professional development (CPD) and their most recent injection of new thoughts via voice surgeons and SLTs. Why they attended a phoniatricians' conference and what they learned about extreme voice (distortions), vocal tremor, transgender voice surgery and themselves. Part 1 of 2. ...
May 08, 2023•30 min•Season 7Ep. 7
Send us a text A World Voice Day Special In part 2 of "Vocal Surgery and Beyond", Dr Gillyanne Kayes and Jeremy Fisher interview singer Kate Bassett on why she decided to go for vocal fold surgery. Kate talks through the decision and the second opinion, and the sentence that helped her decide (it involves rucksacks) How the surgery went and how long she was on "voice rest" (it might surprise you!). The voice therapy sequences she used and how Gillyanne built on them to move from speaking voice t...
Apr 24, 2023•28 min•Season 7Ep. 6
Send us a text A World Voice Day Special. Jeremy and Gillyanne interview Kate Bassett on her vocal surgery and recovery. This year's World Voice Day topic is Your Voice Matters. In this 2-Part podcast, singer Kate Bassett shares her story of acute vocal injury, therapy, vocal fold surgery and voice rehabilitation In Part 1 0:00 stigma and vocal injury 5:13 how the vocal injury happened 6:48 what happened next 9:10 the missing piece of information 11:22 needing more than just voice rest 12.43 goi...
Apr 17, 2023•35 min•Season 7Ep. 5
Send us a text What does your CV or resumé actually say about you? Is it up to date? Does it reflect who you are, what you want to do and who you want to work with? Expert vocal coach & career consultant Jeremy Fisher shares his process for rewriting your CV to attract the clients and jobs you want. Together Gillyanne and Jeremy discuss the right questions to ask, and share several examples of different CVs for teachers and singers. If you want your career to take off, you need to lead with ...
Apr 03, 2023•28 min•Season 7Ep. 4
Send us a text Self-promotion can feel like a dirty word, but as a singing teacher, vocal coach, choir leader or vocal health worker positioned in the arts, how do you show up in the world? How important is a website today? What should you have on it? How "big" should it be? We've just updated and upgraded the https://vocalprocess.co.uk website (it's live today) and it's been a fascinating process. We reduced our mega-website (250+ pages) to about 20+ pages plus blogs, AND we've now (for the fir...
Mar 28, 2023•34 min•Season 7Ep. 3
Send us a text Gillyanne & Jeremy answer more questions about classical vocal technique versus musical theatre vocal technique. Which is best, should you teach either or both, what do you teach students at different ages? Great questions submitted from our listeners too: How can I make "So In Love" stop sounding like Puccini? Do you teach a 16 year old classical AND musical theatre or choose one? With a new young MT student do you focus on legit or belting? Gillyanne talks about her PhD rese...
Mar 13, 2023•46 min•Season 7Ep. 2
Send us a text Voice experts Dr Gillyanne Kayes and Jeremy Fisher share their thoughts about classical versus musical theatre. Is there one technique that works for both? Is one inherently healthier to sing than the other? Should we be teaching different genres to young singers? We have comments and questions sent in by our This Is A Voice podcast listeners too - there are some strong opinions! We share our own backgrounds and talk about knowing yourself. And why recognising the "filters" throug...
Mar 06, 2023•31 min•Season 7Ep. 1
Send us a text This is part 2 of our Best Bits from the last 4 series of This Is A Voice podcasts! We've got four glittering presents for you, beautifully wrapped under the tree. 1. Impostor Syndrome (S3 Ep1) - the dictionary definition of imposter and why it isn't impostor syndrome - different types of impostor syndrome by Valerie Young, based on the work of Clance and Imes. Which one are you? - Why we recognise different types of imposter syndrome in our own lives 2. THE BREATH! (S3 Ep3) One o...
Dec 19, 2022•35 min•Season 6Ep. 16
Send us a text The last time we did a Best Bits was 43 episodes ago! So here are three of our favourite episodes from the last 18 months (part 1) 1. Vocal folds and hydration (S2 Ep9) - why singers have to be careful how MUCH water you drink (with a real-life horror story) - different types of dehydration + research into hydration and the effects on your voice - And which country has a different idea of how much water is enough 2. Songs, Lyrics and Life with Georgia Mancio (S2 Ep10). One of our ...
Dec 12, 2022•33 min•Season 6Ep. 15
Send us a text Dr Marisa Lee Naismith is back talking to Gillyanne & Jeremy, and we get a bit heated! How to work with authenticity in singing and finding a student's "mode" (1.00). Our own reactions to witnessing authenticity in our classes (we're all different - 4.50) Marisa takes us step by step through a lesson with a CCM (contemporary commercial music) singer plus what to listen for and what to ignore (9.25) Why Jeremy thinks there's an expert on the song in the room (and it's not us - ...
Dec 05, 2022•33 min•Season 6Ep. 14
Send us a text Ever wondered what it's like to do a PhD in vocal pedagogy? Or how that PhD might translate into teaching singing? Want to know exactly why we think classical vocal training doesn't work for contemporary commercial music singers? We go deep with Dr Marisa Lee Naismith, author of Singing Contemporary Commercial Music Styles, a pedagogical framework: How difficult is it to juggle the work of a PhD, family life and a full-time business? Marisa and Gillyanne compare notes (3.00) Why i...
Nov 28, 2022•36 min•Season 6Ep. 13
Send us a text Feed the dog! Changing your pitch patterns can help your listeners understand your emotions and meaning. In this week's This Is A Voice podcast (Season 6 Episode 12), expert vocal trainers Dr Gillyanne Kayes & Jeremy Fisher use the sentence "Feed the dog" to showcase different pitch patterns and meanings. We read out the instructions from the second half of exercise 26 (page 84 of This Is A Voice) and show you step by step how to change meaning, intonation and interest in your...
Nov 21, 2022•25 min•Season 6Ep. 12
Send us a text No? Yes! What makes a voice more interesting to listen to? Tone? Volume? Pitch patterns help your listeners understand your emotions and meaning. In this episode, expert vocal trainers Dr Gillyanne Kayes and Jeremy Fisher riff on pitch patterns and meaning in speaking voice. Exercise 26 on page 84 of our This Is A Voice book is a brilliant vocal technique exercise for improving your speaking (and singing). We go step by step through the instructions and demonstrate how the exercis...
Nov 14, 2022•20 min•Season 6Ep. 11
Send us a text What does a movie musical vocal coach do? Singer and pedagogue Irene Bartlett is back to chat with vocal trainers Gillyanne & Jeremy about coaching Austin Butler to sing Elvis in the latest movie, and how she works with singing teachers in the Pedagogy Programme at Griffith University in Brisbane. What was the first thing Irene needed to do when meeting Austin (or any singer) for the first time? (3.00) What is she listening for when working with professional singers? (6.53) Ho...
Nov 07, 2022•38 min•Season 6Ep. 10
Send us a text What is good singing? Singer and pedagogue Dr Irene Bartlett joins vocal trainers Gillyanne & Jeremy to talk about good singing, function and style. It’s an honest conversation between vocal trainers separated by 10,000 miles but together in spirit. Is it divisive to separate classical, CCM and Musical Theatre music? Irene has a great one-sentence answer to this (2.40) Is there a difference between classical singing lessons and musical theatre singing lessons? How do classical...
Oct 31, 2022•27 min•Season 6Ep. 9
Send us a text Gillyanne Kayes and Jeremy Fisher chat about putting their flagship vocal training course fully online for the first time, and describe the amazing content on each day of the course. And this episode they focus on consonants and false vowels, with an incredibly simple vocal technique to create more resonating space for awkward consonants, allowing you to match resonance more easily while singing words Discover why Jeremy says there isn't one way to breathe. And the thing you shoul...
Oct 24, 2022•28 min•Season 6Ep. 8
Send us a text #ThisIsAVoice Vocal trainers Dr Gillyanne Kayes and Jeremy Fisher show you how to find easy and accurate consonants in your songs. It's like having private singing lessons but with the very best vocal coaches! Jeremy and Gillyanne go deep into vocal articulation and the effect consonants have on vowels when you sing. When is a t not a t? When does an s become a z? What are your favourite singing genres and does it make a difference to the way you make your consonants? Watch Jeremy...
Oct 17, 2022•29 min•Season 6Ep. 7
Send us a text Vocal pedagogue Dr Gillyanne Kayes challenges vocal coach Jeremy Fisher to show how a ventriloquist can sing words clearly. Using @Darci Lynne 's excellent Creep video https://youtu.be/KB-390oClpw, Jeremy breaks down the movements needed to sing all the vowels and consonants in the song without moving your lips. Judge for yourself how well Jeremy does singing the first four lines of the Radiohead song Creep - does he move his lips? Can you follow the instructions and do the same? ...
Oct 10, 2022•16 min•Season 6Ep. 6
Send us a text Gillyanne & Jeremy are back demonstrating the exercises in the This Is A Voice book. This week they're kicking and elongating consonants. Gillyanne takes Jeremy through Exercise 24, Consonant Awareness, in the Speaking Effectively section. Breaking down the plosives! Jeremy speaks and sings tongue twisters with two different ways of using the consonants. You'll hear why one way is better than the other for singing in a non-classical style, and what changes Jeremy has to make t...
Oct 03, 2022•18 min•Season 6Ep. 5
Send us a text Petra Borzynski, singer, cognitive behavioural therapist & somatic vocal coach, is back with Gillyanne and Jeremy for more wisdom on dealing with emotion. Teacher boundaries, the difference between trauma and emotional discomfort, and why you don't need to be your student's therapist. There are questions on somatic exercises for performance nerves, and Jeremy shares what he did to deal with the extreme nerves in his workshop at the PEVoC conference last month. And a question o...
Sep 26, 2022•33 min•Season 6Ep. 4
Send us a text On the day of Queen Elizabeth's funeral, Petra Borzynski, cognitive behavioural therapist & somatic vocal coach, joins Gillyanne and Jeremy for some expert wisdom on dealing with emotion. Singing is an emotional act. And we sometimes need to sing, or to teach singing, when we're emotional. How do we deal with our own wobbles, and when should we deal with the wobbles of our singing students? There are questions from listeners on anxiety in singing lessons - when do we hold the ...
Sep 19, 2022•51 min•Season 6Ep. 3
