Working with the adolescent voice

At Vocal Process we believe that good, informed training should start early.

So on April 25th we're running our one-day training course on working with the child and adolescent voice.

The Developing Voice is presented by Jenevora Williams, adolescent voice expert, researcher and teacher. Jenevora's currently involved in research into the training and vocal health of boy choristers and has a great deal of useful, practical information on the development of the larynx and vocal tract throughout childhood.

It is worrying that so many singing teachers, conductors and vocal coaches think that the young voice is simply a smaller version of the mature adult voice. So much damage can be caused by well-meaning but misguided teaching.

A child's voice is not the same as an adolescent's voice, and the adolescent voice is not the same as the adult voice. There are massive physical changes, both skeletal and hormonal, that occur for both boys and girls in their early teenage years.

On the course, Jenevora will guide teachers (and students) through the five stages of change that a boy's voice goes through, and help them identify which vocal practices are healthy.

There is also a three-minute voice test to work out which stage of change the student is passing through, and information on range, voice qualities and suitable exercises, including how to deal with breathiness in girl's voices.

Singing is now a required part of the school curriculum - the UK government's Music Manifesto intends to “put singing back at the heart of all primary school musical activity through the creation of nationwide singing campaign leading up to the 2012 Olympics”.

To find out more about Jenevora's work, and to read about changes in the vocal mechanism from birth to adulthood, visit the Vocal Process website and click on Resources, Articles. You'll find interviews, downloads and presentations on the adolescent voice.

You can also read more about the Developing Voice course on April 25 by clicking here.

We hope to see you there!

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