William Leigh Knight is a singer and voice teacher, who trained, at the Guildhall School of Music and Drama (GSMD). His performances have ranged from song recitals and chamber opera to mediaeval church music drama. He has always been a professional church chorister but now, living on a remote Scottish island, he is a parish organist. Last year he was awarded the RSCM Nicholson Award, for sustaining the church music in Colonsay.
His teaching experience is varied: a stage school, a girls’ secondary school (1972-2002), a private ‘pop-singing’ teaching studio, adult education colleges (including Morley College 2004-2018) and his own private teaching practice. The experience included: voice teacher, vocal coach, class teacher of singing technique and performance, general music theory and choir leading.
Having studied sciences at university, William was always curious about the phenomenon of ‘tone-deafness’ but had little opportunity to examine it systematically. Eventually at Morley College, it became a major part of his practice, and a serious study; in 2017 he was invited to join a research project ‘Finding a Voice’, at GSMD, into teaching ‘non-singers’. In 2020 he was awarded a doctorate for his thesis: ‘A PERSON-CENTRED PRACTICE - Empowering musically disadvantaged adults through singing’. This explores the title subject: through the experiences, conversations and observations made by working as singer, teacher, and choir-leader, as well as during the earlier part of his life, before he became a music student. These are contrasted with the paradigms of teaching that he received as a student, but increasingly questioned
Upcoming Short Courses
Thursday 30th July 2026
2:00 PM - 4:00 PM
(London Time)
A VOICE FOR THE VOICELESS | Person-Centred Singing Teaching
William Leigh Knight
Only around 3% of the population fall into the category of amusia while over 17% consider themselves ‘tone-deaf’; and this does not account for non-singers, a wider group sometimes described as ‘tuneless’. So, who are ‘the voiceless’? Join William Leigh-Knight as he unpicks this question and considers the purpose of training a voice, when it is considered such a natural human attribute, and he expands on the principles that drive his own practice, which may be summarised as ‘person-centeredness’
Past Short Courses
Thursday 5th October 2023
5:00 PM - 7:00 PM
(London Time)
A Voice for the Voiceless
William Leigh Knight
This course is about helping the voiceless to find their voices. It offers strategies and tools for working with those who consider themselves ‘tone-deaf’ or ‘non-singers’.