Short Courses & Events / Archive

'Mal canto' and the cultural politics of voice pedagogy: provocations from a critical disability studies (CDS) perspective

Thursday 14th November 2024, 5:00 PM - 7:00 PM (London Time)

‘Mal canto’ and the cultural politics of voice pedagogy: provocations from a critical disability studies perspective.

Critical disability studies (CDS) is a growing field of academic enquiry that has gained considerable traction over the past two decades.   Encouraging us to think beyond typical medical and legal definitions, CDS analyses disability as a complex cultural, historical, political and relational phenomenon.

In this short course, I apply the insights of CDS to voice pedagogy and the academic discipline of voice studies, more broadly. I suggest that disability is highly relevant to our field in significant (and potentially surprising) ways.

In his book, Shakin’ All Over: Popular Music and Disability (2013), Georgie McKay coins the phrase ‘mal canto’ in opposition to the historico-pedagogical notion of idealised singing, ‘bel canto’ (lit. beautiful singing). In this course, I use McKay’s critical concept as a starting point for identifying and disrupting the potentially ableist norms that are often sustained within the field of voice studies and vocal pedagogy.

Key topics:  Critical Disability Studies, access, inclusion, disability justice

🏷️ Price £30 (UK VAT inclusive)
🎥 Recording automatically sent to all who book (even if you cannot attend live)
▶️ Rewatch as many times as you like
📜 Certificate of attendance available

David Cane

David is a lecturer, researcher, singer, singing teacher and choir director.  He is a former choral scholar of King’s College, Cambridge where he studied for a degree in Theology and Religious Studies.

CPD Course Logo

Attend this course for as little as £22 as part of the Voice Professional Training CPD Award Scheme.

Learn More

Sorry, this is an archived short course...

We have plenty of upcoming short courses coming soon. See details of some of them below or look at the full list of short courses.

Trauma-Informed Voice Professional Certificate with Dr Elisa Monti
Thursday 1st May 2025
5:00 PM - 7:00 PM
Thursday 8th May 2025
5:00 PM - 7:00 PM
Thursday 15th May 2025
5:00 PM - 7:00 PM
Thursday 22nd May 2025
5:00 PM - 7:00 PM
Thursday 29th May 2025
5:00 PM - 7:00 PM
(London Time)

Trauma-Informed Voice Professional Certificate with Dr Elisa Monti

Dr Elisa Monti

This five-part certificate course is designed to help participants learn the theory and practice of trauma-informed approaches. The concepts and activities included are tailored to meet the needs of voice specialists who want to acquire more specific tools to navigate the space with their students and colleagues.

Mindfulness and Voice: Exploring the Intersection through Peer-Reviewed Literature
Tuesday 6th May 2025
3:00 PM - 5:00 PM
(London Time)

Mindfulness and Voice: Exploring the Intersection through Peer-Reviewed Literature

Catherine Brown

Despite strong interest, only a handful of peer-reviewed studies have examined the relationship between mindfulness and voice. Emerging research indicates that mindfulness can help voice users learn to respond to stress more effectively and may help them manage performance anxiety. In this course, we will examine several types of peer-reviewed literature: a) mindfulness studies that indirectly relate to voice work. b) We will review research that examines mindfulness as it relates to voice-adjacent fields (e.g., music performance anxiety and stammering/stuttering). c) We will look at the few published studies that have directly investigated the relationship between mindfulness and voice and d) we will examine directions for future qualitative and quantitative research.

Acceptance & Commitment Coaching for Beginners: An Overview and Guide for Using it to Address Common Performance-Related Problems of a Psychological Nature (3-part course)
Tuesday 6th May 2025
6:00 PM - 8:00 PM
Wednesday 7th May 2025
6:00 PM - 8:00 PM
Friday 9th May 2025
6:00 PM - 8:00 PM
(London Time)

Acceptance & Commitment Coaching for Beginners: An Overview and Guide for Using it to Address Common Performance-Related Problems of a Psychological Nature (3-part course)

Dr David Juncos

Acceptance and Commitment Therapy or Coaching (ACT) is an empirically-supported psychotherapy & coaching intervention for a variety of common issues facing student and professional musicians from across the world. Some of these include performance anxiety, perfectionism & self-criticism, procrastination, and work-related stress & burnout.