Short Courses & Events / Archive

Music and the Sound Mind

Thursday 15th February 2024, 5:00 PM - 7:00 PM (London Time)

Making sense of sound is one of the sophisticated jobs we ask our brains to do.

Dr Nina Kraus, Northwestern University professor, director of the Brainvolts Lab, and author of the book Of Sound Mind: How Our Brain Constructs a Meaningful Sonic World examines the partnership of sound and brain, showing that the processing of sound drives many of the brain’s core functions and leaves a fundamental imprint on who we are as human beings.

Our hearing brain interacts with what we know, with our emotions, with how we think, with our movements, and with our other senses. Dr Kraus explores the power of music for healing as well as the destructive power of noise on the nervous system.

She describes why musicians—defined here as anyone who has played an instrument regularly at any point in their lives—have measurably better sound minds for decades. The sounds of our lives shape our brains, for better and for worse, and help us build the sonic world we live in.

🏷️ 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

Dr Nina Kraus

Dr Nina Kraus is Hugh Knowles Professor of Communication Sciences, Neurobiology and Otolaryngology at Northwestern University. As a biologist and amateur musician, she thinks about sound and brain health.

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

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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
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Thursday 15th May 2025
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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

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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
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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.