Performing Pain: Vocal Health in Emotional Roles!
Thursday 19th February 2026, 1:00 PM - 2:30 PM (London Time)
Thursday 26th February 2026, 1:00 PM - 2:30 PM (London Time)
What is the link between acted emotion and vocal health in speech and singing?
How connected are acted emotions to our real-life emotions? Are they expressed differently? Do they feel different in the body? The intensity of internalised emotion can be a worry for some performers. In real emotion, sympathetic arousal can increase cardiovascular circulation (the sensation of the heart racing), impact respiration (short, shallow breaths) and increase muscular activity as a preparation to flee, brace, or fight (which can cause pitch to rise, vocal folds to become pressed, and the jaw to become locked). What happens when we experience this while singing or speaking for performance? Are there times when performed emotion can start to present physiologically as real emotion?
This 2-part course looks at the potential impact of acted emotion on vocal health, why we should consider it as voice practitioners, and how to care for our performers needing to work with it.
Who is it for?
This course is for voice practitioners (speech or singing) who work with performers needing to use acted emotion. The focus will primarily surround negative emotion in the acting voice and the musical theatre voice.
Session 1: What happens in the body when we experience real and acted emotion?
We will explore the physiological responses to real life emotion and look at research that has compared this to acted emotion. We will discuss the boundaries between real and acted emotion and discuss how this plays out in our work.
Session 2: How to prepare for it
In the second session we will move to focusing on practical strategies for preparing for emotional work from a vocal health (rather than performative) perspective and how to care for the voice when heightened emotional performance causes difficulties.
🏷️ Price £50 (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
Louisa Morgan
Louisa Morgan is a lecturer, voice teacher and researcher, with a special focus on spoken and sung emotion. Louisa lectures with Voice Study Centre (spoken voice lead) and teaches Musical Theatre students on the MA/MFA course at the Guildford School of Acting (GSA).
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.
Wednesday 4th March 2026
1:00 PM - 2:00 PM
Wednesday 11th March 2026
1:00 PM - 2:00 PM
Wednesday 18th March 2026
1:00 PM - 2:00 PM
Wednesday 25th March 2026
1:00 PM - 2:00 PM
Wednesday 1st April 2026
1:00 PM - 2:00 PM
Wednesday 8th April 2026
1:00 PM - 2:00 PM
(London Time)
Learn to Coach RP and SSBE – a Certificate in Accent Coaching
Louisa Morgan
This six-week course is an opportunity to learn about both Received Pronunciation and Standard Southern British English. Rather than a course in learning how to speak RP/SSBE (there are many brilliant available courses for this already), this course is about learning how to coach it.
Wednesday 25th March 2026
5:00 PM - 7:00 PM
(London Time)
Mastering the Art of "Marking": Vocal Longevity for the Modern Singer
Jacob Wright
Don’t just save your voice—optimize it! Join Jacob Wright as he explores marking technique in singing, a vocal conservation strategy used by singers during rehearsals and extended performance periods. Marking involves singing at reduced vocal intensity, altered pitch, or modified vocal quality to preserve vocal health while maintaining musical and dramatic engagement. Participants will gain practical tools for implementing marking in their own practice, teaching, or clinical work, supported by current research and voice science principles!
Friday 27th March 2026
1:00 PM - 3:00 PM
(London Time)
Muscle Tension Dysphonia in the Singing Voice!
Dr Claire Thomas
A specialist course for singing teachers and voice professionals! Designed specifically for those working with singers, this in-depth course with Dr Claire Thomas explores Muscle Tension Dysphonia (MTD) through the lens of the singing voice - bridging clinical research and studio practice.