Stammering: vocal hindrance or vocal liberator?
Tuesday 11th June 2024, 5:00 PM - 7:00 PM (London Time)
What connects Bachman-Turner Overdrive, Ben’s Brother and The Who? The answer is they’ve all produced songs containing stammered lyrics. Integrating stammering, a communication difference often viewed as something to be fixed through therapy, within musical art may, superficially at least, appear to be an unusual decision but what if we could see beauty in stammering and represent it in art, poetry, song, flags and even font? Come to this workshop to find out how this has been done.
The recent brain research highlighting stammering as a form of neurodivergence is shifting therapy approaches with increasing emphasis on the value of stammered voices. They encourage us to reflect on what matters in conversation and how stammering can add dimension and freedom to vocal performances.
This session will present what stammering is (and isn’t), link the approach-avoidance conflict with performance anxiety and consider what it means to be fluent. The potential physical and emotional struggle contained within the stammering experience is acknowledged alongside opportunities to view stammering through alternative, more supportive lenses, with opportunity to consider what you might do in your practice as a stammering ally.
By the end of this workshop, you’ll understand why King George VI practised speeches with a gramophone playing in the background, where metronomes have been used in therapy and know why speaking with marbles in your mouth is never a good idea!
Carolyn Andrews
Carolyn Andrews is an independent speech and language therapist and senior teaching fellow at the University of Strathclyde. With 25 years’ clinical experience she specialises in adult voice problems and adult stammering, and enjoys walking alongside her clients and students to build their knowledge, practice and voice use.
Attend this course for as little as £22 as part of the Voice Professional Training CPD Award Scheme.
Learn MoreSorry, 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.
Monday 3rd August 2026
1:30 PM - 2:30 PM
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In our workshop with the Voice Study Centre, participants will learn the foundational tool of the Meisner Technique, 'repetition', and gain insight into additional aspects of the technique that are particularly useful for singers such as emotional preparation and 'the physical impediment'.
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5:00 PM - 7:00 PM
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Dr Silvia Ciancia
How do sex hormones define the human voice? Join Dr Silvia Cianca as she offers a comprehensive exploration of the vocal apparatus as a hormone-sensitive organ, analysing the physiological changes occurring at puberty as well as the changes induced by gender-affirming hormones initiated during adolescence. This session is specifically about the fascinating research on the influence of sex hormones on the voice, and the physical outcomes of gender-affirming care delivered to adolescents; it does not focus on vocal training itself.