Working with Muscle Tension in Singers
Wednesday 2nd November 2022, 6:00 PM - Tuesday 2nd November 2021 8:00 PM (London Time)
Muscle tension dysphonia (MTD) is a voice disorder in which the patient presents with altered vocal quality and/or function that is determined to be a result of maladaptive, inefficient coordination of the vocal system. Although laryngeal examination often reveals significant tension of the muscles in and surrounding the larynx, the maladaptive tension can often include the articulators, muscles of the neck, shoulders, back, abdomen, and/or lower body. The MTD may be primary, in which no structural abnormalities are found in the larynx, or secondary, in which the muscle tension arises as a compensation for an underlying laryngeal pathology. As a functional voice disorder, MTD is most optimally managed by a speech-language pathologist or speech-language therapist.
However, most singers will experience some form or degree of maladaptive muscle tension during their training as a part of normal development of vocal technique. The singing teacher is often the first person to identify the muscle tension. How do the singing teacher and SLP/SLT determine when muscle tension is part of normal acquisition of technique and when it crosses the line into pathology?
In this workshop, the presenter will explore these and other questions, as well as strategies for reducing maladaptive muscle tension in the studio and clinic.
- Untying the Knot
- What is Muscle Tension Dysphonia?
- How is MTD treated?
- When is muscle tension a “normal” part of developing singing technique and when is it a disorder?
- Appropriate referral patterns between vocal health care providers and singing teachers/voice trainers.
- Clinical interventions
- Manual therapy models
- Relaxation and stretching exercises
- Rehabilitative vocal exercises
- Medical treatments
- Strategies and exercises for addressing muscle tension in the studio or clinic
- Core stability and anchoring the larynx
- Tongue tension
- Jaw tension
- Laryngeal tension
- Upper body tension
- Abdominal tension
- Case Studies
Leda Scearce
Soprano Leda Scearce has been featured in leading roles with the National Opera Company, Hawaii Opera Theatre, Long Leaf Opera Festival, Triangle Opera...
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.
Thursday 5th March 2026
1:00 PM - 2:30 PM
Thursday 12th March 2026
1:00 PM - 2:30 PM
(London Time)
Acting Emotion: Perspectives from the Masters
Louisa Morgan
Stanislavski said, “our artistic emotions are, at first, as shy as wild animals and they hide in the depths of our souls.” Michael Chekhov said, our bodies should be like a “sensitive membrane, a kind of receiver and conveyor of the subtlest images, feelings, emotions and will impulses.” And Meisner said we should be “living truthfully under imaginary circumstances.” Join Louisa Morgan in this 2-part course as she explores a range of well-known acting practitioners to investigate what they believed (or believe) about emotion and how they approached it in their work. She'll compare their work to see where they align and where they diverge.
Tuesday 17th March 2026
5:00 PM - 7:00 PM
(London Time)
The Use of Vibrato in Belt and Legit Styles of Singing in Professional Female Musical Theatre Performers
Dr. Alyssa Becker
Shaped by the popular music of its time, musical theatre blends storytelling with an ever-evolving range of vocal styles—from classical legit singing to jazz, hip-hop, and powerhouse belting. Despite its importance, much of what we understand about vibrato comes from laboratory-based studies that strip singing of its musical, stylistic, and performance context. Join Dr Alyssa Becker as she connects current research with real-world pedagogy, revealing how elite musical theatre performers strategically use vibrato to shape style and storytelling, and showing how these insights can be applied in the voice studio to train stylistic flexibility and control!