British Voice Association Conference
Glottal Start: laryngeal science into practice
9th September 2018, Baden-Powell Centre, London
The British Voice Association is a network that brings together professional voice users, healthcare professionals including speech and language therapists and ENT specialists, singing teachers and students in all these areas. Among its aims are the sharing of best practice in the area of pedagogies to support singing teachers and voice coaches in the work with professional singers and actors with voice problems. One issue that is emerging in this area is the value that could be gained from encouraging singing teachers and voice coaches to acquire a fuller knowledge of the basic science underpinning voice and the production of speech and song.
This conference was organised to provide updates in key areas of normal and abnormal laryngeal physiology for members of the Voice Association. I was invited, with my collaborators from Complutense University, Madrid, Professor Jose Ramon Sanudo and Dr Teresa Vazquez to provide a basic introduction at a broadly undergraduate level to laryngeal structure and function as well as highlighting some of the key recent developments in our understanding.
The multidisciplinary composition of the audience provide a stimulating environment. The meeting was of interest to me personally not least because currently I am co-supervising with Professor David Clarke in Music an M LItt student who is working precisely in this area. As the work develops we will describe its main outcomes most probably in the form of a seminar later next year.
Steve McHanwell, Director ERDP