This Is A Voice

Send us Fan Mail Experiencing the voice conference. Gillyanne & Jeremy join the Pan European  Voice Conference in Tallinn, Estonia and share their experience of the city, the speakers, the voice science papers and the behind-the-scenes moments. https://www.pevoc2022.ee/ Catch up on this year's PEVoC in Tallinn, Estonia https://www.pevoc2024.com/ For the next conference in Santander, Spain

Send us Fan Mail In this wide-ranging episode of This Is A Voice Podcast we chat with singer, author, musician and teacher Cate Frazier-Neely on: Working in the trenches - what it's like to be a singing teacher with an eclectic career (2.01) Jeremy's first terrifying job with Scottish Opera and how he stayed just one step ahead of the singers (5.00) The difference between playing a piano...

Send us Fan Mail We're joined by Cate Frazier-Neely, singer, author, pedagogue, collaborative pianist, composer and multi-instrumentalist, for a meeting of minds across the Pond. We chat about -musicality v musicianship -how we wrote the beatboxing chapter in our This Is A Voice book -working with spoken and sung voice -four different types of air supply -translating voice science into practi...

Send us Fan Mail We asked you for your opinions of six different logo designs. Wow, you did not disappoint. Your comments were brilliant, hilarious and outstandingly rude. In this episode we share the beginning-to-end process for choosing a new logo and brand look, and the worst of the comments you made the design brief we wrote the advice we were given (some great, some bad)  the design competiti...

Send us Fan Mail The work-life balance might be easier to find if you know the difference between hobby, job, career and vocation. Jeremy & Gillyanne chat about Jeremy's new blog post, based on a video by Elizabeth Gilbert, author of Big Magic and Eat, Pray, Love. What our hobbies are and why I discovered I was messing them up Why a job isn't a career, and what the real purpose of a...

Send us Fan Mail She's back! Specialist Speech & Language Therapist Tor Spence returns with in-depth advice on the bane of a singer's life - ACID REFLUX.  What acid reflux is and what it does Two types of acid reflux and why treatment for one might not work for the other Nocturnal coughing, upper and lower sphincters and soluble fibre We talk about LPR, GERD, PPIs and pepsins, and ho...

Send us Fan Mail Specialist Speech & Language Therapist Tor Spence joins us for a chat. She's become an expert on coughing - what it is, how we can control it and what it does to your voice. We break down the physiology of a cough, and describe the technique of mindful coughing. Tor also talks about the process of vocal diagnosis, both within the ENT structure and "sight unseen"...

Send us Fan Mail In the second episode of a new series, Dr Gillyanne Kayes & Jeremy Fisher take you through the two Breathy-Light Archetype exercises from the bestselling book This Is A Voice Jeremy demonstrates different versions of the breathy-light archetype at different points in his vocal range (covering almost 2 octaves), and Gillyanne uses the archetype to narrate part of "Arthur T...

Send us Fan Mail In the first of a new series, Dr Gillyanne Kayes & Jeremy Fisher take you through the Straws & Bubbles exercise from the bestselling book This Is A Voice Find out the upgrades we now add to the written exercise, and why we'd change some of the instructions Listeners share their successes using straw exercises including tackling anxiety and singers with PTSD And Gillya...

Send us Fan Mail This special podcast episode celebrates the annual World Voice Day. The motto this year is "Lift Your Voice".  We are Dr Gillyanne Kayes and Jeremy Fisher, and we're chatting about our #1 bestselling book on vocal technique, This Is A Voice.  Hear how we were commissioned to write the book, which exercises people love, and how we practise our own exercises. We'...

Send us Fan Mail Vocal warmups are an essential tool for singers, but do you even think about warming up your SPEAKING voice? You use your speaking voice far more than you use your singing voice, so it makes sense to warm that up first. In this week's Golden Nuggets Dr Gillyanne Kayes and Jeremy Fisher share excerpts from two of their best resources for speaking voice exercises and warmups: &...

Send us Fan Mail Vocal warmups. What are you warming up? Should you change your warmup depending on the job? What happens long-term when you do a targeted warmup? Gillyanne shares a case history of creating a targeted warmup for a professional singer, and Jeremy tells the story of MD-ing the national tour of Calamity Jane and how the cast knew his warmups were different. There are excerpts from We...

Send us Fan Mail Bestselling author and singing audition coach Jeremy Fisher on how to tackle singing auditions to get a job in London's West End. This week's Golden Nuggets from the book Why Do I Need A Vocal Coach include the full process for singing auditions for a West End musical. The Cattle Call - your best 16 bars or even less The First "private" audition - what does the...

Send us Fan Mail Jeremy's flying solo this week as Gillyanne's recovering from heart surgery. He's sharing thoughts on Successful Singing Auditions, how to cut a song, and how to win at the 16-bar audition. We're including footage of Jeremy's and Gillyanne's analysis of the song "I'm Alive" from Next To Normal, feedback from the Successful Singing Audit...

Send us Fan Mail Breathing exercises are fine but what about when you have to sing a song? Is breathy sound in singing always bad? Can you sing healthily with abducted vocal folds? What's the difference between breathy and leaky sound? And should you be breathing in through your mouth or your nose? Dr Gillyanne Kayes and Jeremy Fisher dive into the answers to all these questions in this Golde...

Send us Fan Mail What does breathing mean for you if you're a singer? Do you breathe in exactly the same way whatever you sing? Do you have enough breath? Too much breath? Can't get to the ends of phrases? Only have a breathy tone? In this week's Golden Nuggets singing experts Dr Gillyanne Kayes & Jeremy Fisher chat about troubleshooting breathing for singers.   This was the mos...

Send us Fan Mail How do you handle singing exams, vocal auditions and voice competitions? Do you know exactly what to do or are you a gibbering wreck? In this week's Golden Nuggets singing experts Dr Gillyanne Kayes & Jeremy Fisher chat about their resources on how to ace the singing audition.   The introduction was recorded during Storm Eunice and they share the tale of chickens and wind...

Send us Fan Mail In the Golden Nuggets Week of 14th February, we're talking about nerves, confidence, vocal technique versus story telling, and poop.  We're sharing gems from Webinar 5 - Exams Auditions and Competitions - and how to ace the audition. You'll hear Gillyanne and I talking about the cycle of nerves and why it's important to know that your cycle might not be my cycl...

Send us Fan Mail In the Golden Nuggets Week of 7th February, we share Case Histories from our course archive.  You'll hear Gillyanne share techniques for increasing range and changing timbre.  Jeremy shares the "before and after" masterclass on using motivation to improve belting. And he reads a case history in Why Do I Need A Vocal Coach, on coaching out of the box to help a singer...

Send us Fan Mail In this new This Is A Voice Golden Nuggets series-within-a-series, we share weekly updates on what inspires us, and how we work with and analyse singing, music and voices. In the Golden Nuggets Week of 31st January, Jeremy reads some of his book Why Do I Need A Vocal Coach, on "same song, different characters", and Gillyanne shares an inspiring podcast episode from Dr Ra...

Send us Fan Mail So much to share we needed a part 2! Carrie shares the top symptoms to look out for (according to the RCSLT Voice CEN Survey) Accessibility decisions for singers experiencing Long COVID Why "train train train" on a straw isn't the target Startling advice on singing lessons and dizziness (we agree!) How using the One Minute Voice Warmup app can support singers in rec...

Send us Fan Mail We're discussing Long Covid and its effects on speaking and singing. Our guest is highly specialist speech and language therapist, singer and singing teacher Carrie Garrett. Symptoms of Long Covid (it's a looong list!) How singing teachers can support students with Long Covid The difference between Long Covid and post-Covid syndrome Types of vocal exercises that are usef...

Send us Fan Mail Jeremy Fisher & Dr Gillyanne Kayes chat about collaboration and life Why we collaborate with other people Has it ever gone wrong? (Has it ever!) The most important conversation you can have when you begin your collaboration And we announce a new brand for actors, singers and theatre people that say it like it (almost) is – Voicenerdz   Mentioned in this episode Send us a quest...

Send us Fan Mail Dr Gillyanne Kayes & Jeremy Fisher take a deeper breath and dive lower into part 2 of breathing techniques for singers & speakers. And we share Breathing and tongue position (with demonstrations) Is nose breathing better than mouth breathing for singers? Is there a difference in pressure between inhaling through the nose and through the mouth? Breathing, the sympathetic an...

Send us Fan Mail Dr Gillyanne Kayes & Jeremy Fisher dive deep into breathing techniques for singers & speakers. And we share What MDs really shouldn’t do to their singers Why one of the classical “rules” really doesn’t serve the singer (and you still hear it on recordings) When you don’t need much breath Why rhythm is so important for easy singing (and it may not be what you think) Why Rib...