We run successful private practices in Cardiff and London.

The focus is on the individual and training the person.

At How The Voice Works our singing lessons are specifically composed to provide:

Understanding YOUR voice: Building the skills

• Balancing the production of the voice. POWER – SOURCE – FILTER.

• Conquering the ultimate vocal challenge for the singer – PITCH and RANGE.

• Linking voice production to breathing.

• Building vocal qualities from Opera to Belt.

• Understanding the physical sensations of the voice. What muscles are working and where.

• A practice regime designed to give the performer the freedom and control they desire.

• Elite practice for Elite performers.

• Lessons in The Estill Model.

Communication: Developing the artist

• Advice on song repertoire for Professional Auditions, College Auditions, Song Competitions and appropriate material to help you develop.

• Linking muscularity to performance.

• Understanding anxiety and performance nerves.

• Diction.

• Projection.

Our unique skill set:

• Detailed physiological understanding of the voice.

• Detailed functional understanding of the voice.

• Licensed Estill teachers.

• Professional performing as well as coaching experience.

• Over 30 years of teaching experience.

• Laryngeal massage.

• Dealing with performance anxiety and nerves.

• Diagnostic voice work.

• Research and development of physiological and psychological aspects of vocal performance.

We can’t lay claim to be at the forefront of this understanding as we all owe Jo Estill a debt of gratitude for the 40 years of research she did on the voice. Her brilliance, spirit, and extraordinary insight has enabled us to learn and understand so much about the function of the voice. Jo wanted to teach the world to sing, and left her life’s work to help us all to do that.

Who was Jo Estill?

Jo Estill was an educator, researcher and singer. She developed the Estill Voice Training system. Her driving question was: ‘How am I doing this?’ This led her to move from a career in performing to voice research and teaching.

What is the Estill Model?

The Estill model is a model of function. A system of voice training that helps explain and allows you to develop the functional awareness of how the voice works. It focuses on structures in the larynx that produce sound and how that sound source is shaped in the vocal filter to influence resonance and voice quality.

It also address the artistry of singing and allows you to make connections between the muscular use and communication in the voice. For more information on the Estill Model, take a look at the Estill Voice site estillvoice.com

Where is the Estill Model used?

The Estill Model informs the work of teachers working in West End and Broadway Theatres, many of the major Opera Houses, Conservatoires and Musical Theatre training schools. The principles behind the Estill Model are truly universal, it explains ‘How The Voice Works’ and can also be seen in action in Voice Clinics around the world.

Guiding Principles of The Estill Voice Training System:

The Estill Voice Training System has no aesthetic bias.

All qualities are acceptable as long as vocal health is not jeopardised.

Everyone has a beautiful voice.

How we can help

• Individual tuition on the Estill model.

• CFP (Certificate of Figure Proficiency) preparation.

• Practice groups to help develop functional skill in the model.

• Introduction to the Estill Model workshops.

• Revision and practice for those familiar with the model but looking to develop functional understanding. (We can understand the ideas more quickly than we can learn to instruct the muscles – this takes time and practice).

• The voice is our communication. It’s how we understand many of the intricate subtleties of human interaction.

• We all feel we need to go to the gym more often to condition our bodies for aesthetic and health reasons.

• How many of us feel we need our voices in condition in order to maximise our potential to express our ideas and thoughts to others?

• Training focused on the skills needed to sing and communicate in the way we want to.

• Whether we are elite singers on the professional stage, the teacher in the classroom, the politician in government we all need to understand how the way in which we use our voice directly affects the level of communication of our ideas.

Tim and Ian are experts in efficient vocal function and often take part in Voice Clinics, working alongside ENT Surgeons and Speech and Language Therapists.

They have assisted many people in their recovery from vocal trauma and given extensive training to Speech and Language Therapists specialising in voice. They have an expert understanding of the effects vocal pathology has on function, and have a close working relationship with some of the leading ENT surgeons and clinicians in the UK.

Tim is currently contributing to a clinical study on Muscle Tension Dysphonia and Ian runs a Soft Tissue Therapy clinic to help clients manage voice disorders and to help professional voice users maintain healthy vocal function. A combination of expert coaching and manual therapy can be an excellent adjunct or alternative to Speech Therapy.

There are a number of benefits to working this way:

• They work excellently for singers on tour who can check in for a warm-up or a vocal MOT.

• Very popular amongst our International Singers, so they can maintain regular contact and practice in between our visits, or their visits to our London or Cardiff studios.

• Ideal for practising an Estill Figure or for receiving teaching on a Figure or Quality.

• Time effective: Sessions can be 30 minutes to help you prepare or practice, and there’s no need to travel!

• Cost effective: Takes out the costs of travel.

Zoom sessions are very popular amongst our existing clients, and the very high sound and image quality of modern computers, phones and tablets mean that the sessions are an excellent adjunct to lessons. In our work they enable us to support singers in different time zones, warm-up a singer before an important show without needing to be present and provide short notice support to our singers, because we are able to work from anywhere.

We offer bespoke, and fully packaged Showreel Services to suit all situations, standards and budgets. Whilst there are lots of companies offering the technical services, we are also able to bring industry leading vocal knowledge and outstanding accompanists in one complete package. Here are just a few of the available options:

Give your self-tapes a bit of ‘sparkle and fizz….’

We can work with you remotely to help you film and master your self-tapes, to help them stand out from the crowd. This involves a separation of the audio of the vocal and accompaniment, followed by a bit of post-production ‘sparkle and fizz….’ If you already have a track that you are happy with, we can work with that but if you need some new accompaniment we can arrange a rep session for you and provide a customised track for you to record with. This can all be done without any face-to-face contact, and can be turned around quickly to allow you to submit audition material, or to update your website or Spotlight page. Take a look at our quick ‘how to’ guide here

Video Recording Sessions at our Cowbridge Studio

For an even more professional feel, you can take advantage of a recording session at our Cowbridge Studio. We have regular filming days where you can book in to shoot a single track, or if you prefer you can book an entire session and work on three or four new songs for auditions, your website or Spotlight Page. We will provide everything needed for the session, including our Associate Teacher, David Laugharne or Sharon Fry (for Classical Repertoire) at our beautiful Yamaha Grand Piano. The price of the session includes all the post-production edit to deliver the finished tracks. We can shoot in Full HD or 4K, and have very high quality studio microphones for both the singers and the piano. You can see a short example below, and more on our Videos page.

Video Recording Sessions at Fieldgate Studio (or on location….)

If you want the ultimate bespoke recording session, then on request we can arrange a session at Fieldgate for you. These four hour sessions include one of our pianists at their amazing Fazioli Concert Grand Piano, recording engineer and either Ian or Tim available to coach if needed. We can also arrange stills photography in addition to the video session if required. You can see the film from our first Fieldgate Sessions here, and you will see some of the fabulous stills from the session taken by Aga Tomaszek dotted around the site.