Nearly two and a half years ago, a new graduate SLT called Rhiannon Grebert approached me after attending my Vital Voice course. She was interested in any work opportunities i could offer her. Following a period of observation, training and supervision, Rhiannon came to work at my practice part-time. Rhiannon’s specific interest was working with transgender Voice. She has worked … Read More
Diamond Group Session – April 2019
In typical springlike weather, the Diamond April group session blew into action. This is my longest established voice group and is named Diamond because of its endurance. I’ve run many other more formatted groups both within the NHS (first in 2002) and in private practice and new groups are currently planned for the future but the diamond group is worth … Read More
Courses, Presentations and Research
The first quarter of 2019 was characterised by busy clinic practice and delivering varied teaching and presentations. During an unusually sunny February, I taught two courses at my treatment rooms and gave a presentation at University College London (UCL) : 2 day Vital Voice Course 2 day Working With Transgender Voice Course (one free place given to a very newly … Read More
Seeing the Vocal Light: A Case of Laryngeal Papillomatosis
What is laryngeal papillomatosis? The diagnosis of vocal cord papilloma can prove to be one of the most challenging voice conditions for sufferers . For voice therapists, our interventions are often limited and restricted to pre and post surgery assessment and advice. Papillomatosis is a rare condition in which small benign tumours caused by the human papillomavirus (HPV) infect the … Read More
You’re As Young As Your Voice
Voice Matters- Whatever Your Age Whether I’m assisting a performer or a retired person back to vocal health , their voice matters to them- and to me. Loss of voice function can be debilitating and socially and professionally limiting sometimes, it can cause huge financial loss. The Professor and The Conference One day I was contacted by a polite 86 yr old gentleman … Read More
ELVIS & CHER: From Fernando to Walking In Memphis
The Loss of a King The 16th August sees the anniversary of the death of Elvis Presley. I’m a lifelong fan. It started from early childhood I think because my parents had so many albums and I was a kid that listened to singers and played albums – a lot. Just like people of a certain age remember where they … Read More
The Girl With No Voice
10 year old Mary had not voiced for over 3 months. Not one vocalisation related to speech had ensued from her vocal tract in that time. She had already seen two ENTs and one speech therapist with no return of Voice. The second ENT, referred Mary to me. Both ENTs had assessed Mary’s laryngeal anatomy as normal with no evident … Read More
Mind the Gap: The Breathy Singer
There’s a place for breathy voice quality. In singing, it can feature for stylistic reasons or as part of falsetto range. In the spoken voice though, it might best be limited to an intimate bedroom setting. A spoken voice that’s too heavily populated with breathy voice quality is usually a voice that’s in trouble – either the vocal cords aren’t … Read More
VoiceUp – From Male to Female Voice
Spotlight On: Transgender Voice Modification Recently a trans woman client presented for voice feminisation. The initial assessment had similar elements to the thousands of other initial assessments I have carried out with trans women. This first session always contains my initial two exercises. I want clients – some of whom have often travelled considerable distances to access the service- to … Read More
“Transformation Street” on ITV
It may be of interest to many of our clients and indeed the Speech and Language Therapist community to know that a new 3-part documentary series entitled Transformation Street has now begun airing on ITV with the first episode having aired on Thursday 11th January. A trailer for the series can be seen below: