What would you consider to be the main focus of your career or your “speciality”?

This is always a tricky question for me as I wear many hats, but broadly speaking I am a specialist in the field of Performing Arts Medicine. As my own performance career included dance, singing, and acting, I combine Osteopathic treatment for performance-related injuries with my knowledge of voice and dance technique to help artists resolve the root cause of their issues alongside optimizing their performance skills. As I also have a Masters in Psychology, I help artists get to the core of their authentic creativity so they can harness their emotions both in general life and in the performance context.

How did you discover your calling for your speciality? How did it start?

Having been in full time performing arts training from the age of seven and spending five years performing professionally from the age of eight, by the time I was in dance college at the age of 16, my body had already been through a lot! I developed an injury at age 17 that threatened to be career-ending until I was asked to be a case study for a final year Osteopathy student who was doing her thesis on dance injuries. During those sessions, I not only fully resolved my injury, but I learned so much about the workings of my body and how they related to technique that 10 years of full time arts training had failed to supply! Although I went straight into a career, first with a Ballet company and then in Musical Theatre, everything I had learned from my experience of Osteopathy remained with me as a guide. It also became obvious to me that many treatment professionals had little or no understanding of the specifics of performance-related injuries and were unable to get to the root cause of many issues due to a lack of technical knowledge, so I decided I would like to fill that gap.

I trained initially as a Sports Injury Therapist while still performing in Musical Theatre. I would spend the daytime doing treatments for cast members in the West End Theatres, then would go and do my own show in the evening. Always wanting to know more, I decided to take the plunge of a five-year Osteopathy degree program. As I had moved on from 10 years of performing in the West End to become the lead singer of a Swing band, this allowed me more time for study. I continued to perform as a singer throughout my training and during my first 10 years of practice as an Osteopath. I worked at the British Association for Performing Arts Medicine alongside many of the esteemed pioneers of that field, and I was part of the team that developed the Masters of Science degree in Performing Arts Medicine at University College, London, fulfilling my passion for educating other medical practitioners in the specifics of treating artists.

What do you love the most about your work?

As I primarily work with vocalists when they are experiencing some sort of vocal challenge, it is necessary to get down to the root cause to discover the origins of the issue. This involves supporting individuals in taking a 'journey to the self' to explore their fundamental relationship to their craft and to deepen their understanding of the body in the context of vocal production. I really enjoy taking people through this process, unraveling the origin of their symptoms like a detective story, then applying the knowledge gained into the context of enhanced technique and performance skills. It requires me to combine my skills as an Osteopath, psycho-physiologist, and performance coach in one setting, and allows me the privilege of witnessing great transformations which makes it a pleasure to 'go to work’!

In your opinion, what qualities do you feel make an “excellent” Vocal Pedagogue?

I think key qualities for an excellent vocal pedagogue are adaptability and a large toolkit! All vocalists have unique anatomical and emotional considerations, as well as personal learning styles, so the more 'ingredients' one has as a pedagogue, the more tailored a 'recipe' one can create for each student. Even the same student on a different day may require a different approach, so being adaptable allows us the flexibility to cater for any eventuality. My motivation for choosing this quality is that many of the vocalists I have seen with muscle tension dysphonia had developed the symptoms because they were trying to 'force' themselves to use an approach that just didn't work for them. They just needed another option or pathway to achieving their aims.

Can you speak to the importance of having mentors? How have mentors influenced your life/career? Can you tell us about some of your mentors?

I think mentors are a very important part of our development not only as artists, but as human beings! While it is of course very useful to have the support of someone who has already walked the particular career path you are following, I think it is equally useful to have mentors in other aspects of our life too. While I had many amazing mentors in my performance career, I also had mentors that knew nothing about the arts who provided much-needed context to balance those perfectionist tendencies!

There are two key people who spring to mind who were instrumental in my journey as a vocalist. The first was Vaughn Meakins (the choir director at my performing arts school) who spotted my voice during our weekly school choir practice and insisted to my parents that I begin private voice training. He validated my own inner sense that my voice had potential beyond the average and gave me the tools I needed to understand and navigate the technical aspects of singing that I still use today. The second one appeared after my performance career when I was moving more into voice coaching and this was Dr Joan Melton. Her encyclopedic knowledge of the world of vocal pedagogy gave me an incredible grounding in all the modalities and methods that were out there so I could understand the focus of these various approaches. At the time, I was developing a training program for musical theatre artists to understand the technique of dancing and singing simultaneously and found that she was also passionate about this topic. Together, we created the One Voice Certification course that helps artists to work seamlessly across performance disciplines. She remains my 'go-to' person for all my vocal pedagogy questions to this day!

Building Blocks - Questions About Nine Key Areas of Voice

Breathing

I think a major key when approaching breath management is to remember that it is a completely natural process and your body knows how to do it very well! While for vocal performance we do need to override our natural breath patterns to achieve certain technique or phrasing outcomes, the closer we can stay to those natural patterns, the better. This is not only for physical reasons, but also for connection to the audience, particularly for singers: the closer the breath phrasing is to the rhythm of natural speech, the more quickly it will be understood by the audience.

One of my favorite phrases related to breathing is to let the body breathe you!

The Larynx

As an anatomist, I do think it is important for vocalists to have an understanding of laryngeal anatomy, however I think it is most important (and often somewhat neglected) to understand the position of the larynx within the context of the whole body. I have seen several vocalists with tension-related injuries that stemmed from being so hyper-focussed on what was going on with this tiny part of the anatomy that they had metaphorically 'choked' themselves!

When you pull back and see the position of the larynx in the highly mobile region of the neck, then it is clearly dependent upon the alignment of the body structures below. Just like you cannot fix the roof of a house if the foundations are unstable, any exploration of laryngeal issues must start at the feet and work upwards. Understanding optimal body alignment will allow for free 'travel' of the larynx and effortless vocalizing.

A good tip to help visualize this is that the head weighs about 12 pounds in the average person, but for every inch the head deviates off its centre of gravity relative to the body below, the effective weight doubles! How does the body counterbalance this? It will use all the muscles of the neck and vocal area to compensate. Then the vocal muscles will already be busy doing a 'postural' job before you even ask them to start vocalizing. Line the body up optimally then the muscles will be at your full disposal and the larynx will run free.

The Vocal Folds

If you have followed the steps above to optimize the breath patterns and line up the head and neck in as neutral a position as choreography and staging allows, then the vocal folds will be happy too. Most vocal fold injuries I see always involve a lack of appropriate sub-glottal pressure: i.e. the amount of air pressure available below the folds. When this pressure is insufficient, then extra effort is recruited from the vocal muscles to 'press' or 'squeeze' the sound and the vocal folds come under increased load. Remember that increases in pitch and volume require more sub-glottal pressure so your choices for breath phrasing need to incorporate this - it's not just a simple equation of air = length of phrase, it's what happening with the pitch and dynamics that count too.

Other than that, hydrate, hydrate, hydrate! But this is not just about chugging a load of water right before rehearsals or performance, as it typically won't get to where it is needed in time. Hydration is a way of life!

Acoustics/Resonance

I see many singers who have become somewhat lost in the dizzying world of formants and resonators which leads to tension and sometimes vocal overuse as they narrow their focus to the vocal tract. I often find it useful to pull back the idea of acoustics and resonance to the whole body as when we vocalize, everything resonates! The skull itself is a wonderful bone conductor and resonating chamber so I often have vocalists imagine their skull as a beautiful room with a domed ceiling that amplifies the sound naturally.

Another question I ask students is "Why do you think the back of the Hollywood Bowl stage is circular?”. Answer: it has amazing acoustics that bounce the sound forwards without the need for amplification. I then have them visualize their pharyngeal wall (the back of the throat area) having that same rounded shape so the sound just bounces off without effort.

Another trick I use to get vocalists to use their whole body for resonance is to have them turn their back to me and perform as if the audience is behind them. The sound then has to pass through the whole body cavity to reach the audience.

Having worked for many years at The Player's Theatre in the West End where shows were performed without amplification, it also pays to 'learn the room'. Every space has its sweet spot when you can let the room do some of the work for you!

Vocal Registration

One of my aims when addressing all aspects of health and performance is to erase any arbitrary or artificial 'lines in the sand' as they can often serve as trip wires! In my early years of voice training, I was repeatedly told about the 'break' in my voice that reinforced the idea that there was some physical chasm that could only be breached by using a series of ropes, crampons and cleats! Any song that approached this precipice became laced with fear that of course resulted in vocal tension!

My approach is to ensure that vocalists have a large toolkit of vocal 'strategies' that can be employed to navigate any areas of difficulty. I also take a qualitative approach when someone has met a roadblock by using stylistic or emotional character choices to find a solution.

Of course I also use body alignment to help these issues. My top tip for when you find yourself having to make a big 'gear change' - hang upside down and sing it! Usually the issue disappears when you reverse gravity. This also gives the singer confidence - if you can sing it upside down, then you are capable of achieving it standing. We then just have to figure out where the tension is coming from in an upright position. Deal with that and the issue normally disappears.

Vocal Health

Vocal health is whole body health. Many vocalists pay a lot of attention to the small area of anatomy that they perceive to be their 'voice' but often neglect the bigger picture. The vocal apparatus is highly sensitive to issues of hydration, inflammation, and also hormonal imbalances. Here are some tips for these:

Hydration is not about chugging lots of water as this typically runs straight through the body, washing out many useful minerals as it goes. Drinking little and often throughout the day allows the body to absorb the fluids but it is equally important to be eating hydrating foods. Eating dried foods such as crackers and even dried fruits will tend to pull moisture from your body in the digestion process. Eating fresh fruits and vegetables that are full of beautifully structured water will help entrain your body to hold its moisture.

Inflammation can come from eating inflammatory foods, but what a lot of people don't realize is that stress is one of the greatest drivers of inflammation. Even if you have the perfect diet, if you eat in a stressed state, then your digestive system is not online so anything you eat will cause fermentation and inflammation. Stress also causes a reduction in saliva (causing dry mouth) and mucus which, in moderation, reduces friction on the vocal folds. So managing stress and anxiety are fundamental to vocal health.

Our hormones are also intimately connected to our nervous system and also to all the body rhythms such as the sleep cycle. Sleep disruption is a risk factor for vocal health due to fatigue resulting in disrupted coordination of the vocal muscles.

Managing stress is the key to many issues and one good way is to get plenty of physical exercise. Cardiovascular health is key to pumping the blood to the muscles when vocalizing and for increased respiratory capacity, plus when we have the added adrenaline of performance, we need to be fit to accommodate that increased demand.

So find a fun way to exercise, eat hydrating foods, manage any stress, and get good sleep, and your voice will thank you!

Vocal Style

While it is of course key to research the time period, composer/ writer, emotional narrative and character development for any role, in my opinion, it is equally key to ensure you have undertaken a 'journey to the self'! Many vocalists find it quite easy to jump into different styles and characters, but unless you have an anchor to your own 'voice', this can lead to issues.

Over the years I have worked with several 'tribute' artists whose whole careers were spent imitating another person. Many of them had developed vocal issues as a result of 'contriving' their sound for so long and had even forgotten what their own voices sounded like. Helping them to recover their own sound and spend an equal amount of time singing in their own natural voice provided a stronger basis from which they could shape themselves to their 'alter persona' but then return to neutral afterwards.

When you know where that neutral place is for you, then you can assess how far you are deviating from that place to create a required 'sound' for performing a particular role and aim to make as few adjustments as possible to get there. Then be sure to reclaim your own voice as often as possible.

Posture & Body Alignment

If you've already read my answers to the questions above, then you know that body alignment always comes first in my book! I have treated many people over the years with vocal issues by simply addressing their feet. As the feet are typically the only point of contact we have with a solid surface when vocalizing, they are the foundation for the vertical structure that is topped by the vocal apparatus. Things like over-pronating (inward rolling of the foot), hyper-extending the knees, and pelvic tilt, can all affect the alignment of the vocal structures that are placed in the highly mobile region of the neck where any asymmetries from below become amplified.

We must remember that what we call our 'vocal muscles' are not just there for speaking and singing - they are also postural muscles that hold up the head and form a major part of our proprioceptive (balance) system. When assessing a vocal issue, or simply to get the most out of your voice, take that journey from the feet up to the head and jaw and see if you find any jigsaw pieces that are affecting your voice.

Top tip: sing in bare feet and pay attention to how they contact the floor.

Teaching Methods/Communicating complex ideas about singing.

I am a big proponent of the use of imagery when aiming to convey complex ideas, but it is essential that the imagery is based in accurate anatomical principles. I have noted that a key component of vocal challenges or issues is that the image the vocalist is using to achieve a particular goal actually runs counter to how the anatomy actually operates. For instance, there are many interesting notions out there about where and what the diaphragm is and how it works! I like to show artists pictures of the anatomy, explain how it works, then help them to develop an image that accurately recreates this understanding without getting too stuck 'in the weeds'.

I also encourage all vocal pedagogues to explore concepts, methods, and ideas outside their own personal training or frame of reference so they don't become too locked in one way of doing things. While 'methods' may work for a broad number of people, there will always be that one person for whom a certain modality doesn't resonate. The bigger your toolkit, the more adaptable and customized you can be for a wide range of artists.

Are there any books or international organizations you would recommend we add to the VocalPedagogy.com resources page?

I would recommend checking out The Performing Arts Medicine Association (PAMA) at www.artsmed.org which is an international organization comprised of medical and allied health practitioners, arts educators and performers who specialize in the care of the performing artist. In addition to producing a quarterly medical research journal on performance-related issues, they also have a worldwide register of practitioners so you can find a specialist that understands your craft if you are dealing with a health issue.

If you are interested in exploring the relationship between stress, creativity, and performance, and how the training experience shapes our biology and our ongoing health journey, then my book The Authentic Performer: Wearing a Mask and the Effect on Health is for you. It is packed full of references from many disciplines that help to frame our understanding of how authenticity affects our health and the performer-audience interface.

Final Thoughts (Words of Wisdom/ Resources)

Stepping into the world of anatomy (and in particular the vocal kind!) can be an overwhelming experience, but remember that audience members don't pay to see 'technique', they come to be transported to another realm for a short while. Of course, the technique needs to be there but, in my opinion, it should not be the visible part of the performance. Seeing the technique is like knowing how the magic trick is done - it blows the illusion! So while we need to bring the technique forward in our training, we also need to put it into the background when we perform.

However, we can't rely on this happening automatically, we need to train ourselves to do it. I incorporate this into all my coaching sessions: if we need to pull something apart and break down the technique to find a suitable strategy for a particular piece, after doing so, I will always then say "Now just forget everything I said and just do it!". This enables the nervous system to develop the elasticity to go from using 'executive control' to perform a task, to putting it into the subconscious where it happens without you needing to think about it. Then you are free to simply express.

In short, don't 'micro-manage' your technique, trust that it is there supporting you, leaving you free to take the audience on an emotional journey of discovery.

Website: jenniemorton.com
Books & Articles: jenniemorton.com/publications
The Anatomy of an Artist Course: jenniemorton.com/anatomyofanartist
Quantum Youniversity Workshops: jenniemorton.com/education
YouTube Channel: youtube.com/@jenniemorton
The Embodied Dancer Health Hub: youtube.com/@EmbodiedDancerHealthHub

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