The Invitation
Whether you have sung all your life or have never believed you could, the invitation is the same: Come and put yourself out into the wind again, simply with compassion for it all and a willingness to say yes and a commitment to meeting yourself in practice.
If this feels like something you are looking for,
you are welcome.
The use of voice and song to bring us into catharsis and opening is central to the work of Singing as Life Practice.
These moments can be soft and unforgettable, and also feel terrifying and frustrating in equal measure.
When we develop a creative practice alongside the studio experiences, it can underpin and ground those experiences. It interweaves them with the personal, the daily and the mundane, developing a conversation between our inner life, our voice and the living world.
HOW THIS COURSE WORKS
Thresholds into Voice is a six-month foundation programme that leads participants into a deep and unfolding process with the voice, supporting greater expression, empowerment, and articulation.
The course is structured around in-person studio work, a four-day residency in nature, and culminating in a public sharing.
Studio work is structured around a system of body-based vocal archetypes, using free vocal exploration, polyphonic folk song, and somatic practices informed by craniosacral therapy and ensemble theatre. Through these approaches, participants explore both the imaginative and technical dimensions of developing the voice as a bridge between inner life and the living world.
* For those who can't do the whole series the first 3 weekends have limited drop in spaces and can be taken as a trio or a single weekend.
Fundamentals of the Singing Body is a guided online offering of practices that work with physical alignment, breath, myofascial release, and nervous system regulation, helping participants absorb, integrate and ground what is opened in the studio.
Creative Continuum After completing the six month Thresholds programme, there is an option for those who wish to deepen the performance and song work through further development with invited teachers.
Taken together, these elements offer a complete foundation in the work. The programme is modular, enabling participants to begin with the studio sessions and add further elements as schedule, circumstances, and interest allow.
THRESHOLDS INTO VOICE
explore the three modules
The studio work culminates in a concert shared with friends and family, offering participants the opportunity to begin taking ownership of their own song work and the development of creative discoveries made during the course.
This concert is also the beginning of an ongoing journey, through the Creative Continuum pathway.
The residential retreat takes place in May, in an Old Congregational chapel in Haydon Bridge, Northumberland.
During this time we will widen the conversation, exploring the relationship between song and landscape, materiality and skin. This happens through singing practices along birdsong corridors, under dark skies and in an ancient church with a Roman stone alter.
There are options to further these experiences through sauna and work with clay.
The studio work is focused around the exploration of vocal resonators - vocal archetypes located in specific resonating space in the body. These are explored through voice, song, movement, anatomy, imagination and ensemble. The first three weekends establish the foundations of the practice and the ensemble.
In the work the voice is explored in three different approaches. Each approach trains different aspects and are aligned with different learning styles. Learning happens through the body and the recognition and development of ones own way of perceiving musical notation.
Studio Work
Process
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You will learn how voice is connected to the body, and how the body carries biography.
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How is your body holding certain patterns of expression?
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What stories are yearning to be spoken?
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What stories are you afraid to tell?
Through this exploration, participants develop a greater capacity to listen to themselves and others, inhabit space with confidence, and express themselves without strain.
Technique
We work practically with:
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Resonance
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Breath support
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Alignment
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Vocal range
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Head and chest voice
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Voice placement
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Physical support for singing
Technical work is always integrated with expression and meaning.
Song Work
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Songs are approached as living acts of storytelling rather than collections of notes.
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Participants learn polyphonic songs, develop their ability to hold independent parts, and discover how imagination, embodiment and technique can bring songs fully alive.
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When songs become active, they begin to teach us, and the voice begins to change us.
Each of the workshops explores a Resonator. Below is an outline of what will be explored:
Weekend 1 the pelvic resonator
Birth. Death. Grief. Pleasure. Composting. The Earth. Exploring surrender, exhaustion, letting go and the fertile darkness from which new life emerges.
Weekend 2 the chest or heart resonator
Love. Loss. Longing. Relationship. Exploring the place where feeling becomes expression.
Weekend 3 the eye resonator
Hopes, dreams, wishes, future, clairvoyance.
Weekend 4 The Residency
This takes us to the thoracic diaphragm, where we dive into a more immersive experience where voice and song meet landscape, text and the every day.
Weekend 5 The Practice
In our final weekend we share a concert of songs learned with friends and family. It is a time of real integration of the whole course experience and of the song work.
What is a Resonator?
A physical and vocal space connected to particular archetypes of emotion, character and human experience.
The Resonators offer doorways into expression and exploration, serving both as tools for psycho-vocal self-discovery and for learning how to tell stories through song.
In each workshop we will explore the following six doorways into voice and imagination...
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Vocal practice
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Song learning
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Polyphony
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Movement
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Ensemble work
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Somatic exploration
Who is this for?
You do not need to think of yourself as a singer.
The course is open to all regardless of vocal experience or technical ability.
You do not need to be "good at singing" to take part.
The work offers professional-grade training in a supportive environment and is suitable for:
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Beginners
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Experienced singers
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Performers
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Therapists
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Teachers
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Creatives
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Anyone interested in voice, embodiment and personal growth
This is for everyone
Adaptations can be made for a range of needs. If this is needed please let us know so a conversation can be had.
What becomes possible when we truly listen to the voice?
what previous participants say
You do not need to think of yourself as a singer.
The series is open to all regardless of vocal experience or technical ability.
You do not need to be "good at singing" to take part.
The work offers professional-grade training in a supportive environment and is suitable for:
-
Beginners
-
Experienced singers
-
Performers
-
Therapists
-
Teachers
-
Creatives
-
Anyone interested in voice, embodiment and personal growth
Adaptations can be made for a range of needs. If this is needed please let us know so a conversation can be had.
It's precious to have found a space in which the practice, the participants and the teacher are simultaneously in the process of becoming...
Marta H
Singer and Artist
I had no prior experience, and this workshop was perfect for me!
Nikki K
Embodiment Coach
I have adored working with Emma and I highly recommend you jump into the work with Singing as Life Practice now!
Hector F
Actor
Emma's way of holding the space for each voice to be beautiful and authentic is deeply inspiring and I could sense my imagination as a doorway to the singing me. Truly transformational!
Kirsti A
Photographer
I've never felt so full as when I work with Emma. She has completely changed the way I work for the better.
Fredi B
Actor, Writer, Creator
STUDIO WORK
Standard Price : £850
Supporter Price : £900
Bursary : £770 2 places available*
Single drop in : £165 places limited
3 x drop in workshops only : £450
Please note that cost of travel, accommodation and food for the Residential is not included in this price.
FUNDAMENTALS OF THE SINGING BODY
FULL ONLINE PROGRAMME £90
(Threshold course-takers price)
FULL ONLINE PROGRAMME £110
(non-course takers)
£40 EACH UNIT
(1 online +2 recorded for non-course takers)
DATES
2026
December 12 & 13th: Pelvis
2027
February 13 & 14th: Chest/Heart
March 20 & 21st : Eyes
RESIDENTIAL
May 5th: Evening arrival
May 6 & 9th: Residency
May 9th: Departure 4pm
CONCERT WEEKEND
May 22 & 23rd
LOCATION
Weekend workshops in London
Residential in Haydon Bridge, Northumberland, UK
Concert in London
Participants can miss only 1 of the first 3 weekends and they will be given the songs to catch up with. Attendance of the residency and concert are required. Full payment still required.
CANCELLATION POLICY
PLEASE READ ME
Full refund is offered for cancellations 2 months prior to the course.
Should you wish to cancel your booking one month before the event you'll receive 50% of your payment.
Should you cancel two weeks before, there will be no refund given. However, if there is someone to take your place up to 1 month before the course starts, and they are a right fit for the established group, a full refund will be given less a £25 admin fee.
* Thresholds Into Voice is a participant-funded project. The availability of bursary places depends on the programme meeting its costs through registrations at the Standard and Supporter rates. If you would like to attend at a bursary rate, please register your interest and we will place you on a waiting list. As additional funds become available, bursary places will be allocated accordingly.
The voice is not something to perfect.
It is something to discover.