Voice For Teachers

Teachers work hard. Their minds work hard, their bodies work hard, their emotions work hard but most of all, their voices work hard.

There is no other career path where the voice is used for such extended times under such stressful circumstances and it takes it's toll. It is interesting that actors, who use their voices professionally receive vocal training, yet teachers, who also use their voices in order to deliver their work, have a high rate of health issues related to this delicate part of their bodies, and sometimes become unable to continue with their career do not. Why is it that actors learn to speak loudly and clearly so that everyone in a quiet theatre can hear them. Teachers don't learn how to create volume when faced with a classroom of rowdy students.

Do you struggle with vocal strain? Do you get sick or loose your voice every time the holidays roll around? Do you wish you could get volume without having to yell? Do you find yourself out of breath at times when speaking to a class?

Voice is produced by muscles and so it can be strengthened. Like working out conditions and strengthens your body, this course will help you strengthen your voice, whilst also showing you how to create more volume without strain and, more importantly, without yelling.

Natalie Blank is a qualified actor and teacher. She realised during her time teaching that she had a distinct advantage over her colleagues when she was teaching high school drama. With 3 year vocal training under her belt, she sailed through the vocal side of teaching while her work mates would struggle with volume in the classroom and with the fallout of strain one out of the classroom. This inspired her to create her voice course for teachers. She has delivered this course face-to-face many times and realised that it needed to be available to more teachers, and in a way that would not impact too much on their busy lives.

This course of 6 weeks will take you through the intricacies of how your voice works, exercises and warm-ups to strengthen your voice to help you with breathing, clarity, tone, expression, volume and projection as well as protection. Easy to understand and follow course materials make learning easy, and reminders to do your short warm-ups mean you will actually hear and feel the difference in your voice by the end of the course.

In Australia the cost of this course is tax deductible for teachers as a part of their professional development. It is accepted by the Teacher Registration Board in your state as coming under the Australian Professional Standards for Teachers covering standards in areas 3, 4, 5, 6, and 7.

Below is some feedback from past students of the face-to-face course

“Voice – The mechanics of how the sound is produced is helpful information for me as a teacher.” T.B

“I really appreciate the way we learnt some new techniques, I hope I can implement these in my teaching” S.R.

“This was great, Thanks Natalie – we need more and earlier in our careers. Exceptional.” J.F.

“Thanks so much. A great course after a long day!” D.S.

“Many thanks Natalie. I will practise the exercises now I know what to do.” J.H.

“Really clear and precise info.” B.M.

“Very pleasant thank you. Worksheets very clear.”

“Good Facilitation” M.M.

“I enjoyed the workshop, and felt the flow of it was very user-friendly” T.B.

“It was really good to develop the awareness of how to do the exercises and the purpose of them.”