Lesley's approach to singing is based on practical and applied vocal pedagogy. What does that mean exactly? Vocal pedagogy is simply the study of how the voice works and how to teach it to improve your singing. It is a more scholarly approach because it includes some basic knowledge of how your body functions. Too few teachers have knowledge in this area and teach concepts that don’t make sense if you have a little information about the subject.

The key points of singing include basic anatomy as it relates to singing (which part does what), breathing and breath support, posture, phonation, resonance (projection), vowels, articulation, registers, register changes, range extension, tone quality, vibrato, voice classification and vocal styles to name a few.

Sound in general is based on two fundamental points – vibration and resonance (amplification). The same goes for singing – the balance of which leads to a healthy voice. Both points can be mastered to varying degrees; vibration can change in quality and resonance can also change in quality. We study both with a view to improving what you are doing.

Posture is also important in singing for two reasons – it affects both your breath and your resonance. We study it in relation these two points.

I’m seeing, all too often on the internet, teachers who confuse these fundamental points and ask students to do strange things based on their misunderstanding; "sing from your diaphragm," "open your throat" and "attack in the mask" to name a few. As your knowledge of your voice increases, these ideas don’t stand up to scrutiny and even become comical...