Psychodynamic, Relational Voice Teaching
What You'll Learn
This talk introduces Psychodynamic, Relational Voice Teaching as an approach to singing pedagogy that places the singer’s inner world, relational history, and lived experience at the centre of vocal development. The session explores how voice is not merely a technical instrument, but a deeply personal and relational expression shaped by emotion, attachment, identity, and unconscious process.
Psychodynamic, Relational Voice Teaching understands the studio as a relational space, where teacher and singer co-create conditions for vocal change. Rather than separating technique from feeling, this approach recognises that vocal habits can often emerge as adaptive responses to earlier relational experiences, emotional needs, and protective strategies. Technical challenges may therefore carry psychological meaning, and vocal breakthroughs can be accompanied by shifts in self-perception, confidence, and agency.
The talk will explore how psychodynamic concepts such as transference, countertransference, containment, and relational attunement can inform ethical, embodied, and responsive voice teaching. Attention will be given to how the teacher’s presence, listening, and emotional availability can support singers in navigating vulnerability, resistance, and growth. Case examples will illustrate how relational awareness can deepen technical work, expand expressive freedom, and foster sustainable vocal change.
Ultimately, this session invites voice teachers, singers, and practitioners to reconsider the act of teaching singing as a relational process — one that honours the complexity of the human voice as both a physical and psychological phenomenon, and positions vocal training as a site of creative, emotional, and relational transformation
About Jenna
Jenna Brown is the 2026 winner of the Van Lawrence Prize, the most prestigious award in voice science and research. She is a UKRI Economic and Social Research Council–funded doctoral student at the Institute of Education and holds an MSc in Education from Oxford University, an MA in Voice Pedagogy, and a BA (hons) in Theology from Cambridge University. Fusing these interests, she explores qualitative and mixed-methods Music Education research, specializing in vocal pedagogy and vocal health. She is a fellow of the RSA, a qualified voice rehabilitation specialist and vocal massage therapist, and director of Bristol Voice Care—providing rehabilitation and coaching for professional and amateur individuals and groups. Jenna maintains a busy performance schedule as a western classical singer, working in concert and recital. She is Assistant Conductor for the Bristol Youth Choir and vocal coach to numerous choirs in South-West UK, including the acclaimed Exultate Singers.
Jenna has authored over twelve peer-reviewed papers on voice and choral pedagogy, and the ethics and practice of vocal rehabilitation and voice therapy. Her research and practice center on issues of Inclusion, Equity, and Diversity and the lived experiences of singers and voice professionals. She writes regularly for Music Teacher Magazine, authoring resources on singing in schools. She has presented her research at numerous international conferences and is regularly engaged as a speaker and workshop leader. As a qualified classroom teacher with experience teaching Humanities and Music in Primary, Secondary, Post-16, and Special Education, she is often engaged as a visiting lecturer for universities, schools, and corporate organizations. In one of these roles, she leads the world's first accredited course on inclusive practice in vocal teaching and choral leadership, administered by Vocal Health Education. In 2024, Jenna was awarded best presenter at the Pan European Vocal Conference.
Jenna is an editorial board member for The Voice and Speech Review, The Journal of Voice, Music Scientiae, and the Cambridge Educational e-Journal, and a book proposal reviewer for Routledge. She is also the founding editor-in-chief for the new peer-review journal Voices of AOTOS (launching 2026) and elected Chair of the UK Association of Teachers of Singing from 2026. She serves as a committee member for the British Voice Association's research group. In 2024, she founded the Transformational Voice Research Network—a collective committed to advancing underutilized, socially transformative, practice-grounded research approaches.