Yap Sesh #4: Courses, Conferences, and Clubs

Anna: Hello and welcome to Yap Sesh with VoiceProEd. We're your hosts—I'm Anna Diemer.

Maurice: And I’m Maurice Goodwin. Hello!

Anna: Hello, hello. And we are struggling—well, at least I am—at the time of this recording because I’m getting over some kind of nasty something. So if I sound congested, it’s because I am.

Maurice: Welcome to the voice podcast where you get to intimately hear our voices. We just want to say thank you for listening to Yap Sesh. Our podcast is only a few weeks old—it’s just a baby!—and we already have a couple hundred downloads. We are super, super grateful. Please continue listening, share it with your geeky voice friends—or even with people who aren’t geeks yet. They can become geeks by listening to Yap Sesh. And if you feel so inclined, please leave us a review!

Anna: On our last episode, we had just released our very first asynchronous course ever, and I want to bring that up again—because I’m really proud of it! We worked really hard, and it’s there for you whenever you're ready. The course is Achieving Competence as an SLP Working with Singers. It's for you if you’re a student looking to get into voice work, an early-career SLP wanting to move in that direction, or if you just don’t know where to start.

These are all the things we think you need to successfully work with singers in the SLP field. It’s a two-hour asynchronous course—you can download it and earn ASHA CEUs. Check it out at voiceproed.com/courses and let us know what you think!

Maurice: It is a meaty two hours! I was reviewing the course recently, just making some small edits, and I thought, “Wow, there’s a lot of information in here.” It’s a full two hours, and I understand why someone might want to break it up. Thankfully, it’s uploaded in a way that lets you watch at your own pace—it's divided into modules.

You don’t have to digest it all at once, and the content is yours to return to even after completing the course. We had a great time putting it together. And in reflecting on that, we also wanted to chat about the resources that have been most helpful to us—and still are—as we continue growing as voice clinicians.

Even when starting this business, Anna and I didn’t come at it from a place of, “We’re the ultimate authority.” We started with a lot of informal knowledge—stuff we wished we’d known earlier. A lot of what we do now is just a reflection of being in community with other voice clinicians. This content really grew from that.

For me, one of the most impactful resources has been attending conferences. And honestly, it wasn’t always about the content itself, but about being around people who were at a similar point in their career or had shared interests. My first conference that really got me into voice work was Voice Foundation in Philadelphia. But the one that’s sustained my career is the Fall Voice Conference.

These events bring together clinicians from all kinds of backgrounds and approaches, and that’s been really valuable to me.

Anna: What do you like so much about Fall Voice in particular?

Maurice: Good question. I think every conference has its own personality, even if it’s the same crowd. I feel comfortable at Fall Voice because it’s primarily speech pathologists and laryngologists, though you do see some voice teachers, too.

I think it strikes a nice balance between science and clinical application. You get some original research and basic science, which is always good to know, but there’s also a strong focus on the day-to-day realities of clinical work. That’s what I really appreciate.

Do you have a favorite conference you’ve attended?

Anna: I haven’t attended that many, honestly. If you’re running your own private practice or voice studio and aren’t affiliated with an institution, these conferences can be expensive. We have to pick and choose.

I’ve been to NATS a couple of times and I’m hoping to attend ASHA this year—so keep an eye out for me in person! We also presented at PAVA this past October in Houston, which was amazing. That was actually my first conference presentation. It was really cool to be able to share my work and thoughts with colleagues.

Once you’ve attended a couple, you start to see the same people again. You make new friends. I met people I clicked with right away, and that’s always a good time.

As an independent studio teacher, I don’t have coworkers. So when I have a question about what a client is doing—or just want to yap—I rely on my network of voice teachers and SLPs. I’m grateful to have built that.

Maurice: Yeah, the conference yap is top-tier. Once I’m two glasses of wine in… the level of yap is unimaginable.

Anna: It’s so real. It’s got that vibe of, “Oh, I’m the only one with a car? All right, everyone pile in, you’re my friends now.”

But I’d say probably the biggest thing that influenced my teaching early on—right after grad school—was working with the Houston Symphony Chorus. Not really a resource that everyone can access, but if you’re just getting into teaching singers, community choirs or church choirs are great places to find clients.

I was the chorus manager, mostly handling logistics, but word started getting around that I was opening a voice studio. I started getting clients from that population—mostly folks in their 50s, 60s, 70s who hadn’t had lessons since college but had been singing their whole lives.

So we were working with voices that weren’t deconditioned necessarily, but that had changed over time. These singers came to me saying, “My voice doesn’t do what it used to. This technique isn’t serving me anymore—what now?”

That really allowed me to grow as a clinician and gave me a focus—something to research, study, and live.

You and I both say this all the time: the best way to learn is to do. And by working with this niche group of returning singers, I learned so much. I still love working with folks who say, “I’ve had a break and I’m coming back to singing—what do we do?” And I say, “Yes! Come to my studio.”

Maurice: I think when we talk about this work—especially when you're working with folks who have voice problems—people often assume you're working with famous people, touring singers, or recording artists. And sure, that's part of it. But so much of what we do is working with people who are singing in community—whether that's a church choir, a community choir, or a college choir.

A lot of the folks I work with aren’t preparing for an off-Broadway premiere—they're trying to sing Happy Birthday to a family member or enjoy singing hymns at church. And that work is important. It’s meaningful. Recognizing that this happens at a community level is huge. It gives you room to grow as a clinician, for sure.

One of the most impactful things for my practice has been watching other clinicians do their work. As a speech pathologist, it's a very one-person job. Even though I work at a voice center with other SLPs, I still see clients one-on-one. There’s not a second person in the room, so it’s easy to fall into habits. Those habits can make you strong—but they can also limit you if you’re not seeing what else is out there.

A few years ago, I took on a role with Vocal Health Education, where I observe teachers and give feedback. And it’s interesting, because even though I’m giving feedback, I always tell the teachers: you’re teaching me, too. We all bring our unique perspectives to this work. There’s always something to learn from each other.

Even just hearing about what you do with your clients, Anna, has impacted me. You’ve given me exercises and strategies I wouldn’t have thought of—because your perspective is different from mine.

Anna: What advice do you have for someone who wants to observe more?

Maurice: I think you can just reach out. People often think observation has to be some big formal process—but it doesn’t. I’ve had clinicians email me and ask, “Hey, can I observe a session?” I just ask the client if they’re okay with it, and more often than not, they say yes. Then I set up a Zoom, and the observer watches me work.

There are clinicians who have more formal mentorship programs or businesses built around observation, and if that feels like a better fit, you can absolutely pursue that. But even informally observing other clinicians is incredibly valuable.

What about you? How do you think voice clinicians can go about observing other teachers or SLPs?

Anna: You hit the nail on the head—just ask. Especially now, as both of our fields are growing and evolving, I think people are more open than ever. We’ll say this a million times on this podcast: this isn’t proprietary information.

We want others to have this knowledge and these skills. We can’t be everyone’s voice teacher or clinician, so the more people out there doing high-quality work, the better.

Sure, you might get a “no” sometimes—and that’s okay. But I think you’ll hear a lot more “yeses.” People are more willing to say, “Sure, hop in and observe.” That spirit of openness is growing, and I’m glad it’s different from how things felt when I was in college.

Maurice: Absolutely. And I think there's a misconception that you should only observe someone whose approach you agree with. But honestly, I’ve learned a ton from watching clinicians whose methods I don’t use or even disagree with. You don’t have to adopt their techniques to learn from how they work.

I’ve taken courses where I knew I wouldn’t incorporate the strategies into my daily practice, but I still learned so much—especially about how people respond to those methods. Even if it's not your style, there are folks benefiting from it, and that’s worth understanding.

I might not walk away with a certification or follow a 10-step system from XYZ Voice Studio, but observing those approaches still informed my work.

Anna: I think the low-budget version of that is just going on TikTok, right? So many voice teachers are out there sharing warm-ups of the day, vocal tips, exercises.

Even big names like Leda Scearce and John Nix keep popping up in my feed. These are folks who’ve literally written the books on singing voice rehab, and now they’re posting their thoughts for free. That’s incredible. It’s all out there—you just have to go find it.

Maurice: You’ve gotta go find it.

Anna: That reminds me of Ken Bozeman. One thing I’m still working on is fully understanding voice acoustics. But during quarantine, one of my favorite things was being in book clubs for vocal pedagogy texts.

I joined one that focused on Acoustic Vocal Pedagogy by Ken Bozeman, and it was so helpful to be in community while unpacking that information. I hope people are still doing those. Back then, Zoom book clubs were a great way to connect and deep-dive into an article on registration or resonance.

Maurice: Oh my gosh—remember when we did that? We had a Facebook group and everything.

Anna: And an article club!

Maurice: We did! We picked articles and ran a research club. What was it called again? Oh my gosh—y’all, this is real-time memory recall.

Anna: Wow, pandemic memories unlocked. I had totally forgotten about that, but honestly, all of that was really helpful for me. I’m glad we jumped on that for a bit. This was...

Maurice: Yeah, yeah, yeah...

Anna: ...pre-VoiceProEd.

Maurice: Oh my gosh. We’ve been doing this longer than we realized.

Anna: Yeah, this is even before the first SVSLP! We’ve always—

Maurice: Space City Singing Club!

Anna: Yes! We had a little rocket ship!

Maurice: Right! We did have a rocket ship. There were over 100 members. What even happened?

Anna: Does it still exist? Like—is it still around?

Anna: Oh my goodness...

Maurice: That’s so funny. Our last event was October 28th...

Anna: Of?

Maurice: ...2020.

Anna: 2020?! Wow, we didn’t even make it into 2021.

Maurice: But that’s around when SVSLP started.

Anna: That’s true. SVSLP was in...

Maurice: Memory lane! Yeah—summer of 2021.

Anna: Okay, see? We’ve been putting this together for a while, and now you’re listening to it. We have a podcast now. Look at that!

Maurice: This is five years in the making. It’s so awesome.

Anna: That’s great. Wow.

Maurice: Yeah, but that book club—digging into content with other clinicians—has always been really meaningful to me.

Anna: Y’all let us know if you want a VoiceProEd Book Club, because we can make that happen!

Maurice: Oh no—another thing to start!

Anna: We are here to serve the VoiceProEd community—voice clinicians everywhere.

Maurice: And these things just happen to be things we deeply, personally enjoy.

Anna: I mean, hey—there’s nothing wrong with operating in your zone of genius.

Maurice: My zone of genius is starting clubs.

Anna: Starting clubs... and then forgetting about them! Oh my goodness. Space City Singing Club!

Maurice: Space City Singing Club!

Anna: That is so cute, though.

Maurice: It was great. It was so much fun.

Maurice: Another thing I’ve really learned from is listening to singers talk about their voices—just hearing the language they use to describe what they experience. Whether it’s in a documentary or an interview, I’m kind of obsessed with how pop and touring artists manage their voices.

It’s so different from how I use my voice as a speech pathologist or how I coach voice clients. Hearing what performers notice, feel, and how they describe it—it gives me new tools I can bring into sessions. That kind of vocabulary expands how I understand voice work.

We’ve talked a lot about resources clinicians can digest—especially when it comes to learning in community. But are there any tools or trainings that helped you learn how to do the work with students and clients? Anything that felt especially impactful?

Anna: Yeah, I think you were already starting to hit on it—like, go take courses, observe people. One of the most impactful courses I did was through The Voice Lab in Chicago. They’re online, too.

It was their Gender-Affirming Voice Teacher Training. I think now it runs every spring, with weekly meetings, but when I took it in 2021, it was an intensive weekend. That course really kicked off my whole journey of, “OK, I want this to be part of my practice.”

They gave us the literal tools to do the work: how to get started, exercises, a book of materials. And that was also during a time when I was exploring my own gender. So it went hand in hand—learning about the work and about myself.

Now, I say that I specialize in voices going through times of transition. Whether it’s entering perimenopause, getting older, or going through a hormonal or gender transition—I love holding space for that change. We get to ask: What’s your voice doing? What do you want it to do? And how can we help get you there?

Maurice: Yeah, yeah. I love that. Anything you have coming up?

Anna: Yeah, actually—speaking of our friends, conferences, and seeing colleagues—I was accepted into the NATS Internship Program for 2025! It’s at the University of Louisville. (That’s Louisville, not Louis-ville—Louisville, for all of you not in the South.)

I’m super excited. It’s in May, it’s 10 days long, and I’ll get to be observed teaching and receive feedback. I’ll also get to observe other teachers, and we’re paired with a mentor teacher. We even have the opportunity to perform for each other and give presentations. I’ll probably give a gender-affirming voice talk if there’s interest.

Someone from my choir here is also going, so I’ll have a buddy, but I’m mostly looking forward to gaining new colleagues from across the country and seeing what I can learn. So thank you, NATS—I’m excited to hang out with you in a couple of months!

Maurice: That’s gonna be cool. I find those experiences intense and impactful, for sure.

Anna: Yeah, I think there’s going to be a lot of naps.

Maurice: Lots of naps. NATS naps, NATS naps. Speaking of naps—and things that are cheesy—let’s talk Tool Time.

Anna & Maurice: TOOL TIME! (electric guitar riff)

Anna: Things that are cheesy! I love it. We’ll just embrace it. Want to kick us off? What tool or tools are on your mind?

Maurice: Yes. I have a tool on my mind. I was ready before you even asked the question.

Anna: Go for it.

Maurice: Alright, y’all—you cannot be afraid of onsets.

Maurice: We have to sometimes practice onsets—specifically glottal, or hard onsets. I’ve worked with so many clients this week who are struggling with how to get their voice strong again—whether it’s from recovering after vocal injury or illness, or because they’re deconditioned after not using their voice much.

There’s a lot of power in helping someone practice glottal onsets. So I spent a lot of time “ah”-ing and “ee”-ing with clients this week. And honestly, it’s just really helpful for strength building. Whether it transitioned into speech or singing, we worked on glottal onsets in a meaningful way to help build power.

Do not fear the glottal onset.

Anna: Do not fear! Be not afraid!

I was actually going to talk about onsets too—

Maurice: Right?

Anna: —but I wanted to talk about balanced onsets, because it’s one of my favorite exercises. I use this with almost every singer, regardless of style. I’m pretty sure this is a Richard Miller exercise. I don’t even know if I can do it right now—my vocal folds are not vocal folding today—but it’s just pulses on a comfortable pitch, working on the kind of onset you want.

You could do it with a glottal onset, or aim for a balanced one: "eee… eee… eee…"

That actually came out smoother than I expected!

I think this can also be a great check-in: Where is my voice today? If you’re able to onset smoothly, that gives you valuable information—like, hey, things are a little better than I thought.

Maurice: Mm-hmm.

Anna: And getting that smooth, even onset is super important for folks singing in styles that require control and finesse. My clients always say this exercise is hard—but they love it. So yeah, balanced onsets!

Maurice: Yeah, for onsets like that, I tell clients it’s kind of like the difference between lifting weights versus Pilates. When I’m talking about hard onsets, it’s like adding weight—let’s deadlift, let’s squat, let’s build effort and power.

But balanced onsets? That’s Pilates. It’s precise, specific, slow, and intentional. It’s a different kind of intensity.

Anna: I love that.

Maurice: Yeah.

Anna: That spectrum—from heavy, strength-building exercises to intentional, precise activation—is really helpful. Like, where does your exercise fall on that continuum? That’s such a great way to think about it.

Anna: Beautiful. Well, thank you for yapping with me today! I’m glad my voice held up for most of this.

Maurice: Thank you for joining us and for listening to Yap Sesh! If you love the podcast, leave us a review, share it with your friends, and let us know what you think. If there’s a topic you want us to yap about, we’re here for it!

Anna: We’re here for it. Let us know! VoiceProEd—out.

Anna & Maurice: Byeeee!