A chatty podcast raising awareness about vocal health and wellbeing, from voice, performance and wellbeing coach Leigh Martyn Thomas and her guests in media, education & the performing arts.
Episodes
Friday Oct 02, 2020
Friday Oct 02, 2020
My guest this week is the Actor/Singer/Producer Antony Stuart-Hicks (AKA Ash/Ant). Many Colchester locals will know Ash from his award winning performances as the Mercury Theatre Pantomime Dame in recent years, where his comic timing, quick witted gags and triumphant performing in killer heels will be greatly missed this year!
Ash has certainly come a long way since leaving his hometown of Crosby, Liverpool, UK. He has travelled the world through his vast career in the entertainment industry (see credits so far, listed below) and in this episode shares a unique relationship with his voice, which has not always been easy. Tune in to hear how Ash has a deep connection with his voice and how it has helped him through the toughest of times.
When not being ‘ theatrical ’, Antony dedicates any free time towards supporting individuals with mental health conditions within the entertainment industry and beyond.
Antony is currently Executive Producer at APL Theatre based in London’s West End and consulting producer for Theatre for Life, Curious Pheasant, Spies Like Us, Teatro Vivo, Tusk, At Swefn’s Edge and Skewed Productions. Antony is also a mentor for the Mercury Theatre Colchester’s “Mercury Creatives” programme.
During the show, Ash referenced the following songs:
Shirley Bassey - And I Love You So
Dolly Parton - Baby I'm Burning
Along with this piece as a catalyst for when you need a good cry!
En Aranjuez Con Tu Amor (clip from the movie Brassed Off)
Producer credits include: Seaforth Saga–The Musical (Liverpool Empire Theatre), Charlie & the Chocolate Factory (Southport Arts Centre), The Pirates of Penzance (Royal Philharmonic Hall, Liverpool), By Enormous Expense (Pavilion Theatre New Brighton, The Players Theatre London, Leeds City Varieties), Our Town (Millennium Dome), No Man’s Land (UK Tour), Misery (UK National Tour), 40 Pantomimes: Cinderella, Aladdin, Dick Whittington, Snow White, Peter Pan, The Wizard of Oz, Jack & The Beanstalk, Mother Goose, Sleeping Beauty(venues include: Chatham, Fareham, Liverpool, Southport, Halifax, Peterborough, Harlow, Barnstaple, Helston, Newark, York, Whitley Bay, Ipswich, Maidstone, Worthing, Salford and Eastbourne), My Fair Lady (Liverpool Empire/UK Tour), Oliver! (Liverpool Empire), Cluedo! (UK National Tour), The Shakespeare Review (Litchfield Garrick), Your Nation Loves You (Delirium/Old Vic), Alice in Wonderland (UK Tour), The Lost Dragon (Harlow Playhouse), King Arthur’s Kitchen (USA Tour), 25th Annual Putnam County Spelling Bee (Harlow Playhouse/UK Tour), The Snow Queen (UK Tour), The Ugly Duckling (UK Tour), Treasure Island (UK Tour), Barry Manilow’s Copacabana (Harlow Playhouse/UK Tour), Peter Pan–A Rock Musical (European Tour), Boris & Ingrid (UK & International Tour in association with Mercury Theatre Colchester), An Ideal Husband (European Tour), Pride & Prejudice (European Tour), The Wizard of Oz (European Tour), Hamlet–The Musical (European Tour), Alice in Wonderland (European Tour), The Hound of the Baskervilles (UK National Tour), The Wizard of Oz (UK Tour), A Midsummer Night's Dream (International Tour), Robin Hood (International Tour), Alice in Wonderland (UK Easter Tour), Romeo & Juliet (International Tour), Rapunzel (UK National Tour), The Canterville Ghost (International Tour), Secret Santa: The Frost Files (World Premiere Production–Royal Hippodrome Theatre, Eastbourne), Grease–The Musical (International Tour), Peter Pan–A New Musical (International Tour & Royal Hippodrome Theatre, Eastbourne), Tonight at the London Coliseum (Digital series of concerts), Voice Box – Intimate Theatre, Direct to the Lens (Digital Series) and The Little Mermaid (UK Tour).
Directorial credits include: Rapunzel (UK National Tour), Robin Hood (International Tour), The Hound of the Baskervilles (UK National Tour), What Are They Like? (Warwick Arts Centre), Pride & Prejudice (European Tour), Snoopy–The Musical (Jersey), Cinderella (Harlow Playhouse), Avenue Q (Jersey), Peter Pan–A New Musical (International Tour), The Lost Dragon (Harlow Playhouse), Me & My Girl (Jersey), Cinderella (York Barbican), Ernie’s Incredible Illucinations (Jersey Arts Centre), Accidents Happen (Tristan Bates, London), Stage by Stage (UK Tour–Original Production), Grimm Tales (Jersey Arts Centre), Divas (UK Tour), My Fair Lady (UK Tour), Aladdin, Snow White, Cinderella, Jack & the Beanstalk (Liverpool Empire Theatre), Judy & Liza (UK Tour), Macbeth (Regional Tour), A Midsummer Night’s Dream (Unity Theatre, Liverpool), Our House (Orchard Theatre, Dartford), The Picture of Dorian Gray, The Little Shop of Horrors , Two (UK National Tour).
Theatre includes: Sherlock Holmes (The Hound of the Baskervilles) The Knight of Biscay Don Quixote), George (H is Fragile Mind), Terisius (Antigone), George (Stop Giving Me Grief), Malvolio (Twelfth Night), Demetrius/Quince (A Midsummer Night’s Dream), Cardinal Richelieu (The Three Musketeers), Stuart (Gosforth’s Fete), Giovanni (Can’t Pay? Won’t Pay! ), Graham (Fine Wine & Pringles at the Café Belgrade), Macbeth (Macbeth), Hugo (No Horizon), Scrooge (A Christmas Carol), Meg Long (Our Country’s Good), Ratty (The Wind in the Willows) and Saturninus (Titus Andronicus).
Television & Film includes: The Undateables Christmas Special (Channel 4), Strictly Come Dancing – Christmas Special (BBC), Brookside (Mersey TV), Liverpool One (Lime Productions), And the Beat Goes On (Channel 4), David Copperfield (BBC Films), The Bill (Talkback Thames), In His Life (MBC), Midsomer Murders (Bentley Productions), Fan & Friend (ITV).
Musical Theatre Includes: Professor Callaghan (Legally Blonde – Jersey Opera House), Edna Turnblad (Hairspray –Dubai), Roscoe (Elegies for Angels, Punks and Raging Queens – Criterion West End), Dr. Frederick Chilton (Silence! The Musical -European Premiere), Friar Lawrence (Romeo & Juliet The Musical - UK Tour), Polonius (Hamlet The Musical - UK & International Tour), Gonzalo (Tempest The Musical - UK & International Tour), Quince/Egeus (A Midsummer Night’s Dream - UK & International Tour), Mad Hatter (Alice in Wonderland), Caspius (The Wizard of Oz ~ Beyond the Rainbow - UK Tour), Kaa the Snake (The Jungle Book), King Midas (Myth & Legend), Reverend Barker (The Retribution) and Fagin (Oliver!).
Audio recordings include: Dr Who – 'Cold Vengeance' The Tenth Doctor Series (Big Finish).
Writing credits: Various pantomime titles (Cinderella, Aladdin, Snow White, The Snow Queen, Treasure Island, Robin Hood, Rapunzel, Peter Pan, Dick Whittington, Sleeping Beauty, Alice in Wonderland), a dramatic adaptation of The Hound of the Baskervilles, a world premiere production of Secret Santa: The Frost Files. Dramatic adaptations of A Midsummer Night’s Dream, Romeo & Juliet, The Canterville Ghost, Pride & Prejudice and An Ideal Husband (International touring–English speaking). Antony has recently adapted JM Barrie’s Peter Pan into a new musical adaptation for international tour and winter production at Royal Hippodrome Eastbourne.
Pantomime credits: Ugly Sister in Cinderella (Southport Arts Centre, Crosby Civic Hall, Rhyl Pavilion Theatre, Royal Court Liverpool, Victoria Theatre Halifax, Hazlitt Theatre Maidstone, The Cresset Peterborough, Camberley Arts Theatre, Central Theatre Chatham, Queen's Theatre Barnstaple, Harlow Playhouse, Mercury Theatre Colchester – Mercury at Abbey Fields*), Nurse Nellie in Snow White (Royal Court Liverpool, Central Theatre Chatham, Mercury Theatre Colchester*, Sarah the Cook in Dick Whittington (Royal Court Liverpool, Mercury Theatre Colchester), Nurse in Sleeping Beauty (Queen’s Theatre Barnstaple), Widow Twankey in Aladdin (Neptune Theatre Liverpool, Queen’s Theatre Barnstaple, The Palace Theatre, Newark, The Mercury Theatre Colchester), Dotty Trott in Jack & The Beanstalk (Mercury Theatre, Colchester).
* Nominated - Best Dame – Great British Pantomime Awards 2017/18
* Winner – Best Ugly Sisters – Great British Pantomime Awards 2019/20
Friday Sep 25, 2020
Friday Sep 25, 2020
My guest this week is Paul John McKenna. With a background as a performing singer/guitarist and a deep interest in therapeutic interventions and performance coaching, Paul trained as a Speech & Language Therapist (SLT) in his early 20s, later specialising as a Voice Therapist working with both speakers and singers with complex voice disorders. Paul’s specialist voice work within the NHS has led to him co-leading one of the UK’s most established endoscopic voice assessment clinics for professional voice users at Wythenshawe Hospital in South Manchester.
Alongside his specialist voice rehabilitation work, Paul has spent nearly 15 years training in Neuro-Linguistic Programming (NLP) and Hypnotherapy and is a certified Personal Development Coach and Master Practitioner of NLP, Hypnotherapy and Time Line Therapy. I really wanted to speak with Paul about this and how he uses his special skills to helps others overcome their voice problems.
Quotes from this episode:
(Paul, on caring for the voice)
“Stretch and release…optimal hydration…warm up before singing…cool down after singing…manage your vocal load, don’t sing all day every day, give the muscles a rest you know, manage your reflux, if you’ve got reflux, that’s a real one you know, for the touring and gigging musicians especially, reflux is a real enemy for the voice if its not managed.”
(Paul, on reframing anxious feelings)
“You’re not anxiety, you are just as much confidence as you are anxiety, it's just what you’re feeling in that moment”
Paul can be contacted for private sessions via his website http://thevocaltherapist.com
If you have anything you would like to share about this episode, head over to our facebook page
Enjoy listening!
Friday Sep 18, 2020
Friday Sep 18, 2020
Joining me this week is one third of the brilliant Harmony-laden folk- Americana band The Wandering Hearts, (who also happens to be a fellow singing teacher) Tara Wilcox.
Tara has had an amazing few years since forming the band, being signed to Decca and touring the UK and the US, performing alongside some amazing big names in some of the music industries most iconic place like The Grand Ole Opry and Graceland! Tara shares her extraordinary journey so far along with lots of insider stories about working in the music industry.
Tara has taught at some of our well known and loved performing arts schools like Mountview and Urdang and is also an Estill Master Trainer. She is looking forward to more outside gigs coming up and the bands new album due for release February 2021. You can pre-order to support the band and if you haven't already, download their first album if you want to treat your ears this weekend! Check out these videos to see Tara, Chess and AJ in action!
Jealous - The Wandering Hearts
A heart-felt song told from the three singers perspectives, woven together with beautiful harmonies. A song that builds and takes unexpected turns, SO worth checking out!
Fire & Water - The Wandering Hearts (performed live on the Andrew Marr show)
A passionate, energised, harmonic joy of a song! Love love love the broken down parts with some gorgeous little yodels and overlapping harmonies! Always gets me off my seat!!
You can find The Wandering Hearts on all socials, so go follow and like to keep up to date with all their news!
During our chat Tara referenced Ella Fitzgerald singing Mack the Knife (live in Berlin) which is a masterclass of how to cope when slightly under rehearsed! I couldn't find Blues in the Night but here is another of Eva Cassidy's emotional masterful vocals on Dark end of the street which I have fond memories of covering with my band Crossover many moons back.
Happy listening y'all xx
If you would like to learn how you can join the Vocal Freedom podcast community, head on over to www.colchestervoiceacademy.com/podcast to learn more.
Friday Sep 11, 2020
Friday Sep 11, 2020
My guest this week is Kate Millner, a professionally trained actress, voice artist, singer and story-teller who has had a really interesting journey with her voice. From working with Mitchell & Webb in her Cambridge days, Adam Cork from the RSC, moving into supply teaching where her voice use was intensified then followed the scary diagnosis and recovery from vocal nodules.
More recently Kate has also trained to become a Celebrant, a person who performs and officiates formal ceremonies. Using her voice as a source of comfort and support for grieving relatives.
Kate is also half of the music duo ‘At Swefn’s Edge’ with her husband Michael, who is a soundscape composer and sound engineer. During lockdown, through the Mercury Creatives Programme of the Mercury Theatre, Colchester some of their music has inspired all sorts of creative projects, you can learn more about this as Kate explains through the episode.
Hear how important it is for creatives who need to keep that muscle flexing, coping with the cancellation of work and contracts and adapting through covid to stay creative and exploring new avenues of sound.
(Kate, on self judgement)
"Believe in the words, believe in yourself, you’ve got every right to sing, you’ve got every right to speak!"
Happy listening y'all!
Friday Sep 04, 2020
Friday Sep 04, 2020
Kerrie Obert is a wonderfully curious, highly knowledgeable voice specialist. Speaking with me from her home in Ohio, it was an honour to learn about her journey with her voice and how she happily balances her voice use as a speech and language pathologist, singer, teacher/coach and researcher.
Her research into twang and more recently the tongue has led to some fascinating finds and discussions within the voice community. The tongue can often be labelled the baddie and blamed for unwanted tension but in fact, we can often find even more colour choices by energising the tongue! Kerrie has worked clinically, performing more than 15,000 endoscope examinations with patients with various voice disorders.
To learn more about Kerrie's brilliant insight, consider signing up to her brilliant website getvocal-now.com for only $29 you can have access to dozens of short courses, which include quizzes, which I love!
Kerrie shares her amazing journey from meeting Jo Estill in her early days and all the fascinating lessons she has learned along the way.
Kerrie has a new book series coming out and online courses to enjoy in the future. In the meantime her already published book The Owners Manual to the Voice is available here.
Happy listening!
Friday Aug 28, 2020
Friday Aug 28, 2020
My guest this week is Sarah Stephenson, a highly experienced vocal coach, teacher, accompanist and sound healer. A fascinating journey of a musician who has found a deeper healing power within sound itself - using sound as a healing tool. Learn how the sound we make, our vibrations, our energy, how increasing our awareness of our sound, can help bring us into alignment, to be present in the here and now.
We really are fascinating human beings! It is worth your time to tune in, especially now, in our modern times, which are so uncertain for many, with covid-19 having had such a global impact on the human race, now more than ever, we could all start with tuning in and paying attention to how we can use our voices for good.
Two quotes from this episode:
(Sarah on - how we can help ourselves with our voices)
“..express how you are feeling…start the day by (asking) how am I feeling? I am just going to key into it…and just start doing some sounding. You may feel a bit silly to begin with but then just express how you’re feeling and then come back, do a bit of humming, simple toning, little vowel practices. See how that kind of feels in the nervous system, in the body, how that calms everything down”
(Sarah on - the voice)
“Wow…what an incredible instrument, what an incredible machine, what an incredible form of expression…it’s the most human part of who we are.”
Five minutes in we briefly reference the Fibonacci sequence. This is so worth a look! Amazing Resonance Experiment!
For favourite voices question, Sarah chooses the delicious vocal of Gregory Porter. The song she mentions - “I wonder who my daddy is” performed at the Royal Albert hall can be viewed here, Do let us know on our facebook page what you think of the performance!
Sarah is listed here at The College of Sound Healing
Happy voicing!
Friday Aug 21, 2020
Friday Aug 21, 2020
Welcome! This week my guest is mezzo-soprano opera singer, voice teacher, writer and broadcaster Janet Shell. Janet has had a rollercoaster of a journey with her voice and shares, although she always had a strong desire to become a professional singer, like many before and since, the route there was full of twists and turns. So many valuable experiences and lessons along the way have informed her teaching and she continues to commit to new learning to continue growing.
I loved learning about her background, her tenacity and drive is inspiring and Janet and I both felt a lovely open connection between us, which I hope comes across when you listen.
If anything resonates with you and you would like to reach out, Janet can be contacted through her website Contact Janet
Here you can also learn about all her other services on offer for singers and speakers. I particularly admire the work Janet has put in with helping teachers, of all kinds, understand how to use their voices more efficiently when classroom teaching. If you are a teacher and want to learn more, visit her website "Talking Voice" here for more information.
If you would like to comment on anything raised here or have something else you want to share about voice, click here to learn more about how you can get involved! Your voice matters!
Friday Aug 14, 2020
Friday Aug 14, 2020
My guest this week is the awesome Scott Harrison. He is currently a lecturer of Singing and Musical Theatre at Royal Conservatoire of Scotland and Trinity Laban Conservatoire. He is Senior Musical Theatre Consultant at Associated Studios London and Head of Singing and Music at West End Musical Theatre in North London.
Join us as Scott shares his journey into voice training, his professional career highlights and how he stepped into the world of voice education. We chat about some important issues for students who are training to become professionals in Musical Theatre particularly. We both want to help the voices of tomorrow and hope you enjoy listening to this passionate advocate for social justice and equality within the arts.
You can learn more about Scott by visiting his website here
Scott's song choices to introduce you to his favourite singers (or enjoy again if you are already appreciative) are linked below:
Leontyne Price - La Forza del destino (Verdi)
Norm Lewis - No one is alone from Into the Woods (Stephen Sondheim)
David Phelps - Best Vocals (features highlights of many of his performances)
Watching these masters at work is totally worth a few minutes of your day.
If you would like to comment on anything raised here or have something else you want to share about voice, click here to learn more about how you can get involved! Your voice matters!
Friday Aug 07, 2020
Friday Aug 07, 2020
Welcome! This week my guest is 18 year old singer/songwriter Gen Irving. What is it like to be an 18 year old these days? How do the youth of today spread their message and tell the stories they want to tell with their music to a wider audience? How are the youth of today being promoted and encouraged? What are these kids going through? These are just a few of the issues I am interested in, so I invited Gen on to talk about her journey so far, her inspiration and message with her music, as well as the relationship she has with her voice and general self, as a semi-professional singer, who certainly wants to go pro in the future.
Gen can be found @genirving10 on the usual social media channels. Her music is available to listen to on Spotify and iTunes. You might be surprised to hear her influences are from rock, pop and folk music from way before her time!
If you would like to support Gen, please give her a like or follow and maybe tune in to one of her facebook live gigs! It's all great experience until real gigs are back on. I hope you are all staying safe. Happy listening xx
Friday Jul 31, 2020
Friday Jul 31, 2020
After our first chapter, with 12 episodes behind us, a little review of what has been and what is coming up from your host.
"A big thank you to my clients who are tuning in and have helped raise over £800 so far from our online showcase broadcast last Saturday. Listen for how you can help is get to four figures ready to donate to two charities at the end of the summer holidays". Leigh Martyn Thomas
To join in the conversation, message me at lmt@colchestervoiceacademy.com if you are looking for a way to express your vocal freedom, I am ready to listen to your ideas!
Friday Jul 17, 2020
Friday Jul 17, 2020
My guest this week is Elissa Weinzimmer, a voice and presence coach living in New York City. Elissa shares some of her incredible journey so far and is on a strong social justice mission as she strives to help everyone raise their awareness about not just vocal health but speaking their truth, mindfully and without restriction.
Elissa is the founder of Voice Body Connection with Elissa Weinzimmer - Visit her website to learn more here
and has her own podcast "The Find Your Voice, Speak Your Truth" Podcast - listen here
I'm looking forward to hopefully catching up with Elissa in person in 2021 once Broadway opens again! For now, I'm inspired by our catch up and the brilliant work she is doing to help others.
Within the interview Elissa references this brilliant song written by Jason Robert Brown and shares the trauma of losing her voice right around the time she was in his voice class at USC. She also references the band Moonchild Listen to their album "Voyager" here
Happy Friday everyone x
Friday Jul 10, 2020
Friday Jul 10, 2020
This week my guest is professional actress Nicola Goodchild. Nicola has enjoyed a fabulous career in showbiz, appearing in film, tv and theatre. From treading the boards on stage at the National Theatre to flying off to Sardinia to be directed by George Clooney in Catch 22. She has recently graced your screens in Channel 4’s comedy series “Home” written and starring Rufus Jones and Sky one’s Breeders starring Martin Freeman and Daisy Haggard.
Nicola also strikes more than a passing resemblance to the amazing singer actress Julie Andrews and now spends some of her time being the Mary Poppins Tribute UK Act. She also loves thyme tea and has some awesome stories to share from her adventurous life as a working actress.
You can learn more about her by visiting her website here and perhaps you can share her services to anyone who may have as much of a love of Mary Poppins as we do! You can clearly hear the immense joy Nicola experiences once she brings this magical character to life!
Please give her facebook page a like here and find her on Instagram as Mary Poppins Tribute where you can enjoy lots of clips of her in character!
If you would like to learn more about the podcast please sign up at www.colchestervoiceacademy.com/podcast to be welcomed into the free community forum and share your voice story and anything else you want to share about the episodes there.