Vancouver, British Columbia.

Saturday, July 7th, 2018. 

 

In Attendance (in alphabetical order): 

Trish Allen, Alana Hawley-Purvis, Alison Matthews (minute taker), Liz McLaughlin, Gayle Murphy, and Lisa Piers.

 

Minutes from the meeting are as follows:

Meeting convened at 2:45pm

 

History of voice instruction and coaching in the lower mainland and on Vancouver Island:

What our group remembers are primarily voice teachers in the universities around the region.

 

At the University of Victoria:

Steven Thorne

Linda Hardy

 

At the University of British Columbia:

Dorothy Somerset (as part of acting and elocution)

Rod Menzies

 

Outside of that:

Canada’s National Voice Intensive started in Vancouver in 1986. It ran at Simon Fraser University, then at UBC until recently. Now relocated to Toronto. Gayle Murphy will send detailed history of the program and faculty.

 

Also the Playhouse Acting School, with Powys Thomas, David Latham, and Lloy Coutts.

​

1975-1977 Powys Thomas: died in June 1977 while on holiday in Wales. He had already chosen the second class, which included artists like Martha Burns, Glynis Leyshon, Lynn Woodman, Don Adams, etc. and hiring JoJo Rideout (graduate of the inaugural class) as the incoming voice teacher whom he hoped to mentor.

1977-1980 JoJo Rideout teaching voice at the Playhouse School

1975-1977 Lloy Coutts teaching voice at the Playhouse School while also coaching at the Stratford Festival

source: JoJo Rideout

1978: David Latham teaching at the school while Roger Hodgman was the director of the school (1977-79)

1979-1985: David Latham is the director the school

this footnote added by: Janine Pearson 07/08/2020

source: David Latham

​

Christine Willes was also teaching voice in and around Vancouver in the 1980s…?

​

Christine Willes began teaching voice at the Playhouse School in September of 1980

this footnote added by: Janine Pearson  07/08/2020

source: JoJo Rideout

​

Dale Genge will be contacted, as she knows more about history of voice coaches in Vancouver.

 

Resident voice coaches at theatre companies in our region currently:

Erin Ormond – Ensemble Theatre

Alison Matthews – Bard on the Beach

Other theatre companies in the region only hire voice/dialect coaches on smaller, piecemeal contracts – most often to provide specific dialect instruction, or problem-solve/offer band-aid solutions when something has “gone wrong” vocally for an actor etc. 

 

Current Strengths/Challenges of the profession: 

Discussion about resistance on part of actors – is it cultural? Anecdotally, it seems Americans and British actors value voice coaching support more. 

 

Do actors feel like they have done something wrong if a voice coach is called in?

 

Actors may have feelings of insecurity about their voices.

 

However, there are venues where actors welcome the support (for example, at Bard on the Beach) – contributing factors to this more positive relationship seem to be the investment of time and expertise to build trust, having the full support of the company and this being evident to the actors. Legitimacy is established when there is an actor-centric approach on the part of the coaches and employer.

 

Shaw Festival mentioned as an example:

There are sign-up sheets for coaching sessions. It’s the actor’s initiative to take advantage of coaching which is on offer. The actors feel they have agency.

 

The more information we have (as coaches), the better

Could we feel less like we work in a vacuum?

Can we foster curiosity about what we do?

Can we minimize judgement about each other’s approaches and practices?

 

What is the work we do?

We help develop a practice

We give actors/students an umbrella of choices

We adapt our teaching/coaching to the individual

We support the instrument of communication – the apparatus – developing it

Coaches have specific education/training/expertise to do this

We use acting terms, we find the language that connects for actors

Setting up an environment for people to come into their response

There are so many ways in to this work

It’s about responsiveness

​

What are the seeming categories of voice coaching:

Voice, speech, dialect…there are others, but this is where we focused (partly due to areas of focus of those present)

 

We are talking a lot about speech and dialect, and judgements surrounding speech work (ideas that it promotes the idea of attaining an “ideal” accent or sound)

 

Can we work to clear up the judgements?

 

*Side note: a point was made that there is a big difference between individuals who seek out short-term coaching and those who enroll in a full-length acting program.

 

Opportunities and challenges in our region: 

TV and film industry offers more work opportunities

Challenge is that this work can be somewhat unregulated (some discussion of tv/film dialect coaches with unethical business practices)

Challenges for smaller theatre companies is certainly budget related – lack of capacity for hiring professional coaches. Still sometimes a prevailing attitude that a cast member who is “good at that” can coach fellow cast members.

​

Thoughts on the formation of an association:

An association’s potential to legitimize the work. 

 

Could an association organize/develop/present training “camps”, opportunities in whic voice training philosophies could be shared?

 

The idea of support and mentorship that an association could provide: offering workshops, symposiums, etc.

 

Are there models for associations? US? England?

 

There are questions about the future of voice training in Canada – given that the two voice training programs we had (York Voice diploma and U of A MFA Voice Pedagogy) are both shutting down – could an association provide a platform for training and/or accreditation? 

 

As an association, we could work on ethics, standards, working conditions

Grant application samples could be published, to help support members to improve access to grants and other support 

Webinars – bi monthly – recorded and sent to those who were absent

Skype offerings

​

Pay rates:

Could this be an opportunity to develop standardization, flexibility, having some consideration of context? (*as a side note, UBCP has special dispensation to hire seniors for insurance pay only. Might we find some of these more flexible options?)

 

Develop a pay scale, pay equity.

 

Mentorship:

An association could help with one-on-one mentoring, as well as setting up workshops, and opportunities for dialogue.

 

Diversity:

This topic might involve a whole other meeting.

We talked about the role of voice teachers in decolonizing spaces

Could we develop and offer resources to give to people of different backgrounds who are interested in becoming voice coaches?

Mentorship comes up again here.

 

Support and respect is what we are seeking.

 

Going forward, what we would like to see:

Keeping in touch: We should continue to meet in person, but email communications good too. Also we should explore the options for group Skype sessions/webinars, etc. Notes and recordings can be disbursed afterwards to those who were absent.

Come together and share our work

Broaden the conversation:

Invite Sanders Whiting (Estill teacher) to join in – possibly others from different disciplines. Liz will keep Sheila Langston posted.

 

In addition to the national meetings, we are interested in continuing to meet as a BC group

​

Our session wrapped up at 5:30pm