INSPECTOR VOICE
Rebecca Moseley-Morgan
In her early career, Rebecca won scholarships to the Royal College of Music and Opera School. She won many awards and prizes including winning the coveted ‘Maggie Teyte award’ for French Song which was the start of her love of France and French song. She was also a runner-up in the Kathleen Ferrier song prize. She sang professionally at Glyndebourne, WNO and Opera 80, amongst others. Her favourite roles were dying heroines. She has died many ways in the course of her career on stage including; consumption, poisoning, strangling, and suicide. She also loved playing Susanna (Figaro) which she performed in three different productions, and also, the very naughty Norina (Don Pasquale). She has performed both of these two roles upwards of a 100 times each. As a soloist, she has performed throughout the UK, Europe, Asia and USA, but she has a particular fond memory of performing in the Royal Albert Hall, where she first performed with Sir David Willcocks in the Mozart Requiem from scratch.
Rebecca is currently chair of Education for the British Voice Association, where she is currently involved in research work with colleagues on vibrational therapy for vocal fatigue. Moreover, she is currently pursuing a new research topic based on old and new approaches to breath management in collaboration with Vetta Wise.
In addition to her busy voice studio in Oxford, she gives workshops throughout the UK on; the functionality of the voice, voice science, breathing, tips and techniques for choral singers, and maintaining the mature voice. She is an adjudicator for the International and British Federation of Music Festivals.
Rebecca did her MA in musicology and is currently nearing the end of her PhD research at UCL. Her research investigates what interventions can maintain the functionality of the mature female voice. Findings from this study support the hypothesis that the vocal competency of the mature female singer can be sustained through effective pedagogy. Rebecca was runner-up for the Van Lawrence research prize for her work with the ageing voice. Rebecca is a frequent speaker at voice conferences around the world and over the past 3 years she has presented in Lund, Florence, Copenhagen and Ghent, as well as many cities in the UK. In 2021 she will present her work for the first time in the USA. In addition to her research on the ageing voice, Rebecca also has over 30 years of experience in training this age group and her research supports what she has observed in practice over these years. Her greatest pleasure as a teacher comes from being able to use her research and expertise to restore function to an ageing voice, and she loves sharing the joy the student experiences in so doing.
Rebecca Moseley-Morgan - Research
Research work
I am currently pursuing research on the functionality of the mature female voice. This area has been a lifelong interest and I am in the closing phase of my doctoral study at UCL. The findings from this study are statistically significant and support the hypothesis that the vocal competency of the mature female singer can be sustained through effective pedagogy. It also demonstrates the need for the singer to be proactive in targeting their vocal muscles and caring for the voice.
I have presented this work at many European conferences and will be presenting in the United States later this year, 2021.
Conference Papers
‘Psychological Benefits of Singing’
Oxford, 10/06/2013
‘Weak, Wobbly and Working’
Brighton, 26/10/2013
‘Can anything be done pedagogically about any negative aspects as reported in the scientific literature of vocal ageing and if so to what extent is engaging in singing of benefit in the mature female voice?’
Lund, Choir in Focus. 15/10/2014
‘Vibrato: An essential quality of Beautiful singing or an optional embellishment’
RCM, London, 14/10/14
‘Healthy voices For Healthy Lives’
Sidney de Haan Centre, Canterbury Christchurch University, 7/5/2015
‘Can anything be done pedagogically about any negative aspects as reported in the scientific literature of vocal ageing and if so to what extent is engaging in singing of benefit in the mature female voice?’
Pan European Voice Conference, (PEVOC), Florence, 29/08/2015
‘Can anything be done pedagogically about any negative aspects as reported in the scientific literature of vocal ageing and if so to what extent is engaging in singing of benefit in the mature female voice?’
Voice Geek Conference, Colcheter Conference Centre. 29/4/2018
‘Can Anything be Done Pedagogically to Enable the Mature Female Singer to sustain Vocal Competency and Health’.
British Voice Association Van Lawrence Finals, 9/9/2018
‘Can Anything be Done Pedagogically to Enable the Mature Female Singer to sustain Vocal Competency and Health’.
Laulupedagogit ry:n koulutuspäivät 2/10/2019
Finnish Voice Association training day
Respiratory function in the mature voice
British Voice Association 19/5/19
Pedagogy for the mature female voice:
A research-based model designed to enable the mature female singer sustain vocal competency and healthVoice Geek Conference Colcehster 27th-28th April 2019
Pedagogy for the Mature Female Voice: A Research-Based Model Designed to Enable the Mature Female Singer Sustain Vocal Competency and Health
Pan European Voice Conference 28th-30th August 2019 Copenhagen
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VETTA WISE
Research Associate
Vetta was born in South Africa, studying voice, piano and opera at the University of Cape Town (UCT) and then continued on scholarship at the Royal College of Music (RCM) Opera School. She won prizes at the RCM, did courses at the Vienna and Nice Conservatoires, and performed in recitals and oratorio in the UK and South Africa, in opera at South Africa’s State Theatre and as soloist with the Cape Town Symphony and SABC National Orchestras and as recording artist for the SABC.
As Chorus Master of Cape Town Opera for 12 years, she helped establish the ground- breaking Choral Training Programme, drawing talent from communities marginalised under apartheid. She was also Director of Music of the Philharmonia Choir of Cape Town, and several other choirs and ensembles.
Vetta held singing teaching posts at UCT, where she lectured in Opera and Drama (also creating a new musical theatre vocal course) as well as in Choral Training and Music Education. She presented workshops and adjudicated festivals throughout South Africa, and co-ordinated and trained choral forces large and small for performances by, among others, Yehudi Menuhin, Seiji Ozawa, the London Philharmonic Orchestra, the Birmingham Royal Ballet, Sir David Willcocks and Luciano Pavarotti. She served on several national committees, including those of the Caltex Massed Choir Festivals (in which she conducted choral groups 1,500-strong) and the Musica Mundi Choir Olympics. She received the Nederburg Opera Award and the SAA Prize for her contribution to choral music and opera in South Africa.
Based in the UK since 2002, Vetta has conducted, founded and worked with many award-winning choirs and ensembles. She has conducted choirs in Italy, Austria, Jersey, Germany and Denmark, and returns regularly to South Africa to conduct, advise, run workshops and adjudicate.
Vetta was a voice tutor for the University of East Anglia and has a busy private singing studio. She presents voice workshops and singing days for choirs and teachers, and master classes for solo singers, Some projects have been training and conducting festival massed choirs in many great choral works, including the Mozart, Verdi and Fauré requiems, Haydn’s Creation and Nelson Mass,an Opera Gala at Blythburgh. and concerts at Snape Maltings (including Orff’s Carmina Burana and Brahms’ Liebeslieder Waltzes). She was appointed chorus director for the War Requiem at Bury Cathedral for the Britten Centenary celebrations. She is frequently on the juries of singing competitions and festivals, including the recent “International Voices of South Africa” online competition.
Recently Vetta pioneered “Better Breathing” workshops for singers, drawing on her extensive and varied experiences as a singer and teacher, and was invited to collaborate at NHS pulmonary rehabilitation physiotherapy sessions. This work has developed into the exciting breathing techniques research she is doing with Rebecca. She also enjoys curating concerts that give musicians the opportunity to share their talents with the local community in the beautiful and historic churches of East Anglia.
