Welcome to Loughran MacLeod's Voice for Performance

Voice is so much more than making sound. It's an act of emotion, music brings out the deepest feelings in us. Our lessons will of course include good technique, drawn on from the many disciplines I've trained under, but our main focus will be to get you comfortable and confident to use your whole instrument; your body from head to toe.

If we want an audience member to connect with us, whether we're singing or speaking, we need to know why we're saying what we're saying. Once we know why, we can explore how, how do we tell the story? The why is our interpretation in our minds, and the how is the way in which that understanding is transmitted through our voice and body.

Ever been told to "bend your knees", but nothing else? Well, why? Why bend the knees? And why not give focus to other areas of the body? Together we'll take the full body into account, which includes knee-bending, but also connection to the floor through feet, dynamic expansion in the back, and utilising the core to support our voice and reduce vocal strain and fatigue.

Our mind is an underutilized asset. "Power of Thought" sounds hokey, but everything we do is already done by that, we just forget about it because it becomes habit. In our sessions, you'll actively choose to do things in your body, to experiment with doing things differently to help you gain an understanding of why things work. This conscious choice of reshaping habits will propel your learning further than you'd expect!

Anything you want! I have a more "structured" way to get us moving in our first few sessions, some songs and technique stuff to get the ball rolling, but these are YOUR sessions. If you have something to work on, a song or monologue, bring it! Write your own songs? Let's explore them together! This is your time with me, and you should use it in a way that makes you feel satisfied.

Come into our space with an intention or two. Or even three. So long as they're clear and specific. "I want to get better at singing" is okay enough, but it lacks specificity which might result in you eeling like you're not "doing enough". "I want to find out why I get vocally exhausted after one song" is a great example of a goal, because there are lots of things we can explore to find the cause of the issue and adapt to something more sustainable. The more specific you are, the more we can celebrate your accomplishments to take you to new heights.