Author: Jo Sear

I have been singing since I was 3 years old, raised on a staple diet of awesome rock, pop and soul music. I joined my first professional working band at age 21 and have been behind a microphone ever since, singing lead and backing vocals in a wide variety of rock, soul and blues bands, working as a session singer and taking part in many stage productions, including several at the London Palladium. My current band is Soul Enforcement Bureau, an 8-piece professional soul covers outfit. I've been a teacher of CCM singing styles exclusively for over 16 years, working both privately and within secondary and dance schools. I have trained extensively in many different areas of voice study, including the Estill Model, advanced anatomy and voice acoustics, and taught a wide range of students, from amateurs to professionals. I completed my MA in Professional Voice Practice (Voice Pedagogy) with Voice Study centre and UWTSD in April 2021, passing with Distinction. I am a passionate advocate of the importance of training more rock/pop teachers and conducting more contemporary voice research, both of which formed the basis of my final dissertation project: The creation of a prospective curriculum design for training PM singing teachers. I am a member of VASTA, APME and the British Voice Association and have been selected by the latter to present my research at two of their conferences: Choice for Voice 2021 and The Contemporary Commercial Music Singer 2021.