Chekhov Meets The Singing Voice IV

Time: 11am – 5pm

In this full day singing workshop Deborah Garvey shared fundamentals of her research-led practice. This practice integrates Michael Chekhov principles with existing singing techniques and elements of Linklater voice work that Deb has developed as a singer and teacher. Her practice seeks to connect a free body-breath-voice to a safe and effective vocal technique in a spirit of imaginative play. Her research asks how Chekhov’s techniques of ease, radiating and receiving, expanding and contracting, and impulse, can help to alleviate any anxiety towards singing. Deb’s practice proposes an organic, imaginatively embodied continuum from speaking to singing through the exploration of a full and expressive vocal range. She hopes that her practice will offer the actor and singer both agency and a sense of selfhood when connecting to sung thoughts.

This full-day workshop ended with a Q&A discussion which will interrogate Deb’s
practice- research and the central questions she is exploring in her work, chaired by Cass Fleming, Co-Director of The Chekhov Collective.

This workshop was open to anyone interested in exploring the potential of their full expressive musical range through collective and individual music making.  You do not need to be a confident singer to participate and if you’ve attended previous workshops with Deb, this day offers an extended exploration of song material plus the opportunity to participate in the post-workshop discussion.

Deborah (Deb) Garvey is a voice coach who draws on her training and experience as a performer. Since 1995 she has taught singing in both conservatoire and non-vocational settings. She has a music degree and an MA in Voice Studies from the Royal Central School of Speech and Drama where she was a Lecturer in Voice for nine years. During that time she taught singing, voice and dialect across acting programmes and on the MFA Voice Studies programme. In 2019, she joined the voice team at the Royal Academy of Dramatic Art. Deb is also a designated Linklater teacher and co-taught the first Linklater singing workshop at KLVC in Orkney in 2022. Other guest teaching includes The Globe and Young Vic Education departments, Academy of Dramatic Art, Zagreb and LMTA, Vilnius and, more recently. the MFA Linklater Teaching Practice (combining Michael Chekhov practice) programme. Deb has also presented papers at conferences with topics ranging from interconnections between spoken and sung voice to proposing new approaches to dialect work in actor training. She was recently voice and dialect coach on Yellowman at the Orange Tree, Richmond and singing coach on a major film for Sony Pictures to be released in 2023. She composes and continues to perform when teaching commitments allow. She is passionate about the potential of the human voice!

Accessibility: The studio at Goldsmiths is wheelchair accessible. Please email us with any access requirements at  thechekhovcollectiveuk@gmail.com.

Cost: We are keen to make our workshops as accessible as possible, and there are concessions available. If you would like to make a special application for a free ticket, please contact us via email at  thechekhovcollectiveuk@gmail.com.