‘To have a little song in my speech and a little speech in my song…’ Lessac (1967, as cited by Krebs, 2007).

 

SUSAN PAGE MA London, B.Ed.Cantab.

 

I am a voice therapist (with an MA in voice from Royal Central School of Speech and Drama and former chair of the British Stammering Association), specializing in stammering. I use a unique musical methodology which uses proprioceptive feedback.

As a person who stammers, through this system I have found a remarkably high level of fluency; so much so that people comment ‘where has your stammer gone?’ Aware there is no ‘cure’ as such I now teach and am researching this approach with adults and children who stammer.

Developed by Arthur Lessac (Professor at New York State University); it uses ‘kinesensic’ training; a self-teaching, sensory-based process. The focus is on ‘feeling’ not ‘hearing’ , using vibrations and physical sensations to ‘play’ the musical instrument, which is our voice and body. Thus producing beautiful tones effortlessly.

No other therapist utilises this method of musicality and prosody to alleviate stammering.

I have worked extensively with clients using dramatic tools, musicality and movement to release the natural voice.

I have set up The Voice Therapy Institute www.voicetherapyinstitute.org to develop and research work in this field.