Innovative singing school launched by Pembroke lecturer Nicola Harrison

A new approach to singing training developed by Pembroke lecturer and alumna Nicola Harrison has resulted in her founding a new singing school, The Embodima School.

When we sing, we activate approximately 100 muscles across our bodies. Combining research from anatomy and neuroscience to embody vocal technique, Harrison’s Embodima approach uses movement, gesture and visual images to help singers coordinate and synchronise the complex muscular systems involved in singing. These gestures and neurological cues create new motor memories that enable singers to sing with freedom and physical authenticity.

Vocal specialist Nicola Harrison has been researching the methodology that underpins Embodima for over a decade. Working in collaboration with anatomists and neuroscientists at the University of Oxford, Cardiff University and UCH, she has tested and developed the tool with over 100 singing students, including many at Pembroke, where the project began.

Nicola explains: “We cannot elect to activate the muscles of singing voluntarily. The act of singing itself coordinates these muscles and, for this to take place effectively, task-based gestural cues and images can be used. This prompts the brain to orchestrate the pattern of muscle activity required.”

Nicola is a professional singer, author and vocal coach, and Pembroke’s Retained Lecturer in Singing and Song Interpretation. Through her new Embodima School, she offers training, mentoring and support in the Embodima method to singing teachers and vocal coaches. She also works with singers wanting to elevate their potential and clients struggling with their voices who can benefit from the Embodima approach to vocalisation.