“Words mean more than what is set down on paper. It takes the human voice to infuse them with deeper meaning.”

Dr Maya Angelou

Are you a part of any Voice teaching Associations?

Thanks for asking, but no. Not at present. I used to be an active member of a prominent Australian Voice Teaching orginisation, but after giving much time and service to it [7 years] my final act of service to that community was to become a whistle-blower in 2023. In unregulated industries such as Voice Teaching there is no scope of practice for Voice Teachers of any type in the world: that includes Singing Teachers, Extreme Vocals Specialists, Vocal Coaches or whichever other made up name someone gives their profession like Singing Voice Specialist or Vocal Pedagogue! Anyone who wants to call themselves a teacher of voice can, even without education, experience, or capability. In environments like this, a culture of unprofessional behaviours can form and lateral violence can emerge which can harm more than just someone’s ego as it did in my case. So, understandably, it’s not something I’m rushing into again any time soon. Unfortunately, the Code of Ethics allegedly adhered to in Australia that outlines how Voice Teachers are to treat their students and their peers is non-enforceable (ANATS Ltd President, personal communication, 18th August 2023). I can be held to account for certain things in my teaching practice in my roles as a Mental Health First Aider, a Vocal Health First Aider, and as a Queensland Government Positive Notice Blue Card holder, and am always looking for ways to call myself to better and be held responsible for my actions.

What does your logo mean?

The Make Loud Noise Studio logo is made up of three equilateral triangles that comprise a fourth. Here’s what the four triangles mean to me:

1. Spirit, Soul, and Body - growing up I was taught by my Mum what she was taught by my Grandmother who learned it from my Great Grandmother and so on in the curandera [medicine woman tradition] I am a Spirit, I have a soul, I live in a body. While science is very nearly there on having evidence for this ancient ideology it’s how I see each and every student. Students are not just a voice to me. Their voice is a part of the greater whole so I must care for all of them and when I can’t, I refer on to someone else in the village of life who can.

2. Body, Mind, and Voice - as the unified bodymind as presented in the leading voice science book Bodymind & Voice: foundations of voice education by Leon Thurman and Graham Welch [et al]. There’s genuinely not much about voice science that has changed since we first became capable of measuring it. Yes, there’s nuiance to it and deeper meaning making evolving the longer we look at it, but the foundations of voice science will continue to hold true. I situate my teaching practice in the best, most up to date voice science we have, so I am always reading and learning.

3. Recovery, Unity, and Service - if you know you know. With this I’ve had a chance for everything one day at a time for over 10 years. Without it I have nothing.

4. Science, Art, and Strength - inside the worn but beautiful pages of the over 100 year old antique book pictured above, Handbook on The Art of Teaching Applied To Music, by John Warriner which I inherited from my paternal Aunt Shirley [pianist and piano teacher], who inherited it from my paternal Aunt Muriel [pianist and piano teacher], who inherited it from my paternal Grandmother Janet Roberta Erskine Martin [pianist and piano teacher], is a wealth of wisdom on the fundamentals of pedagogy [the art of teaching] as it relates to music. In Warriner’s work he talks about the need for balance between Science, Art, and Strength [also written below the logo in Latin] to make a decent musician. In the front of the book is Grand Mother Martin’s Trinity College of London piano teaching qualification. So, this fourth triangle, that is central to all the triangles in the logo represent not only Warriner’s wisdom, but me carrying on the Art of Teaching as Applied to Music as a third generation music teacher and proprietor of a woman led business into my family’s 106th year of service to Queensland.

Why a skull on your Studio door?

Do you know how many times I get asked if I worship the Devil? SO, So, so many!!! I personally don’t, even though I do know some people who do, so here’s some of my reasons why I have a skull on the Studio Door:

• B.C. [Before Cancer] I wrote a poem about being a “Bottle Labelled Poison” and a song called “Hail Storm” during my undergrad days with both referencing Skull and Crossbones. I loved the idea of Memento Mori [Latin for ‘Remember you have to die’] but with my own spin: yes one day I have to die but while I’m here I can choose to live and how to live. Memento Mori is also the symbol for death, but again I loved the poetry of the notion that all that remains when we fade is wisdom [our skull] and strength [our long bones also known as our femur or thigh bones] as the metal of who we are and how we carry ourselves in life. So, yeah, I have a lot of skulls in and around the studio.

• In 2019 while in London for the British Voice Association Extreme Vocals Conference I attended The British Museum where I had an experience with a human skull artifact believed to represent Aztec pantheon deity Tezcatlipoca, or Smoking Mirror as he was also called. With Aztec, Mixtec, and Mayan ancestry in my veins on my maternal side it was wild that I saw this human skull clad in turquoise, shell, and deer skin and literally collapsed whenever I got near it in some kind of ancestral DNA fainting episode. It was believed that this artifact was worn by priests during culturally significant ceremonies. Tezcatlipoca is believed a creator god overseeing war and conflict as well as rulers and sorcerers: I like to think, given the company of who he was overseeing, that Tezcatlipoca would be a god of Metal Musics. The Studio also used to have a giant calavera on the front door for a number of years which is also culturally significant to me which reminds me of the departed souls of my loved ones.

• Because a student gave me a delightful neon light from Kmart as a thank you: I have called the light Isidora after one of my Tia’s who has passed over and now it reminds me of both the souls of the students in my care in this world and those who watch over me in the next. In case you missed it, I take the honour and responsibility of my job as someone who calls her students to better really seriously!

Why Black, White, & Yellow?

Aside from being my three favourite colours [because I love bee’s], I chose the colours of black, white, and yellow back in 2013 [against all advice from graphic designers] as these colours, when grouped together tend to mean danger worldwide. Any kind of vocalisation focused work that doesn’t account for the long-term mental health and physical well-being of the vocalist, as well as the vocal health of the vocalist, is setting the vocalist up for danger, especially when it comes to Extreme Vocals. Without a road map to emotional and vocal self-pacing and self-regulation it’s simply not possible for a vocalist, let alone an Extreme Vocalist, to tour long, happily, or healthily. This is why I’ve trained as a Mental Health First Aider and a Vocal Health First Aider to ensure that the voices I’m helping build now will stand up to the real world experiences of touring in a music industry that is often unstable, highly demanding, and unforgiving. While most of the Extreme Vocals Specialists around the world are using some form of these colours, it’s just a side effect of graphic designers doing market research to see what’s popular in the Extreme Vocals space out there [you know who you are]! Long live the black, white, and yellow!

Are you a nepo baby?

As it relates to music and vocals - hardly! While my Dad and I enjoyed singing classically together occasionally, and I had the great privilege of recording him singing before he passed away as a Producer, I was always taught music by other people and, as it relates to Extreme Vocals especially, I’ve really had to read, workshop things on my own, and research [yes, I did have to get Human Ethics Research Clearance]. Dad was actually really against my leanings towards Metal. If you’re interested in knowing more you can check out this interview I did with Comedian Ashwin Segkar: Immoral. While I’ve had some lovely conversations with my Aunt Shirley about her lived experiences with piano playing and teaching, when it came to my education it was thought it be better handled outside of the family. As it relates to the gift of teaching that I have been blessed with from both sides of the family, my Mum is a natural teacher as a Preacher even though we share different points of view on her area of specialty, I would still say no as none of us has been gifted with the curse of being famous.