Name: Christina Shewell, MA Cert MRCSLT ADVS
Email Address: christinashewell@blueyonder.co
Current Affiliation: Freelance voice teacher and speech and language therapist
Rank: Honorary senior lecturer at University College London
Training: Diploma in speech therapy (UCL); Master of Arts in Linguistics (Reading University); Advanced Diploma in Voice Studies (Central School of Speech and Drama, London).
One year part-time psychodrama course; one year part-time acting training.
Workshops taken include those with Cicely Berry, Kristin Linklater, Patsy Rodenburg, Catherine Fitzmaurice, Andrew Wade, Ann Skinner, Barbara Houseman,The Roy Hart Theatre summer school; Marion Woodman's 'BodySoul Rhythms'.
Selected Work Experience: Many years work as both a hospital and private practice speech pathologist specialising in voice, and also as theatre voice teacher and communication skills trainer. This work includes 6 years on acting staff with Patsy Rodenburg at the Guildhall School of Music and Drama; occasional work with the Royal Shakespeare Company; 9 years as voice staff member of the department of Human Communication Science, UCL; teaching on the MA Voice Studies at Central School of Speech and Drama; extensive work with businesses and institutions; working for the Marion Woodman Foundation in Zurich with Jungian analysts; teaching my 'Voice Skills Perceptual Profile' to mixed groups of voice practitioners;many other areas of work and conference presentations.
Areas of Specialization: Voice - both mending voice disorders and extending the normal voice.
Professional Organizations: Royal College of Speech and Language Therapists; British Voice Association; Voice Care Network (UK);
Selected Publications: BOOKS:
1986 Originator and Co-editor with Virginia Dean of A Way with Words, an anthology of prose and poetry with foreword by Jonathan Miller. Sold in aid of the charity, Action for Dysphasic Adults. Sinclair Browne.
2000 Good Business Communicates across Cultures.
In house publication by Mastek, international software company
Current: In press (publication by Wiley-Blackwell January 2009): Voice Work: Art and Science in Changing Voices.
ARTICLES (sample only)
What the Voice betrays. Speech Therapy in Practice, April 1990.
Good and Bad Vibrations: The Vocal Profile Analysis Scheme. Speech Therapy in Practice April 1991.
A Lack of Understanding about two Professions: Voice Therapy and Voice Teaching. Human Communication November 1992.
Dysphonia in December. Human Communication, February 1992.
Journey to a Deeper Understanding of the Human Voice. Human Communication. November 1993, Vol 3, No 1.
with Shelagh Brumfitt. Teaching Interpersonal Skills and Counselling to Speech and Language Therapy Students. College of Speech and Language Therapists Bulletin, February 1994
Voice and the Alexander Technique; Section in Glynn Macdonald s Alexander Technique . Hodder and Stoughton.
My Throat Hurts and my Voice is Hoarse. British Association of Performing Arts Medicine Bulletin. May 1995.
Medical Matters column in The Stage October 12 1995.
Voice Therapy with Performers. Bulletin of The Royal College of Speech and Language Therapists.
The Counsellor as Travelling Companion. Speech and Language Therapy in Practice, Summer 1998. (reprinted in Voiceprint: the newsletter of the Australian Voice Association 2001)
The Effect of Perceptual Training on Ability to Use the Vocal Profile Analysis Scheme. In the proceedings of the Royal College of Speech and Language Therapists 1998 Conference in Liverpool. International Journal of Language and Communication Disorders. Vol 33
The Voice of Experience. Bulletin of The Royal College of Speech and Language Therapists. November 2000
Carding, P., Carlson, E., Epstein, R., Mathieson, L. and Shewell, C. 2001. Evaluation of Voice Quality. International Journal of Language and Communication Disorders. Vol.36, No 1, 127-134
The Voice Skills Perceptual Profile. Newsletter of the International Centre for Voice. 4, 4. 2005.
Statement of Philosophy: I continue to be fascinated by the voice continuum, and work with both 'normal' and 'abnormal' voices, using perceptual voice analysis and practical ideas from both art and science. At the foundation of any voice are the psyche and the body, and voice work taps into the interaction within the individual of those two great forces. There is a huge variety of technical voice work options, and I enjoy matching the suitable approach to the particular client or group.
