As a professional singer myself, I understand first hand the expectations and lifestyle of the “vocal athlete”. I empathize with the emotional toll any voice issue – no matter how big or small – can have on a singer. Whether you’re singing professionally, avocationally, or even just in the shower, if your voice is important to you, it’s important to me.

Maybe your family doc has dismissed your concerns or your voice teacher wants you to get something checked out, or your voice just hasn’t been performing the way you know it can; whatever it is, I’ll help you figure out. I can help you achieve a wide range of goals. I’ll work with you to optimize your singing voice, keep it in tip top shape, develop a specific, efficient, effective warm up, work out some of the little niggling problems you’ve been having lately, learn to take your singing training into a new gig, style, or show, and I can help take care of the big scary things for you. I can help you find more ease, range, strength, comfort, and joy in singing, and I’ll help demystify that marvelous instrument you own (but may never have laid eyes on!). As part of our work together, I’ll consider the space or setup you’re singing in, technology and sound gear, costumes or footwear, repertoire or instrumentation, rehearsal or performance, touring or long running production, technique or song style requirements – you name it, I’ll help you work with it. Whether you’re working with your teacher or on your own, I can help. I promise, if you work with me, you’ll learn to love singing even more than you do now – more than you ever thought possible.

Whatever you need, I’ll help you get it. Just ask, one singer to another.

As a professional educator and regular workshop presenter, I can completely empathize with the demands you’re facing as a voice user. I was trained at OISE/UT as a teacher, I was Ontario College of Teachers certified, and I taught in the Toronto District, Peel, and Toronto Catholic District School Boards as an intermediate/senior music/drama/musical theatre/tech theatre/guitar/band/any-fine-art-they-could-invent teacher. I also currently hold a lecturer position at the University of Toronto where I lecture to the graduate SLP students, and I’m regularly invited to give workshops to colleagues and voice users alike. I know how hard it is to ensure your voice is in top form the way you need it to be to command attention and feel confident. And I know exactly how to ensure you get the voice you need to keep your audience engaged from the first word to the last.

I offer preventative voice care, voice therapy, accent modification and General American/Canadian dialect coaching for a wide range of professional voice users whose livelihood depends on their voice being in optimal condition, including:

• singers and actors
• comedians
• broadcasters
• teachers and professors
• medical professionals
• lawyers
• business associates and marketing professionals
• call centre personnel
• clergy
• coaches
• …and many more!

Some of the voice problems therapy can help with include:

• nodules, polyps, or cysts
• muscle tension dysphonia
• pain when speaking or swallowing
• hoarseness, pitch or volume changes
• paradoxical vocal fold motion/disorder
• irritable larynx
• chronic cough
• spasmodic dysphonia
• puberphonia or mutational falsetto
• presbyphonia or aging voice
• …and many more!

If you’re looking to love your voice again, contact me to make an appointment so we can make sure your voice is in the best shape possible!

While these may not seem like “voice” disorders, they are disorders of the larynx, or voicebox, and that means they’re absolutely in my wheelhouse!

Irritable Larynx Syndrome is often used as a term to encapsulate anything where the larynx is in fact irritated into coughing, clearing, or breathing spasms.  It stems from a situation where the larynx, or voice box, becomes very sensitive to stimuli – perhaps strong smells, cold air, or even talking and emotions – which sets off a cough or throat clearing that won’t go away.  At it’s most extreme, it can also lead to a feeling that the airway is closing up, and is often misdiagnosed as asthma in the beginning.  The symptoms feel incredibly disruptive and distressing, and can keep you from living your live to the fullest.

If you have been told to see a speech language pathologist for therapy for Irritable Larynx Syndrome, or if these symptoms resonate with you, I’m happy to help you learn strategies to relax your larynx, teach you to desensitize yourself to irritants, and learn rescue breathing to help you get out of an episode.

Oh boy, being a kiddo is fun! There’s so much excitement, and so much vocalization that goes along with it! All the cheering, shouting, and yelling in sports; squealing with delight on the playground; singing in choir or in Scouts; trying to recreate the wild voices of a favourite cartoon character; or just vehemently making a point. There’s a lot to talk about! It’s no wonder that with all this squealing with delight (or the alternate-universe version, screaming in panic “S/HE TOUCHED ME!!!”), kids sometimes end up with voice problems. Hoarseness, nodules, laryngitis… it’s hard to figure out what to do about it. And from one parent to another, let’s be honest: we both know you sure as heck aren’t going to get them to quiet down any time soon. Nor should we! I believe we can let kids be kids and keep their voices healthy all the same.

Trust a voice therapist with pediatric experience and kiddos of her own with healthy sets of pipes. I’ll help you and your child take care of their voice now so they don’t have long-standing problems in the future.

From time to time, I offer group therapy as either an alternative or a complement to individual therapy. Group therapy can be a wonderful resource if you are looking for a more cost-effective option, if you want to learn from like-minded voice users, if you want more opportunity to practice your skills in a safe and supportive environment, or if you want to see models of how others are working on their voices as well. If you are interested in group therapy, contact me at info@melanietapson.com to find out about availability and whether it could be right for you!

As a professional singer myself, I understand first hand the expectations and lifestyle of the “vocal athlete”. My career has spanned a range of types of singing, across gigs like performing with Disney Cruise Line, touring with a Juno-award-winning big band, theme park productions, voiceover work, choral singing/directing/arranging, large production musicals, and much more! I empathize with the emotional toll any voice issue – no matter how big or small – can have on a singer. Whether you’re singing professionally, avocationally, or even just in the shower, if your voice is important to you, it’s important to me.

Singing should make you feel good – when your voice doesn’t do what you want it to, or what you know it can, it doesn’t feel as good as it can. I can help. Whether your family doc dismisses your concerns or your voice teacher wants you to get something checked out that you’re not sure you understand, if it’s important to you, I’ll help you figure it out. Whatever your goals, I can help you optimize your singing voice, keep it in tip top shape, work out some of the little niggling problems you’ve been having lately, or help take care of the big scary things with you. I can help you find more ease, range, strength, comfort, and joy in singing, and I’ll help demystify that marvelous instrument you own (but may never have laid eyes on!).

Whatever you need, I’ll help you get it. Just ask, one singer to another.

If you are interested in finding or developing your most authentic voice, and keeping your voice safe and healthy while you do, I am happy to work with you.  Our work together can help you find a voice and communication style that feel both safe and authentic, that you feel reflect your gender identity and are congruent with your gender expression.

Here is some information about my approach to gender affirming voice and communication training:

Most people want to know if I can help them find a higher or lower pitch. Therapy with me certainly can involve raising or lowering the pitch of your voice (depending on your goals), but it also often involves working on making your voice lighter (often perceived as a more feminine sound) or deeper (often perceived as a more masculine sound), and in all cases, more resonant and less effortful. Working on your voice doesn’t mean you have to conform to culturally-defined societal expectations of gender; these are just some of the aspects of finding a more authentic voice that many clients have expressed they want to work toward. Voice therapy with me also includes working on the other aspects of communication that help get your message across, such as the way you use your body when you communicate, the kinds of words and phrases you choose, and the way you express yourself. As well, we will explore how you would like to express your gender identity through voice and communication, examining together what makes the most authentic voice for you.

I typically start with an in-depth 1-hour assessment session, where I get the chance to learn more about you and your goals, which helps me design the most effective approach to voice work for each individual person. Therapy sessions are typically between 30 minutes and an hour long, and often go in blocks of a few weeks’ worth of weekly or bi-weekly sessions, followed by a break for you to work on what we have explored and learned together. This is often followed up with another block of sessions to build on what you are learning and practicing. However, the length of individual sessions and how long we work together is always determined by a combination of your goals, how your voice changes from session to session, and how much support you feel you need, and this is a conversation we will always have together. Sessions may involve speaking, listening, writing, thinking, expressing, and reflecting on your work with your new voice, and they always involve practicing what you are learning and evaluating how you are feeling about your voice.

I am proud of my connection to the LGBTQ2S+ community, and I maintain relationships with a variety of people, care providers, and resources that partner wonderfully with the work you’re doing on your voice. I’m also proud of my efforts to stay on top of the current best practices in voice therapy and in particular, in gender spectrum voice and communication work. I’ve taken a ton of supplemental training in this area, and I often present workshops and mentor SLPs who are new to this area of practice because I firmly believe we need more competent, confident, caring clinicians in this area, and I’m more than happy to help us all get there together.

Toronto is a wonderfully diverse city full of different cultures, languages, and cuisines. You’ll hear many different accents and dialects of English here, and they are an important part of many people’s identities – it tells a story about who you are, and where you come from. An accent is a wonderful thing!

For some people though, an accent can sometimes be a barrier to full participation. I grew up in Nova Scotia, and I had a darling regional accent that marked me as a friendly, approachable, East Coaster when I moved away. I loved it. But when I landed a coveted job with Disney as an entertainer, I needed to figure out how to sound less Canadian for the role, particularly to guests who preferred the comforting sounds of the “TV American” accent. I put in a lot of time and effort to try and bend my own accent towards what my directors were asking for, and now, you’d be hard pressed to guess where I’m from. I also worked alongside a crew from over 65 countries from around the world, and I loved the diversity amongst us, including the beautiful ways they all spoke the common language of the Disney holiday traveler: English. And thus began my love of accents and dialects; how we learn them, love them, play with them, and change them depending on our needs and other influences in our lives.

Accent training isn’t technically “speech therapy”, because an accent or a dialect isn’t a disorder. However, if pronunciation difficulties are making it difficult to communicate effectively, it is absolutely something we can work on! As well, like in my experience, there are a variety of reasons people decide they would like to modify their accent. You might feel you aren’t understood as clearly as you’d like at times, you may want to audition for a role that requires a General American accent, or you may want to be able to “code switch” and speak with an accent that feels more comfortable for you in a given environment. By assessing stress, intonation, speech sounds, and grammar/syntax, we can look at how you’re currently speaking English, and identify ways you can modify these features to align with your personal speech goals.

I’m not asking you to change your accent or give up your dialect. But I’m here to help if you want to modify the way you speak English to achieve a personal goal – one that you decide, and only if you reach out to me. Whatever your goals, I can help you shape the way you speak English so that you feel your most confident in any situation. And for anyone who chooses not to change their accent at all, I celebrate you – it’s a wonderful part of who you are!

The number one fear in the world isn’t death, it’s public speaking! Your hands are clammy, your heart is racing, your mouth is so dry, you’re sweating profusely, and you have the shakes. Suddenly, the brilliant message you worked so hard to prepare is coming out sounding like you just crossed a road race finish line. You feel like Winona Ryder in Stranger Things. You’re terrified you sound like the pimply-faced kid from the Simpsons. And none of that is at all what you pictured in your mind when you were rehearsing your words at home.

Or maybe it’s just that you can’t seem to catch a break at work. You have great ideas, but someone else always manages to find a way to pitch them better and spin them like their own. You’re not getting the credit you deserve, and the job you really want feels just out of reach.

Maybe you feel like your speaking voice lacks authority, confidence, or conviction. Instead of sounding like an expert your listeners can trust, you leave your audience with more questions than answers. You long for a warm, resonant, captivating voice but you chalk it up to what you’ve been given and find yourself avoiding roles that require commanding leadership, when you know you’re up for the task.

You’d be amazed at what we can do together to give you the voice that serves you best. Whether you want to kick stage fright to the curb, keep your audience engaged from start to finish, or build trust and rapport and instil confidence in your listeners, I can help you create the voice you’ve always dreamed of having.

I regularly offer training opportunities to:

• SLPs who are interested in taking on voice clients or clients who are transgender, working with singers, or who want to get more in-depth training in voice therapy
• voice teachers interested in learning more about working with injured voices
• voice users at their workplace to help keep everyone’s voice comfortable and confident on the job

If you’re looking for training in voice rehabilitation or habilitation, I have two options:

if I’m not offering a seminar but you really need to connect and figure out next steps, or if you want individualized training tailored to you personally, or you’re looking for mentorship, you can book One-on-One Training with me. Contact me at info@melanietapson.com to find out more about availability and rates.

• “All Our Voices: An Interactive Day of Voice Topics for Speech-Language Pathologists” coordinator and moderator (OSLA, Toronto ON, June 7 2019)
• “Top Ten Resources” (OSLA Voice Conference, Toronto ON, June 2019)
• “Hands On: Perceptual Voice Evaluation” (OSLA Voice Conference, Toronto ON, June 2019)
• “Expert Panel” with Gwen Merrick, Marta DeLuca, Natalia Evans, Laurie Russell & Dr Jun Lin (OSLA Voice Conference, Toronto ON, June 7 2019)
• “Pediatric Voice Therapy” (All About Communication, Durham ON, October 2018)
• “Vocal Health for Singers” (Brandon Brophy’s Singer’s Edge Voice Studio, Toronto ON, August 2018)
• “Singers’ Voice Care” (World Voice Day, Melanie Tapson Voice Care, Toronto ON, April 2018)
• “PAVA Symposium & St Mike’s Voice Course” (Pan American Vocology Association, Toronto ON, October 20 & 21, 2017)
• “St Mike’s Voice Course” (St Michael’s Hospital Voice Clinic with Mt Sinai Hospital and University of Toronto, Toronto ON, October 21 2017)
• “Art, Meet Science: the relationship between SLP and voice teacher” (Vocology In Practice, online, July 15 2017)
• “Vocal Health for Singers: Maximize Efficiency, Minimize Damage” (Vocology In Practice, online, July 15 2017)
• “The Starving Artist Vocal Workshop” – all proceeds went to the Regent Park School of Music (Ryan Luchuck Voice and Artist Development, Toronto ON, June 25 2017)
• “Transgender Singing Voice: Considerations for the Voice Teacher” (Vocology in Practice, webinar to international audience, March 2017)
• “The Diaphragm Demystified: Breath Support for Artists.” (Performing Arts Medicine Association regional conference, University of Toronto, Toronto ON, February 2017)
• “The Singer’s Voice Care Team.” (The Ultimate Day of Voice, Ryan Luchuck Voice and Artist Development, Toronto ON, November 2017)
• “Essentials of Performing Arts Medicine: Posture, physical condition, and demands of vocalists – singers and actors.” with Dr Lucinda Halstead, ENT (Performing Arts Medicine Association annual conference, New York City NY, July 2016)
• “Transgender Voice Therapy – Considerations for the SLP” (OSLA Voice Conference, Toronto ON, June 2016)
• “Circumlaryngeal Manipulation:  Assessment, Reposturing, Massage” (OSLA Voice Conference, Toronto ON, June 2016) “Expert Panel” (OSLA Voice Conference, Toronto ON, June 2016)
• “Expert Panel, The Acappella Workshop with Cadence” (Ryan Luchuck Voice and Artist Development, Toronto ON, May 29 2016)
• “Singers’ Voice Care: Collegiate Acappella Singers.” (SING! Toronto Vocal Arts Festival, Toronto ON, May 2016)
• “Expert Panel: Toronto Voice Conference” (Ryan Luchuck Voice & Artist Development & Brandon Brophy, Singer’s Edge with Dr Ingo Titze, Toronto ON, November 2015)
• “Singers’ Voice Care.” with Dr Brian Hands, ENT (SING! Toronto Vocal Arts Festival, Toronto ON May 2015)
• “Voice Therapy 101.” (1 to 1 Rehab, Toronto ON, December 2014)
• “Meritorious Poster Award – Does Head Angle Impact Measures of Hyoid Excursion in Swallowing?” (ASHA Convention, Orlando FL, November 2014)
• “Holistic voice care for singers: from prehab to rehab.” (SING! Festival, Toronto ON, May 2014)
• “Normal Swallowing Physiology: establishing the reference perspective for swallowing assessment.” with Dr. Catriona Steele, SLP & Shauna Stokely, SLP 
(CASLPA national conference, Ottawa ON, May 2014)
• “Finding Your Best Voice and Making An Impact.” (Canadian Water Network “Pass the Mic” Workshop, Vancouver BC, Jan 2014)
• “The Normalized Residue Rating Scale: a quantitative approach to helping clinicians make accurate measurements.” (Toronto Rehab Research Day, Toronto ON, November 2013)
• “Effective communication: how to become an engaging presenter.” (Canadian Water Network Graduate Students and Young Professionals, Halifax NS, April 2013)
• “Breathing, speaking and singing: learning to relax and free your voice.” (8th anniversary meeting, Halifax Support Group for People Who Stutter, Halifax NS, 2012)

To find out about current workshops or to learn more about creating a lecture or workshop specific to your voice needs, contact me.

I also lecture at the university level in both undergraduate and graduate courses, in public and private high schools, for teachers and students, in drama and music, for singers and voice professionals, in SLP and singing programs, and more! Here is a selection of some of the lectures I’ve taught:

• University of Toronto, Department of Speech Language Pathology (MHSc SLP) SLP1502Y Anatomy and Embryology (course instructor Dr Catriona Steele) – The Larynx Structure and Function SLP1527S Clinical Analysis of Communication & Swallowing Disorders (course instructor Dr. Luigi Girolametto, Dr Elizabeth Rochon, Lynn Ellwood) – Dysphagia Case Study
• Glenn Gould School – Royal Conservatory of Music Performance Awareness (instructor Stephen Sitarski)
• University of Toronto – Scarborough, Department of Linguistics SLP PLIC54H3 Speech Pathology and Speech Disorders in Children and Adults (instructor Aravind Namasivayam) – sEMG and IOPI labs
• Dalhousie University, School of Human Communication Disorders (MSc SLP) HUCD 5050 Speech Science (course instructor Michael Kiefte) – including cadaver labs
• Concordia University, Department of Theatre / Department of Music INMS 498Z: Special Topics, Into the Woods – Vocal Coach and Assistant Music Director