Carrie Birmingham

Carrie is a hearing impaired rock vocalist and songwriter, vocal teacher, mentor, and voice and hearing sciences researcher.

She joined the school of pop and production at Leeds Conservatoire in 2019 as a popular vocals lecturer alongside working as an additional tutor for the short courses team since 2018. In this time, she has primarily trained vocalists on the popular music and songwriting courses, alongside providing workshops and masterclasses in vocal health, building confidence in live performance, and technical approaches to rock vocals for evening and weekend courses to the general public.

Carrie runs her own singing studio, Pro Vox in Liverpool, established in 2013, working with many touring artists, tribute acts, cabaret and music theatre performers, and songwriters of all ages and abilities.

Alongside running her own studio and teaching students at Leeds Conservatoire, Carrie also holds an Honorary Contract as a Singing Specialist Volunteer at the Royal Liverpool Broadgreen Hospital Trust in the ENT Voice Clinic, working as part of a multi-disciplinary team.

Carrie is also an assessor to the Vocal Health First Aid qualification with the non for profit organisation, Vocal Health Education, and has been the North Representative to the Association of Teachers of Singing since 2017.

Currently, she is partway through her PhD studies at the University of Leeds, due for completion between 2025-2027. Her specialism of research focuses on auditory processing of the singing voice and the impact of technology such as hearing protection and in-ear devices.

As a performer, she has been involved in a variety of industries performing as a ballerina and in musical theatre from a young age. As a flautist and saxophonist across Lancashire in woodwind and jazz ensembles, fronting a multi-genre band and acoustic trio for function events and fronting her original alt-rock band FIGURES who were broadcast on BBC Introducing and across EU/US Radio between 2016-2018. She is currently working on a new solo alt-blues-rock project, 'Charlie's Girl'.

Awards/Releases/Credits/Achievements

Previous:

• BA (Hons) Popular Music and Drama and Theatre Studies
• PgCert. Applied Practice of Vocal Pedagogy
• Master of Arts Applied Practice of Vocal Pedagogy
• Level 6 Advanced Vocal Anatomy Certification
• Level 4 Teaching Children and Young Adults
• Level 2 Accredited Vocal Health First Aider
• Level 3 Advanced Biology: Hearing
• UCL - Deaf Awareness: Audiology - Short Course

Current:

• Post-Graduate Research Student, University of Leeds, School of Music
• Vocal Health First Aid Assessor, Vocal Health Education
• North Area Representative, Association of Teachers of Singing
• Singing Specialist Volunteer, Royal Liverpool and Broagreen Hospital University Trust, NHS Voice Clinic.

Public Research Conferences Carrie has presented research for:

• Music Education Singing Symposium, 2016 - "Belting and Alignment"
• Voice Geek Conference 2018 - "Hearing Perception upon accuracy of Pitch and Loudness"
• Voice Geek Conference 2019 - "The impact of ear plugs upon pitch accuracy and intensity of the singing voice."
• Voice Geek Conference (online) 2020 - "The impact of ear canal occlusion upon pitch accuracy and intensity in singing performance."
• Pan American Vocology Association, 2021 - "The potential impact of the singers perception under the condition of ear canal occlusion."
• British Voice Association, Choice for Voice, 2021 - "The potential impact of ear canal occlusion upon the singers perception of pitch and intensity."