Frankie Armstrong
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About Frankie Armstrong (in her own words!):
I’ve been singing professionally since 1964 and more recently (1975) began teaching voice and singing through developing a variety of voice and singing workshops. I am an initiating member of the Natural Voice Practitioners Network which grew out of the Voice Teacher training courses that I have run in the UK since 1988.
My journey with the voice began with the skiffle boom in 1957, moving through the British folk song revival of the early 1960s, and having the good fortune to study, perform and record with leading figures of the folk revival such as Louis Killen, Ewan MacColl and Bert Lloyd. With Peggy Seeger and Sandra Kerr, I researched and developed The Female Frolic (1966) for live performance and a recording, which began my particular interest in women’s lives as illuminated through song.
Since 1962, I’ve built up a repertoire of British songs and ballads, which, along with contemporary British songs, still form the basis of my musical vocabulary. My repertoire consists of rural, industrial, music hall and contemporary songs - my own and those of other songwriters such as Sandra Kerr, Leon Rosselson and Bertolt Brecht. I find the song form extraordinary, despite its brevity, as a way of expressing the widest and deepest range of human emotions.
I have made 9 solo albums as well as featuring on numerous shared and themed recordings, contributed chapters to 11 books, written an autobiography and co-edited Well Tuned Women (on women and voice) with Jenny Pearson.
My passion for the traditional styles of singing in the British Isles and from around the world informed the development of my voice and singing workshops. The workshops were also influenced by my background as a trainer in social and youth work.
Having been involved with folk and political songs since the 1950s, I’ve always been fascinated by the way that voice can enhance an individual’s sense of well being and can also develop a sense of community between people. It can link us to the thread of song that comes down to us from our ancestors. Hence I’ve always been interested in exploring voice and song in its historical, cultural, political and spiritual dimensions. I also see the voice as a tool to aid self-expression, creativity and confidence. Over the past two decades I have particularly focused on the body-voice connection, having worked and trained with a variety of bodywork and movement teachers.
Over the years I have run workshops with almost every kind of group - children of all ages and abilities,, community and womens’ groups, people with disabilities, drama students, therapists, psychiatric patients, folk song students and the elderly. I have been a guest tutor at International Voice Conferences in the U K, Australia and North America. I have taught for professional theatre companies including Welfare State International, Opera Circus and Compass Theatre, and at music and theatre festivals. I also taught at the National Theatre Studio, London for 18 years. I have worked as an actress/singer with GRAEAE Theatre Company, Cardiff Laboratory Theatre and performed in Stepping Out for the Adelaide Festival Theatre.