Touch and touch-based cueing: Where does the vocal coach/teacher fit?

In an effort to mine some data, I recently posted a set of questions on several Facebook groups. My post went: “An education, please. How do professionals here see the role of touch cueing in their work? For instance, is touching a student to encourage them to lower their shoulders or align the head allowable within your profession? I understand that many institutions and individuals avoid touching the student for fear of litigation, etc., but when is such input allowed? If there are any yeses to these questions, how do you see your touch cueing as having an impact?” Out of the varied responses came information and an opportunity to speak in greater depth with Robert Price, vocal manual therapist and voice practitioner. You can learn more about Robert at https://www.vocalmassagelondon.com/ and https://voicecarecentre.co.uk/. Robert hosts a podcast that looks at the History of Actor Training https://www.buzzsprout.com/1393114. The two papers addressed in our talk are:

1. Thuma, H. & Miranda, M. (2020) Hands On/Hands Off: Pedagogical Touch in the #MeToo Era, Voice and Speech Review, 14:2, 213-226, DOI: 10.1080/23268263.2020.1695396

2. Flock, L. & King, S. (2022) Vocal Manual Therapy: The Consent EQUATION (And Why You Should Care About It), Voice and Speech Review, DOI: 10.1080/23268263.2022.2112644