'I'd like to teach the world to sing'

My parents wanted me to have a trade!" laughs Jayne Carpenter. "I think they wanted me to be a hairdresser or something like that.

"We were just a very normal working-class family in Cheshire and I, like everyone else, grew up listening to my parents' records. I had no experience of classical music. I didn't have a clue. I just used to go round the house singing more folky things.

"But then, when I was 14, I saw The Marriage of Figaro on TV and I fell in love. It was just so extraordinarily beautiful. It was glamorous, it was grand, it was like nothing I'd ever seen before. Of course, my mum and dad just looked at me as if I was bonkers!"

Her love for opera ignited, it fell to Jayne's force-of-nature high school headmistress, Beryl Aldridge to get things moving.

"She had heard me sing and she encouraged me. I remember one parents' evening, she came bounding up to my mum and dad and said 'You do realise she has the most amazing voice don't you?' and they were like 'No, not a clue'. That was that. From then on, I was to be a singer. The school actually paid for me to go and have lessons at the Royal Northern College of Music (RNCM) and they nurtured me and my voice.

"They encouraged very serious study and I built up a classical repertoire. I developed. I went to London for a while but it wasn't for me and I returned to Manchester and ended up staying at RNCM for five years full-time. My voice just grew and grew and I built my voice of classic spinto soprano." Her voice honed and ambition high, Jayne went on to perform with both the English and Welsh National Opera and countless other high-profile companies, orchestras and conductors. Her stages included the Royal Albert Hall and Birmingham Symphony Hall and she earned finalist placing in both the Kathleen Ferrier and Cardiff Singer Of The World competitions.

Adrenalin

"There were big roles all over but my career highlight was Puccini's Turandot," explains 48-year-old Jayne, who's currently in the process of moving from Macclesfield to Shrewsbury. "The thing is, I'm not a comfortable performer at all. I'm very different off stage – I'm just a normal down-to-earth northern girl. So I sort of have to view it all – the big frocks, the make-up – as getting into character. It is a very different side to me. It is scary – still to this day. But that's good for me because it gets the adrenalin pumping.

"There is a pressure to be perfect in classical music; half the audience will know if you make a mistake. There is immense pressure to be spot-on, which is why, when I put on the big frock, I have to flick a switch and become Dame Jayne to cope with it all. Normally I'm just in jeans and a T-shirt!"

Jayne's still performing but also passes her talent and passion for singing on to others through her own vocal coaching practice. And don't worry if you don't know your Carmens from your Magic Flutes, anything goes in these singing sessions.

"It's anything and everything! There's jazz, musical theatre: I'm very open and love all kinds of music. It would be frustrating to sing just one type of music – you have to sing with an open mind and open heart."

Jayne, whose partner is BBC Shropshire DJ Jim Hawkins, began teaching to earn a little money just after college but has fallen in love with helping others find their voice.

"I love passing on my knowledge to all sorts of people from all walks of life and of all ages. Teaching is a great joy: watching someone develop is the biggest kick of all.

"People come to me for all sorts of reasons, perhaps they want to sing at their wedding or they're an aspiring theatre performer who wants to learn the tricks of the trade. But I get a lot of people who come to me if they haven't been well as singing is so good for the body – and the mind and soul.

"If you've been physically unwell, singing can strengthen your body, get the oxygen and blood pumping, get your lungs and breathing in order and releases endorphins. On the more spiritual side of things, singing can boost your confidence and performing with a choir is an incredibly uplifting and soul-affirming thing. Singing can awaken you on every level."

But – and here comes the million dollar question – can everyone sing?

"I can honestly say I've only met one person who was tone deaf and couldn't sing. People come to me saying 'I can't sing' and, before you know it, they are achieving incredible things.

"It's a confidence thing. People regress back to their school days I think, when that one kid always got the part and was allowed to sing and the rest of us were told to keep quiet. But trust me: everyone can sing. Think of your voice like a computer: it's not broken, I just need to reset it and show you new ways of working.

"We can all sing and we should all embrace it. It is a profound experience; a joyful one. To sing is to show your soul."

Thank goodness she didn't become a hairdresser.