The voice make up
In my opinion an actor/singer must know how the vocal system works. Because the knowledge about it can help to improve the voice and how it sounds. Before my course I did not know how many organs my body use to project just one word. It was fascinating to read the anatomy of it, analyse it and project it on myself.
As I mentioned, for making just a word different body’s system work together – Respiratory system (includes lungs, ribs, muscles, diaphragm), phonatory system or voice box (larynx) – vocal cords, resonatory system (mouth, nose, articulation system, such as teeth, tongue, lips).
Firstly, the air comes in, it goes through windpipe down to the diaphragm. Then the diaphragm pushes the air up. If we want to make a sound the brain would command our vocal folds to close. The pressure created by air which has been pushed up by the diaphragm makes the close vocal fords move. And this creates a sound waves which goes up to resanotory system. Our mouth and nose resonate a sound, therefore when we do “Humming” we can feel vibration in our nose or lips.
The articulation system is used for creation a word from the sound. So, the tongue, lips, teeth are used to create different letters from the alphabet.
But not only these parts of the body are used to create the sound. The spine has a big role in this process, too. The key element of producing the voice is breath. So how does posture affects the amount of breath in our lungs? And what is a good posture? The good posture is a straight spine, open shoulders, the head a little bit up, but not forward, feet both on the ground (to check is your posture good or not just go to any wall and lean on it with your back, the spine, head, lower back, feet should touch the wall). This position helps to inhale more air, because there is more space available, therefore it gives opportunity to sing/talk longer.
Strength and weaknesses / Analyzing my voice
I analyze my voice through vocal elements:
Pitch, I can go in a high, natural or low voice. Improve: low voice, because physically as a woman I usually talk in a higher note when I try to speak in a lower voice it might vibrate or sounds not natural (for example in the audio Actor’s voice in the end the phrase “…this is my voice” on the word voice my voice vibrates). To improve I need to do breathing exercises and warmups in the lower note. Also, while I am speaking in a low voice do not try to sound louder.
Pace, the speed of my speech may various from slow to fast, depends on the context of the scene. For example, in the audio End the Hunger I speak slower, then in the audio where I advertise Cancun resort or Disney Princess games.
Pause, in my opinion I use this vocal element right, for example, in the audio Change, there is a pause between exciting part where my voice increases and in the end before the question What are you waiting for? In this context with pause I emphasise that you need to start change now.
Tone, in the audio list there are examples of different tone. For instance, The Actor’s voice I use different tone to show colour of my voice, in adverts I use happy tone to make people feel happy, if they buy this product. In the advert about food shop 7/11 I tried to use friendly tone, so a person who is listening feeling that I am speaking to them, as a friend.
Volume, it is quite easy for me to do on the audio, because I do not need to be nervous that someone might not hear me. So in the audio The Actor’s Voice I demonstrate different volume depends on occasion. But in real life I worried that I do not project my voice loud enough. During my course it improves. I am doing breathing exercise (inhale for certain amount of counts, holding it, exhale), trying sends my voice further away, using my articulation better, doing vocal warmups before each rehearsal. Overall my voice keeps improving and keeps getting stronger.
Accent, because I came from Russia and English is my second language, I have strong foreign accent. Try to change it on English accent might be difficult, however some letters should sound clearer. For example, TH – in my language we have F, Z, S, but we do not have a sound for TH. So, when I spoke before depends on which sound, I need to make I used one of this 3 letters as a sound, not sound TH. Because of this, for my workshop I picked tongue twisters to work on this sound. Also, while I am talking, I try to not to forget to put the tongue between my teeth on the sound TH.
Emphasis, overall, I think I use this vocal element correct. But not from the start, sometimes. It might be difficult to understand where to put emphasis in the sentence, if I read this sentence the first time. After working with text and thinking what exactly the author wanted to say I can use this element correctly.
Intonation, in general if I am understand what I am talking about I use this element correct.
For my workshop I have decided to work on the voice projection, sound TH and also intonation.
Vocal warm ups
For our rehearsing process we used a taped warm ups by National theater. Also I used some of the exercise for my voice workshop.
It is extremely important to warm up the voice before the rehearsal. Otherwise there is a chance to damage it.
Each warm up is starting with breathing and standing in a right position. It helps the air flows through the body and warms up chest muscles. The right posture helps to inhale more oxygen and release tension in the body. Then the humming exercise helps to warm up vocal chords. Also rising, falling, getting louder or quieter helps to get ready the resonatory system. To get ready the articulation system there might be some tongue twisters, a face massage (especially the jaw).
The video below shows a warming up process by National Theatre
Voice warm ups/exercises/national theatre vocal warm up
The video shows the combination of warm ups and exercises prepaired by my classmate Chloe Green. It was my first time when I tried The National Theatre warming up exercises. I was empressed how fast the tension from my body went away. My voice became stronger and It made me more confident.
The breathing exercises tought me how to inhale air with maximum capability. Before the workshop I knew, that I need to inhale air in the diafragm, but even knowing this I was trying to inhale air in my chest. What was not right. This technique and control over my body afterwards help me to breath right with maximum capability to my body.
Home study - using my workshop, as everyday routine for warming up and working with monologue
In this video I explain and show how I do vocal warm ups based on my personal needs. Also I give an example of monologue. In my opinion this monologue should be reading with more colors in the voice, I mean rising and falling more.
In this video I continue to do exercises, continue to read monologue. I felt more confident this time reading the script. And my voice rises and falls in the right time.
In this video I continue do exercises, this time I try different emotions while I am reading my monologue.
Talking bubblish
On the other lesson instead of using real words we were using bubblish language. Everyone was given a word and then without words we needed to represent it. As a result of this exercises I understand that it does not matter what you say, but how you say it.
Reading a monologue
On this lesson we were reading a monologue. My monologue was about young girl, whose sister just died. And she felt guilty because she did not feel sad about it.
Preparing for my monologue I was trying to read it, as a teenager (also I was trying to act at the same time, did not get the task right). In my opinion, I used the intonation correct. The voice was falling and rising at the right time. However, it can be heared how I pronounce the sound TH, it sounds as clear Z. The unlogical stops while I am reading happened, because I was too nervous and did not have enough air. It was a great lesson for analyzing my voice on the stage.