Voice and Speech for Actors
Voice and Speech for Actors
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What is sound?
In Physics, sound is the vibration of particles in a wave like movement through a gas, solid or liquid. In human physiology, sound is what we hear and how the brain interprets it. Humans can (on average) only hear sounds between 20Hz and 20kHz, sounds under 20Hz are known as infrasound's and sounds over 20kHz are known as ultrasounds
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sound
What is the voice?
The Human voice can create many different types of sound such as: humming, singing, talking, laughing, yelling and crying and uses the vocal cords as its main ‘sound producer.’ However, the process of creating sound starts lower:
The Lungs- voice is generated when air is pushed from the lungs, through the vocal folds and shaped into words by the mouth and tongue.
The Larynx- The larynx refers to a small section just below the Vocal cords, the vocal Cords and a small section above the Vocal cords. Air is pushed up from your lungs but is trapped by the closed vocal folds (or vocal chords) and so pressure builds up. When it is time to speak, the vocal folds open, releasing the pressurised air (voice) into the mouth to be shaped into words and speech.
The Vocal folds (Vocal chords)- When pressurised air is forced up from the lungs and through the open vocal folds it causes them to vibrate. These vibrations in turn cause the particles in the air to vibrate too (Remember the physics definition of sound?) creating sounds otherwise known as voice. This voice is then shaped by the throat and mouth to create speech.
The mouth and Nose- Once voice has be created it needs to be turned into recognisable sounds that we call speech. With precise movements and careful coordination between the tongue and lips, the voice travels up the larynx, through the nasal passage and out of the mouth as understandable speech.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Human_voice
But to be more specific, the voice is actually made up of 3 systems working together, these are:
The air pressure system
The vibratory system
The Resonating system
-The air pressure system is made up of the Diaphragm, Chest Muscles, Ribs, Abdominal muscles and Lungs. As its name suggests, its function is to control the air pressure that causes the vocal folds to vibrate in the Larynx.
-The Vibratory system is made up of the voice box (Larynx) and vocal folds. This system uses vibrations from the vocal folds to change the air pressure coming up from the lungs into sound waves to create voice and can be pitched as needed.
-The resonating system consists of the vocal tract, which is the Throat (pharynx), oral cavity and nasal cavities. This system takes the sound waves and moulds them into sounds that we can recognise, called speech.
Organs and Muscles
Organs and Muscles
Abdominal Muscles
Abdominal muscles can be separated into 4 groups:
External Obliques
Internal obliques
Transversus abdoninis
Rectus abdominis
Chest Muscles
Chest muscles can be separated into 4 main groups:
Pectoralis major
Pectoralis minor
Serratus anterior
Subclavius
Diaphragm
The diaphragm is a muscle underneath your lungs that helps us to breathe (its also why we get hiccups.)
Epiglottis
The Epiglottis sits just beneath the tongue at the back of your throat. When we swallow, the Epiglottis covers the trachea over so that food and liquid is forced down the Oesophagus and into the stomach.
Glottis
The Glottis refers to the space made when the vocal chords/folds are open.
Hard Palate
The hard palate is made up of bones that separate your oral and nasal cavities. Your tongue generally tends to rest up against it.
Lungs
Your lungs are how we humans breathe air. Oxygen is absorbed and carbon dioxide is expelled.
Nasal Cavity
The nasal cavity acts similarly to a resonating chamber for the voice, which is why you sound funny when you have a blocked nose. Not as much space for sound to move about.
Larynx
The larynx refers to a small section in the throat and is where the voice box is housed. It is made up of multiple different cartilages, muscles and ligaments that all work together to perform individual roles to shape the way sound is made.
Thyroid cartilage
The thyroid cartilage forms the front of the larynx and is also where the Adam's apple is located.
Cricoid Cartilage
The Cricoid cartilage sits below the thyroid cartilage and forms a ring around the larynx.
Arytenoid cartilages
The Arytenoid cartilages move around and control the movement of the vocal folds.
Cricothyroid muscle
The Cricothyroid muscle aids in phonation and is the only tensor muscle to do this.
Inter-arytenoid muscle
These muscles are responsible for keeping the voice box closed.
Lateral Cricoarytenoid muscles
These muscles rotate the arytenoid on the cricoid cartilage which narrows or widens the Glottis to produce sounds and aids in Phonation.
https://www.kenhub.com/en/library/anatomy/lateral-cricoarytenoid-muscle
Posterior cricoarytenoid muscle
These muscles help to narrow or widen the Glottis which creates sounds.
Thyroarytenoid muscle
The Thyroarytenoid muscles form the vocal flaps themselves.
Vocalis muscle
The Vocalis muscle is the inner layer of the Thyroarytenoid muscle.
Recurrent laryngeal nerve
The Recurrent laryngeal nerve branches off from the Vagus nerve and connects to everything in the larynx except the Cricothyroid muscles.
Oesophagus
The Oesophagus is how food travels from your mouth, down to your stomach. It is separated from the Trachea by the Epiglottis which covers the top of the larynx when we swallow.
Oral Cavity
The oral cavity acts as a resonating chamber for the voice but also helps to shape sound from the larynx into speech and understandable noise.
Ribs
Your Ribs are designed to protect vital organs inside your chest such as your heart and lungs.
Soft Palate
The soft palate is the squishy flesh at the back on the roof of your mouth
Throat (Pharynx)
The throat sits at the back of your mouth at the top of your Oesophagus and Larynx, and below your nasal cavity.
Tongue
Your Tongue is a muscle that sits in your mouth and helps us to form words. It goes all the way down front the tip of your tongue to your tongue root at the top of your larynx.
Trachea
The trachea is like the 'Tree trunk' of the lungs. Air flows through the trachea to get into the lungs to be absorbed into the blood.
Vocal Folds
Vocal folds are small flaps of muscle that are located in the larynx or voice box. When we want to talk or make sound, these muscles vibrate to create it.
Alignment, posture and why they are important
When you think of singing or talking, you don't tend to think of how your body is placed, but posture and alignment are key to reaching your full vocal potential. When you are sitting slouched over, your lungs are being compressed, not allowing them to fully fill up. When you are talking to someone and you are looking to your left, your vocal tract is deformed so it cannot function properly. Your body needs specific things in place to operate at its full potential and is designed to work best when working with other parts of your body.
As we know your body is full of muscles, but these muscles each have different purposes, some are for strength, some are for endurance and all are to support the bones in your body. When our bodies are aligned correctly, our body is being supported by deep muscles and your skeleton, designed for endurance and to support your body, but when we are not properly aligned, that supports shifts to weaker muscles that don't have the endurance to tolerate supporting the body long term.
If your skeleton is out of alignment, chances are, your spine is too. Your spine is connected to your ribcage (obviously..) and your ribcage is connected to your lungs through muscles, so when your spine is wonky your lungs actually end up wonky too. When your lungs aren't properly aligned it means they cant expand fully and so it limits the potential of the performer.
Everyone has had one of those days where everything goes wrong, and the day gets worse and worse and you end up tenser and tenser until finally you can go home and relax, right? Well, your muscles have days like that too! When your body is under pressure (or not aligned properly) it causes tension in one part of the body, which then has a ripple effect on the rest of the body, and ultimately effects your Vocal cords. When our chest, Shoulders, Neck and head muscles are tense it limits the ability of the vocal muscles and Folds, so that we cant use our voice to its full potential. By correcting your bodies alignment you release that stress and allow the muscles to function properly.
Confidence. As a performer, all eyes are on you, so you have to look like you know what your doing, even if you don't! Having the correct posture and alignment gives the performer an immediate confidence boost and helps ease any anxiety for the performance. As a performer, once you are onstage, you have very little control over what happens because you have to stay in character. If the Costume malfunctions or a light blows, a performer has to continue no matter what, so having a good posture is one of the very few things a performer can actually control. As an audience member, you are constantly focusing on the production in front of you, and so how the performers carry themselves has a vital impact on the overall atmosphere of the piece. If every performer comes on stage hunched over and clearly not confident, then you are not going to have much faith in the performance. If every performer comes on with good posture and correct alignment then they will immediately look more confident and so make it a more enjoyable performance to watch.
Finally, having a good posture and the correct alignment is just generally good for you. Your body is designed to work at it best under specific conditions, using the corrects muscles, organs and bones to do specific jobs, so aligning your body up so it can do that as easily and efficiently as possible improves your quality of life and means that you stay healthier for longer.
https://www.rider.edu/sites/default/files/files/vthc-why-posture-is-important.pdf
How is Vocal Tone created?
Vocal tone can be split into 2 Parts: Resonance and Vocal squeeze (or vocal focus or glottal compression).
Vocal Resonance is when the basic sounds created by your vocal chords (or Phonation) is made stronger in tone and intensity by the cavities in your mouth and nose, similarly to how you can hear water dripping in a cave, the 'drip' made by the water bounces off the cave walls and echoes around the cave, getting louder each time it bounces off a wall and changing in pitch depending on size and shape of the wall/cave. This is similar to how Vocal Resonance works. Sound created from the vocal cords, bounces around the resonance chambers (chest, mouth, nose and head) and starts to create different tones of voice depending on which chamber is being used. The head is used to create softer tones, Mouth is used for neutral and Chest is used for deeper or richer tones. When used correctly, the nose is used with each one of the chambers as it adds clarity and projects the voice.
Vocal Squeeze (also known as Vocal Focus or Glottal Compression) is when you relax or tighten muscles in your larynx to change how 'hard' or 'soft' your voice sounds. By tightening muscles in your larynx, you decrease the space for air to flow through, therefore increasing the pressure that the air flows through the larynx (hard). This increases the rasp of your voice. When you relax muscles in your throat, it causes the space for air to flow through to increase, thus decreasing the pressure behind the airflow. This in turn gives a soft and breathy sound to your voice (soft).
'Hard' voice example: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ezqPJYJ-s7Y
'Soft' voice example: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ljfweQ34zXY
https://performancehigh.net/air-flow-vs-air-pressure-and-classical-vs-popular-singing/
Breath and breath control
As we learnt earlier, the voice is made by the vocal cords/folds vibrating. However, to get the best sound you need a consistent and steady vibration of the vocal cords, and to get a consistent and steady vibration of the vocal cords, you need a consistent flow of air from the lungs. This is where breath control comes in.
Having a good posture means your allowing your lungs to fully fill up with air, so you can fully utilise your diaphragm and have more control over how quickly or slowly you release that air. Having control over how fast you release air means that you can hit higher notes easier, hold notes for longer and find it easier to project your voice.
Breath control is a learned skill and there are many simple ways to improve that control. Here are one really simple and well known exercise to improve your breathing and breath control; The 4-4-4 method, (sometimes the 4-4-4-4 method). This breathing technique is designed to help you focus on how much air you are inhaling in a set period of time, and how much air you are exhaling in a set period of time. By focusing on this you can learn to control how much air you inhale or exhale, therefore helping make breaths last longer and help actors reach higher notes. This exercise is amazing for all vocal abilities because of how versatile the exercise is. It can be taken from its simplest form and modified to suit each difficulty level and performers ability:
Simplest form:
Start either sitting or standing with your shoulders back and relaxed, chest out and neck and jaw muscles relaxed.
Breathe in slowly for a count of 4
Hold that breath for a count of 4
Exhale that breath for a count of 4
Repeat
Harder form:
Start either sitting or standing with your shoulders back and relaxed, chest out and neck and jaw muscles relaxed.
Breathe in slowly for a count of 4 (8, 16 or longer) ensuring your lungs are fully inflated by the final number
Hold that breath for a count of 4
Exhale that breath for a count of 4 (8, 16 or longer) ensuring your lungs are fully empty by the final number
Hold the exhaled breath for a count of 4
Repeat
https://www.backstage.com/magazine/article/best-breath-control-exercises-75009/
https://www.kentcht.nhs.uk/wp-content/uploads/2017/02/Breathing-for-voice-00240-v1.pdf
https://www.musicgateway.com/blog/how-to/what-is-breath-control-in-music
Articulation
Articulation is one of the most important aspects of being a performer. There is nothing worse than paying £20+ for seats at the theatre and not being able to understand what's going on onstage, simply because the actors are not pronouncing, so learning to properly articulate even when your characters shouldn't is vital for the audience to understand not only the words being spoken, but the story behind them too.
Articulation requires lots of muscles and organs working together, these include: the Tongue, Upper and Lower lips, the Upper Teeth and gums, the Hard and Soft pallets, the Uvula (the funny dangly bit at the back of your throat) the Pharyngeal wall (the back of your throat) and the Glottis.
The Tongue- The tongue is essential for pronouncing the 't', 'd', 'l', and rolling 'r' sound that we hear in speech, and performs over 20 different movements to do this. pressed against the teeth or each other, they produce the 'p', 'b', 'f', 'v' and 'u' sounds. Sounds that are created when the lips touch ('p' and 'b') are called bilabial sounds and sounds that are created when the lips touch the teeth ('f' and 'v') are called labiodental sounds.
The Teeth and gums- The teeth and gums work together with the tongue to produce the 'th', 'f', 'v', 's', and 'j' sounds.
The Palates- the Soft and Hard Palates are responsible for ensuring air doesn't escape through your nasal passage when speaking and helps us produce the 'k', 'p', 'b', 't', 'd', 'f', 'v', 's', 'z', 'sh', 'j', 'ch' and 'g' sounds in speech.
The Uvula- The Uvula is responsible for creating sounds known as 'uvular consonants'. This is when airflow is restricted between the uvula and the back of the tongue and sounds like a rolling 'R' are created this way.
The Pharyngeal wall- The Pharyngeal wall works with the soft pallet to stop air escaping into your nose when your talking. If air escapes into your nose, it effects the resonance in your voice.
The Glottis- The Glottis is where sound starts to be shaped into understandable speech.
https://www.britannica.com/topic/articulation-speech
https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/books/NBK279407/
How to properly warm up your voice (with warmup examples)
Properly warming up the voice is really important for any performer. Just like every other muscle in the body, if the muscles and organs used when singing or speaking are not properly stretched out, warmed up and ready for the performance, you risk straining your voice, pulling and tearing muscles and even permanently damaging your voice.
There are many ways a performer can warm up their voice: Lip Trills, Tongue Twisters, Breathing exercises, Pitch Glides, scales, Projection training, Tongue/Jaw relaxation, Sirens, Vocal fries and warm-up songs are just the beginning and each performer has their own warm-up routine that they find works best for them.
Lip Trills- Lip trills are designed to warm up the lips and narrow the passage that the voice travels through, thus improving resonance for the voice.
https://youtube.com/shorts/mVUc28TVpDs?feature=share
Tongue twisters- Tongue twisters are a really useful skill for actors to work on. By being able to say complex or similar (and downright confusing) sentences smoothly, quickly and gracefully means that you'll be able to say anything smoothly and wont get tripped up easily.
https://youtube.com/shorts/zKxpvIhDlRg?feature=share
Breathing exercises- By doing breathing exercises, you help train yourself to control your airflow and muscles surrounding your lungs and diaphragm. By training yourself to slowly exhale and control how much air you are releasing, it means you will be able to say or sing more and for longer without needing to take a breath.
https://youtube.com/shorts/CFWuR7UFm9Q?feature=share
Pitch Glides- Pitch glides are where you start off creating a sound at the lowest end of your vocal reach and slowly 'glide' your way up to the top end of your vocal reach. By repeating this you start to expand your vocal range and will find it easier to hit the highest and lowest notes that previously you struggled with.
https://youtube.com/shorts/wmzKXRqUMfA?feature=share
Scales- Scales are where you start on one note and sing up a note 4 times, then go back a note 4 times so you end up on the same note you started with. You then repeat the process, one note higher than before. This exercise is similar to pitch glides, although instead of sliding up the notes, you land of each note separately and distinctly.
https://youtube.com/shorts/sVqMMZj49as?feature=share
Projection training- Projection training allows a performer to be able to belt out notes or speak loud enough for an entire theatre to hear them, without the need for microphones. Many exercises can be done to help projection, but an awful lot depends on your core strength and ability to tense your lower ribs and diaphragm so that more air is forced up to your vocal cords.
Tongue/Jaw Relaxation- Having a tense tongue and jaw can really impact how a performance is done. By having tight tongue and jaw muscles, you limit the jaw and tongues movement, therefore limiting its ability to create sounds as effectively as it should be.
Sirens- Sirens are basically Scales, but they are training your 'head voice', rather than your 'chest voice'. Sirens help expand your higher register (highest notes) by stretching and warming up muscles required to sing those higher notes effectively.
https://youtube.com/shorts/KZDxKpiCScE?feature=share
Vocal Fries- A vocal fry is when you start off making a low grumbling sound from your chest and slowly work your way up the scale.
https://youtube.com/shorts/pXR_izmu7oE?feature=share
Warm-up songs- Warm up songs are a great way to have fun whilst warming up your voice quickly and efficiently.
https://youtu.be/pj219prQH00?si=hu1HZh8MhLAOuOgx
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jMJOdxBGUa8
https://www.ensembleschools.com/grace-music/reasons-vocal-warmups-important/
https://www.dearingstudio.com/theater-vocal-warmups-for-actors/
https://www.cuh.nhs.uk/patient-information/lip-trills-exercises/
https://www.engvid.com/english-resource/50-tongue-twisters-improve-pronunciation/
What can my voice do and not do?
What can my voice do and not do?
Problems with my voice (strengths and weaknesses)- As a singer I tend to sit comfortably in the middle of high and low voices (I can do alto and soprano roles) but struggle with deep notes (bass notes tend to be sung by men as they naturally have lower voices than women) and the change between my chest voice and my head voice (there's a noticeable difference when I shift from one to the other).
How my voice sounds- I wasn't really sure how to answer this, because everyone's voice is unique to them, and putting a unique sound into words is very challenging, so have a video...
https://youtube.com/shorts/aoByP12wWEY
History of my voice- I have no medical history with my chest or throat, however I have Fibromyalgia (chronic pain condition) which can cause pain for me when speaking or singing. My throat, vocal cords and lungs also get exposed to hot vapours from a dry herb vaporiser. I often have acid reflux due to medications I take.
My breath control- Overall I think I have relatively good breath control, although it has definitely decreased since I stopped taking regular singing lessons.
Body dynamic and health issues- As mentioned above I was diagnosed with Fibromyalgia in January 2024. Having this condition often means I get tired very quickly and my muscles tense and cramp easily which causes pain, so keeping my body's dynamic as open and as ideal for voice production as possible, isn't always an option for me. Standing with my shoulders back, spine straight and taking a deep breath often cannot be sustained for long and hurts to do so, so I'm having to find ways to cope and manage whilst still allowing my voice to be as efficient as possible.
Diction- I've always been taught to pronounce and so I had a huge advantage when it came to diction for singing and performing as I was already pronouncing everything during speech in my day to day life, however I am dyslexic so the letter sometimes get jumbled and mis-pronunciations happen.
Which resonators are being used when- When I sing lower notes its my chest voice being used, so the Chest, nose and mouth cavities are being used. When I sing higher notes its my head voice being used, so the head, and Nose chambers are in use. In normal speech I use my mouth, nose and chest cavities.
Strengthening the abdominal wall- Having a strong abdominal wall means that you can put more pressure behind your voice, helping to reach higher notes, hold notes for longer and project notes out to the audience. By using projection strengthening exercises you strengthen the abdomen and improve your vocal ability
Expressivity in the voice- Having expression in your voice is key to storytelling. Remember back to when you were a child and someone would read you a bedtime story? It was always so much easier to get involved with (and remember the story) if it was told in an exciting way, with different voices, speeds, characters, twists and turns that the reader would put in. Having to sit through a story with no passion, no energy and nothing to be interested with? That sounds as boring as the weekly catch up at work (if you know, you know!)
My Chosen Pieces
My Chosen Pieces
Overall voice evaluation
Overall voice evaluation
Throughout this unit I've been practicing and strengthening my vocal skills and I have learned that I have an engaging and interactive voice and can jump between fast and slow paces quickly. I have good breath control and can adapt well to different length sentences so that the overall flow of a piece is not disrupted. My voice however is still jumpy between my chest and head voice (low and high pitches) so instead of flowing smoothly between tones, it jumps from low to squeaky/high.
Overall I'm happy with how my voice performed in these pieces. I chose these pieces because they each showcase a different area of my voice, so that I could do a thorough analysis of my voice to figure out what I'm good at and where I can improve:
Room on the broom- Children's story's have to be read in a captivating way, using a variety of interesting voices and an engaging tone throughout, as well as sustaining that energy the whole time.
Buffy the Vampire slayer, All's Quiet on the Western Front and Apocalypse now- These pieces focus on the darker and slower emotions such as fear, sadness, grief, horror, regret and suffering. I chose these three because I though they covered a good range of themes and genres to allow me to experiment and see what my voice could do.
Last of the Red Hot Lovers, Fleabag, Nope and Colorado- These pieces focus on the energetic emotions such as happiness, anger and Sassiness. I chose these pieces because of the variety in them, some are fast, some are slow and they are all so different that I can play around more with them
The Tempest, Hamlet and A Midsummer Nights Dream- I chose these pieces because they are 3 of Shakespeare's most famous plays. They cover both Comedy and tragedy and again provide a wide range of vocal skills to practice. These are also good examples of classic monologues compared to contemporary monologues.
What I'm good at (Strengths):
What I'm good at (Strengths):
I went through and gathered all the positives from the smaller analysis's so that I could get an overall look at what I am good at.
Overall, my strengths are:
Vocal clarity- I am easy to understand and can be heard clearly
engaging voice- Using a range of tempos, pitches and tones creates an interesting piece to listen too
Continuous Emotion- In the pieces, I continue the emotion throughout and don't ruin the atmosphere in the middle.
Pace- My pace was consistent for the pieces, understandable and added positively to the piece
Timings- The timings of the pieces (especially the Shakespeare pieces) were kept tight and helped the flow and emotion of the pieces.
Where I need to improve (Weaknesses):
Where I need to improve (Weaknesses):
I went through and gathered all the improvements that could be made in the pieces so that I could get an overall look at where my weaknesses were and put things in place to improve on them.
Overall, my weaknesses are:
Vocal characterization (distinguishing one character from another using just my voice)
Pitch control (my voice tends to slip into squeaky and high)
My delivery of funny lines
Pronunciations of words and phrases
To further develop my voice:
To further develop my voice:
I will work on my breath control daily (using the breath control warm up from earlier), this will help me not only make my breath go further but also will ultimately help my tone and pitch as well because I will also be training all my abdominal and chest muscles to perform more effectively.
I will work on making sure my vocal characterization is clearer. I will do this by doing more vocal scales, more frequently which will make my voice more agile and so it will be easier to reach specific notes. Working on my breath control will also allow me to sustain those notes for longer once I have reached them, allowing me to stay in character for longer. I will also practice each character for longer to fully cement that character into my head.
https://youtube.com/shorts/sVqMMZj49as?feature=share
https://youtube.com/shorts/CFWuR7UFm9Q?feature=share
I will work on keeping my tone and emotion consistent and controlled because that has a huge impact on the overall mood and feel of the production. I will work on this by doing vocal scales, pitch glides and work on breath control because all of these will contribute to being able to keep my tone clear, consistent and emotive for an extended period of time.
I will work on improving my vocal accents by exaggerating the accents and focusing on acting as well as just speaking. I've learnt that even though you are only using your voice and only listening to your voice, acting along with it can have such an impact on how your voice comes across and how believably you portray a character (I learnt this by listening to Colorado when I was and wasn't hand gesturing along). https://www.backstage.com/magazine/article/teaching-dialect-55281/
Finally, to further develop and to continue to develop my voice, I will always remember to do THOROUGH research into the piece I am performing/reading. The read throughs I did initially, after analysing and researching just the monologues, are performed differently than I would have performed them having done research into the full text and this is something that I can always be developing, expanding and learning from because times are always changing and so the meaning of words and phrases change too (shown in a lot of Shakespeare's work), which will affect how a piece is spoken from year to year.
How will I use these techniques in the future?
How will I use these techniques in the future?
As a performing artist, your voice is your most powerful tool. 2 out of 3 of the 'big' threats (Acting, Singing and Dancing and if you can do all 3 you class as a 'Triple Threat') rely heavily on your voice, so looking after it and keeping it as healthy as possible will mean that your career will go on for longer and can be expanded further. Learning the appropriate techniques for not only looking after your voice (proper vocal warm ups and breathing exercises) but for using your voice as effectively as possible (multiple characterizations, Projection etc) means that you increase your vocal potential, and therefore the potential to find jobs. If you can effectively project your voice as well as characterize in an instant, you'll be considered for stage shows, not just film and TV. Similarly if you can effectively characterize your voice and control its pitch well, you might work on an animated movie as a voice-over artist instead of being restricted to stage only.
These techniques also come in handy in everyday life. Proper breathing techniques are proven to help in stressful situations, articulation and projection are very useful when talking to a crowd of people and being able to control your tone and keep it even, often gives off a sense of power and control, so people are more likely to listen and respect you if you can keep your tone even.
So overall, I don't think ill ever be able to NOT use these techniques!
Room on the Broom
Room on the Broom
Evaluation:
One of the first things I noticed when listening back to read through 3 pt. 1, is that the volume changes drastically between characters voices, narration and 'sound effects' (e.g. 'shriek', 'croak'). This means that you go from straining to hear what's being said, to having your eardrums blown out which is not ideal for voice work, especially when it is only the voice your hearing (as opposed to being able to see a production and prepare yourself for any loud noises or changes). I also think I could have sped up when reading, as (especially in the beginning) its quite slow paced and noticeable. However, I'm happy with how the voices turned out and think they are different enough to be recognisably different characters. I'm also happy with how clear and understandable the piece was to listen too.
Overall, this piece is supposed to be read in an engaging manner for children (as that is its target audience), and I think I have accomplished that. To improve the piece further, I'd work more on the lower voices, as those were the ones that sounded similar to each other (the dragon sounded similar to the frog and the swamp monster was similar to the dragon) and work on sustaining the lower voices for longer so that they come across more confident and stronger than they currently do. I would also be more mindful of the equipment I'm using to record because just using my phone meant that the audio is very up and down volume wise, whereas a recording studio for example, would be able to counter any pitch and volume changes.
Buffy the Vampire Slayer
Buffy the Vampire Slayer
https://www.backstage.com/magazine/article/sad-monologues-76045/
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MZ96c7IOIPQ (watch from 1:10)
Evaluation:
In this monologue, the person reading it (Anya) is experiencing death and grief properly for the first time, so I tried to make my voice as sad as possible (on the verge of tears). When listening back in this video, the 'choke' in my voice makes the dialogue difficult to understand and so takes away from the emotion and connection to the audience in the scene. In the middle of the dialogue (the 'there's just a body' bit) my voice is easier to hear and you can begin to connect with the story a bit more.
To improve on this I need to work more on keeping the emotion in my voice throughout, but not have such a high voice when talking (as I think that had an impact on how you hear it). I also think that I need to slow down slightly to enhance the emotion in my voice.
All's Quiet on the Western front
All's Quiet on the Western front
https://www.backstage.com/magazine/article/sad-monologues-76045/
Evaluation:
This WW1 monologue is from a German soldiers perspective during the fights with France. The nature of this monologue is very complex; not only is this character clearly traumatised from the horrors of war he has seen but is struggling with his role in the war too. This monologue comes just after a battle between the French and Germans, in which the main character has just mortally stabbed the enemy, however the other man is not dead yet. The main character is feeling fear, panic, sadness, anger, guilt and envy all at the same time and is see-sawing between these emotions throughout the piece. I tried to start off with anger because the 'stop it' is a demanding and irritated stop it, (he's annoyed that the soldier is dying loudly and slowly) but then his anger turns to sadness and envy when he thinks that the soldier might survive and be sent home, whereas he is stuck fighting on the frontlines. This sadness is then shown further when the main character is explaining himself and his actions before he stabbed the other soldier. The main character then admits that he was afraid when the soldier initially jumped in which influenced his actions (lets be honest, if you were stuck in a bomb crater in the middle of a war with the enemy firing at you, you would be scared too) and so he protected himself, which he now is feeling guilty for ("forgive me comrade"). The guilt that he is feeling then turns to a flash of anger before turning into sadness for himself that he is in this position in the first place. I wanted to add a desperation into my voice when the main character says "why did they do this to us?" as this is a rhetorical question asked to the dead man. The main character then turns hopeful to angry again as he promises to support the dead mans family if he forgives him for killing him.
Overall I think I managed to capture these emotions in my voice well throughout but think that the initial 'stop it' to 'why do you take so long dying?' could have been more effective if I played it more depressed and pleading as it would have added another layer of emotions to the piece and started it off in a very different tone that it has been done. It also would have mirrored the ending nicely as it would begin and end with a broken man rather than start with an angry one and finish with a broken one.
Evaluation:
This piece is very raw and honest about the different levels of horror that can be experienced in war, and how differently people cope with it. In the beginning I wanted to convey the idea of controlled power, because the character saying this monologue has experienced horrors before but has become accustomed to seeing it and almost jealous and admiring of the power horror holds. Using a restrained but deep, penetrating voice forces the readers to concentrate on what you are saying that little bit more and immediately gives the impression of control. The piece then goes on to 'you have no right to call me a murderer', at which point I decided to soften my voice. Although the words being said are defensive, I didn't want the tone to become defensive too as that would ruin the idea of power from the speaker, so I decided to change the tone into a factual but soft one for the 'you have a right to kill me' part and the next section. This part is being spoken from a factual but emotive point of view, expressing that everyone has different experiences in wars and sees different sides of war (staying at home vs being on the frontlines for example) so judgement should be withheld. Next it goes on to say that horror should be befriended because if you don't make a friend of it, it will become your biggest enemy. This is a very harsh truth of war, especially for soldiers on the front line. Experiencing trauma day after day will wear you down, so it's better to accept it than reject it. I wanted the tone of the piece to change here so that the real characteristics of the character can begin to be expressed. Up till now, everything the reader has said has been very logical and understandable given the circumstances but here the tone changes so that a bit of the characters backstory can be unfolded. This part describes an experience this character had which made him change his entire outlook on the 'enemy'. The enemy is so strong willed and sure of what they are fighting for that they will take brutal measures to ensure they win the battle, which is something the character initially is horrified by but then admires and starts to show how moral the character truly is.
Overall I think I performed this piece well and kept the tone even throughout, it is however quite different to how it is portrayed in the film. Next time I need to do more thorough research into the storyline behind the monologue, instead of finding a monologue, analysing and trying to put my own spin on it because it doesn't always work. I think I would have performed it very differently having known the backstory of the film and character, I'd have played it more carefree and less sane than I did, as the character 'Kurtz' is going mad due to the war.
Last of the Red Hot Lovers
Last of the Red Hot Lovers
https://www.backstage.com/magazine/article/comedic-monologues-for-women-70953/
Evaluation:
The first thing I noticed about this piece is that my voice is quite high and squeaky at the beginning compared to the end of the piece where my voice has a relatively even tone. I like that I pronounced and articulated the 'soul searching, finger-smelling, hypocritical son of a bitch' part because that could quite easily have tripped me up and almost prepared me for later on in the monologue where it says 'keep your savoury, swordfish, succotash stories to your self' as there's a lot of Sibilance ('s' sounds one after the other) and tongue twisting-ness about that line. Listening back to the piece, it would have been more effective if I used a lower pitch at the beginning of the piece so that the 'oh Mr Cashman' part was obviously mocking with a significantly different pitched voice. Once the character has said 'I'm a married woman' its a long breath between then and the next breath point, so next time I should take a larger breath so I can slow down and really take my time. I found that this line could have been more effective if it was said slightly slower and with more conviction. I wasn't really sure how the 'forgive me' to 'that's another ugly story' part was going to sound. In my head it sounded sassy and confident but it hasn't quite come off as confident as id like it to be and I think this is defiantly a part of the monologue where accompanying the monologue with actions and actually acting the scene out would make all the difference to the portrayal and overall feel of the scene. For the 'when I was 9 years old' part, I had practiced it being a different pitch again so that it was obviously not being said on behalf of the character, but was an imitation, however it hasn't come out very strongly at all and needs focusing on separately to get the right tone. Finally, I wanted to really focus on the list at the end as this is meant to be a bit of a 'life lesson' from the character, so by taking very short breaths between each 'it' and sharpening the 'taste', 'touch', 'smell' and 'forget' it grabs the attention of the listener a bit more and makes that bit stick in your mind.
Overall, I'm happy with the piece, although it could be improved by acting out the scene. I would also have liked to work more on the distinction between the vocal tones throughout the piece, as they didn't flow quite right. The beginning was too high, the 'mocks' were too similar to the speakers voice and so it all started to merge together and the overall tone of the piece was very inconsistent, however my pronunciation was good and I managed to keep the flow (timing wise not pitch wise) of the piece steady and consistent so that it was easy to listen to.
Evaluation:
This is a very biased piece towards women having a tougher time of it than men and the attitude of it is very matter of fact and 'I'm right and here's why'. I wanted to make my tone slightly snarky so that it would come across as the character feeling superior and so played around with the pitches of my voice in the first few lines. when it gets to the 'men don't' part, I wanted to make that a bit more prominent as this is the main point of this monologue, so I decided to pause for effect after 'seek'. The next bit was challenging because I didn't want to sound repetitive with the tone of my voice or emphasise the wrong words, as this next bit explains how men have to find pain or find things to cause pain in order to feel pain, whereas women's natural functions are usually painful (all the fun that comes with a Uterus...) I then slowed down the tempo of the piece because I wanted to really emphasise 'the menopause comes', but don't like how high pitched my voice went on 'menopause'. The pace was good for the next section and I like that I managed to get the right balance between sarcasm and truth with 'and yes your entire.....and no-one cares' because its a harsh reality of menopause. Finally, I like that I got the relieved tone at the end of the piece as I think that finished it well and in a different tone than it started in (relieved and honest instead of uptight and snarky) but wasn't sure how to say the 'in business' part. No matter how I said it, it didn't sound right. It always sounded sarcastic, mocking or childish so I'm not happy with that but am unsure how to fix it.
Overall, this isn't one of my favourite pieces just because its a bit boring; its a negative piece for a long time and only begins to change tone at the end so you cant really play too much with it. I also found it difficult to get the right tone in my voice for a lot of the piece as I couldn't get it to flow nicely between emotions. To improve on this I think I would research more into how it was supposed to be played, the backstory of the piece and focus on keeping my voice controlled for the higher notes so I don't go squeaky (I probably would cut out the 'in business' part too as its just not needed).
Evaluation:
I'm really happy with how consistent my accent was throughout, as that was something I was worried I would slip into and out of. The pitch at the beginning comes off a bit unconfident but it picks up toward the end of the first paragraph. The timing was good through the 'now did you know' bit and I'm happy that I decided to speed it up and continue through to the next sentence on the 'look it up' part because that adds to the tone of the piece. This character is so sure that she's right that she isn't giving anyone the chance to say otherwise. I slowed down a bit on the next part to change up the tempo of the piece to keep the audience on their toes and paused for a second after asking the name of the jockey. This is because it is a legitimate question, this man has been so influential but no-one knows his name. The next bit is a tricky section, as the humorous aspect of it is lost slighting without the acting to go with it. the 'he is my great great grandfather....there's another great, grandfather', is supposed to be funny but it didn't sound overly funny listening back to it because you only have the words of the monologue to go off with no reactions of the actors to go with it. The second paragraph I wanted to speed up because it sounds and flows very similarly to the stereotypical air host brief, so running through it all quickly overwhelms the reader slightly which changes the tone of the piece again and adds more to the story. Finally, there was the last 2 or 3 sentences which seemed to be added in for no-reason and didn't seems to have any link with the rest of the monologue so I struggled to figure out how to say them and what they meant. I watched a clip on YouTube to get an idea and realised that the reader is using this time to promote herself and try to gain favour with the people she's talking too. This seemed out of place so I wanted to lean into that and try to make it seem like the speaker is almost clutching at straws to try and promote herself, I wanted the flow to be very up and down, switching between professional and casual quickly to give the impression of unsureness of the speaker.
Overall, this piece was good but I defiantly need to focus more on the funny parts of this and make sure that the meaning behind the monologue isn't lost without the acting to accompany it. I would also study the film more to get better Insight into the backstory of this monologue which would help me understand the meaning and convey the story more effectively.
Evaluation:
The first thing I notice is that my accent isn't very strong and confidently American, and keeps slipping into my natural sound.
I wanted to make this piece sound as stereotypically 'American pageant girl' as possible: stuck up, brainless, glitz and gormless etc, so wanted to emphasise the 'thank you's and 'love you's and 'so's in the first section. The next section goes on to credit (and insult) the people who supported the character and so I decided to go through this section relatively quickly to show that the character is very self-centred and either wants to humiliate others in the spotlight, or not share the spotlight at all. When the character is crediting Stan she says 'you didn't have to' in response to her own statement of you never gave up on me, implying that she was so good at everything that he didn't have to give up, I wanted to make it quick but powerful because although what the character is saying is hurtful, she isn't trying to be malicious so wont linger on the statement. She then goes on to list many friends and again, I wanted to go through it quickly for the same reasons. She then makes a joke about her friend Maxine and laughs about it, I think that I laughed ok but I would have liked it to be louder and sound more fake than it did (as it didn't really make much of any sound) and I'm happy that I decided to take a lower tone than the others with 'my ex-boyfriend Chad' because it broke up the flow of the piece and made you focus in a bit more of that humorous section. The next section I decided to do it way over the top as she's thanking her Mother, father and mentioning her brother which is again a funny bit that I wanted to really use. I think, I could have taken a longer pause between 'brother' and 'not really' but it was difficult to tell where the line of too long and not long enough was. I'm happy that I moved straight onto the next section though because it added to the feeling that the main character does not care for her brother. The last paragraph mentions the contestants who couldn't compete due to incidents at their school and so I wanted to hint at something suspicious with 'couldn't compete' by pronouncing them slightly differently than the rest, and then really emphasise the 'This crown is for you'. I think my voice is slightly too high in the next part but I'm happy that I managed to get the tone and pace from 'one little insignificant life' to the end right because I didn't want it to sound malicious, the main character is just not very aware of what she is saying and doesn't realise that she's being rude.
Overall I really enjoyed this piece because it was so different from other pieces and allowed me to play around a lot with tones, pace and meanings of the scene. To improve I need to focus on keeping the same accent throughout and sustaining that accent so that it comes across strong and confident.
Evaluation:
This monologue is spoken by Miranda to her father, Prospero the Wizard. Prospero has cast a storm out to see to destroy a ship that has the king on it.
In the First part Miranda is asking her father if he has cast the storm, and if he has done to please stop. She is only asking at this point as she has no proof that he has anything to do with the storm. I decided to use a pause in between 'allay them' to reduce the accusation in the question and encourage the reader to connect with the story. As Miranda says; 'the sky it seems...dashes the fire out', she is comparing the water to tar and saying the lightning is alighting the water. 'Mounting to the welkin's cheek' is saying that the waves are so high and harsh that they are reaching heaven (and maybe guiding the souls of the dead up too? who knows?). Miranda then goes on to tell her father that watching all this pain and suffering is causing her to suffer as well, that she feels the same as the people on the ship. This is a really crucial part of the monologue and so I wanted to put as much emotion into my voice as possible, Miranda is scared and hurting and traumatised by what she has seen, so I wanted to make my voice strained and chocked so it would be like I was holding back 'angry tears' and highlight the repetition of the word 'suffer' to emphasise how much this situation has effected Miranda. She then goes on to personify the ship as a 'noble creature' to connect further with the audience. Finally, the monologue goes on to say that if Miranda had any power she would have stopped the storm and saved the ship and lives of those on-board. The tone here changes slightly from scared and hurting to sadness and regret so I wanted to take the harsh tone out of my voice to soften it and show that Miranda is feeling guilt for something that is out of her control.
Overall I'm happy with how this monologue turned out but the rhythm and timing were difficult to get, especially at the end. The English language has changed so much since Shakespeare that a lot of the pronunciations are different today than they were then and the language was spoken differently too, so by saying a word wrong or out of place can change the meaning of the piece. To improve I need to focus on the flow of the piece and work on the pronunciation of Shakespearean words and phrases.
Evaluation:
When I first read through Hamlet, I though that the tone of the piece was anger and hate towards Hamlet (from Ophelia's perspective), but it turns out that its actually sadness and grief to who Hamlet used to be compared to who he is now, so the tone of the piece changed very dramatically between read through 3 and 4.
The beginning of this piece is quite slow and pronounced, Ophelia is saying that Hamlet used to be the most respected person around, that everyone looked up too and wanted to be, and now he has fallen. I put in the pauses between 'courtiers' to 'sword' so that the significance of who he used to be would be shown and the time taken to say how great he was would signify that to the audience. The pauses between 'quite, quite down' were used for the same reason but to a different effect. He used to be the best of the best, looked up to by all, but now he is going mad and everyone knows it, so pausing for effect really highlights the fact that such a great man has fallen so far. Ophelia then goes on to say that she is most sad of all, because she believed in who he could be and supported him in their youth, only to be let down by him as he goes mad later in life. Finally the piece finishes with 'O, woe is me....see what I see!' This is spoken with sorrow and heartbreak from Ophelia, as well as the grief that she is experiencing after essentially losing her old husband. Hamlet has become a shell of the person she once knew and she no longer recognises him so I wanted to try and add a crack into my voice to express how sad Ophelia is and how attached she was to Hamlet, however it ended up being smoother than I anticipated.
Overall, I'm happy with how the monologue turned out but would like to add more obvious emotion into my voice. On a scale of 1-10 (1 being emotionless and 10 being full on toddler meltdown) I think my performance was about a 4 and to make it better, and add more dynamics to the piece, I would change between a 4, 5 and 6, with 4 being the underlying level, 5 for the punchy parts and 6 being at the end for her final heartbreak.
A Midsummers Nights Dream
A Midsummers Nights Dream
https://www.backstage.com/monologues/william-shakespeare/a-midsummer-nights-dream/549/
Evaluation:
This monologue is spoken by Helena who is in love with Demetrius...Demetrius loves Hermia...Hermia loves Lysander...its a big old love tangle and all 4 of them are chasing each other through the woods.
This monologue is said in rhyme so has a very easy to follow Rhythm. For the beginning of the monologue, it was important that I didn't over-emphasise the 'oh I am out of breath in this fond chase!' so I decided to try and keep my tone as even and low as possible so that I wouldn't accidently slip into a high and exaggerated tone. The 'Happy is Hermia' is a bit more sharp than I'd have liked it and is coming off more spiteful than jealous but it does flow nicely into the next line of 'for she hath blessed and attractive eyes'. The next section flowed well and the tone was pretty even throughout which I was worried about because previously I had always been way too aggressive with the 'how came her eyes so bright?', so to have that be highlighted but not over-exaggerated was really good. This next bit however I wish I had done more with because it is such an iconic line and has so much potential. 'No, no I am as ugly as a bear', was said with a pause to really make us sympathise with Helena and draw attention to how she is feeling but on a scale of 1-10 (with 1 being emotionless and 10 being Shakespeare himself), this line was said at a 4..it could easily have been performed at a 6 along with the next line. I am happy that I carried the line on from 'run away for fear' into 'therefore no marvel' because I had previously taken a quick breath at the end of the line and followed the rhythm, but it changes here to catch the audience out and draw our attention back in. This next bit is actually said very differently to how I previously thought it would have been. Before I often thought that 'What wicked...sphery eyne?' was said is an over dramatic, feel sorry for me and pity me way, as that's the only way I had ever seen it performed. However, its actually just a question (thanks Grandpa) and so I decided to try and say it as normally as possible, with an even tone and with the correct pronunciation of sphery (s-fear-y). Finally, this last section changes tone again to confusion and hope when Helena finds Lysander lying on the ground in the wood. Helena and Lysander have not had a significant relationship before so Helena's reaction to seeing him would be shock and confusion rather than happiness so I tried to convey confusion in my voice originally fading to hopeful at the end when she tries to wake him up.
Overall I'm happy with how this monologue went but think I could have been more expressive throughout and controlled my delivery of phrases better ('Happy is Hermia' bit). To improve on this piece I would work more on the balance between being over dramatic and under dramatic and how to switch between the two easily, as that is what was tripping me up. worrying about being over-dramatic on the 'how came her eyes so bright' part meant that I was scared of being too dramatic on the 'no, no I am as ugly as a bear' as so went the other way instead and was not dramatic enough.
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