ITALIA CONTI - B.A. ACTING COURSE
SCHEME OF WORK
Module:
PA2503 Skills of the Actor
Class Length:
2 hours
Class/Teaching project title:
Practical Voice
Component:
Voice
Teaching weeks:
1-7
Term:
Autumn
Assessment:
Cumulative Practice
Teacher:
Kat Hicks
PREPARATION AND SPECIFIC READING (please supply in advance if you wish students to prep specifics
before term)
See Student Handbook for reading lists.
GENERAL DESCRIPTION OF TERM’S WORK: (TO INCLUDE tutors specific focus, learning activities, objectives
(where appropriate), connections to other work, reading and references they should look at)
The autumn term’s work focuses mainly on consolidation and development of the work of the first year with a
continued focus on strength, stamina and developing capacity in breath and support work and vocal flexibility
and adaptability in terms of resonance, placement, range and clarity of speech.
By the end of the term students will be able to:
 Better manage and sustain long, complex thoughts that challenge the support (and the brain!)
 Control their voice and support while performing in a variety of physical tempos and positions
 Speak at high speed with clarity and specificity
 Extend full resonance through the body into speech sounds
 Release tension from the articulators and improve tongue, lip and soft palate muscularity
 Finally eradicate speech problems (r,s,th,dark l)
 Improve skill and confidence in sight reading.
ADDITIONAL NOTES (to include any specific info about your practice, how you want to handle questions,
note taking etc)
Any questions will be addressed during the lesson or elsewhere at allocated times if necessary. Individual
feedback and correction will be given within the class.
In Class
Marking, Assessment and Tutorial Requirements:
Resources: Ongoing monitoring of cumulative practice
Clean and clear Indicative marks for the term
working studio Assessment and Feedback sheets
space.
Tutorial :attendance when scheduled at the end of term and feedback sheets
Learning Outcomes
At the end of this module, students will be able to:
Knowledge
1. Begin to recognise and understand the different physical requirements and physical vocabularies that
different social and historical worlds require.
2. Practically understand and realise basic movement patterns/ sequences of work and bodily and
spatial awareness, and demonstrate a primary understanding of how the dynamics of space and time
affect the theatrical space and moment.
3. Demonstrate an understanding of vocal anatomy and physiology
4. Demonstrate an understanding of text analysis
5. Demonstrate a growing understanding of styles and genre and technique
Thinking skills
6. Cognitively understand the connection between mind, body and voice
7. Recognise aspects of sound in text and be imaginative to the possibilities of language
Subject –based practical skills
8. Begin to connect emotionally and with intention to they physical moment – in abstraction and
naturalism.
9. Move on impulse in response to physical, mental or emotional stimulus.
10. Align and use a free breathing technique, and connect breath and thought
11. Achieve a released and supported vocal sound, integrating vocal technique into everyday usage as
well as acting/production work
12. Articulate fundamental speech sounds with clarity and truth in own accent and in Heightended RP
13. Engage with acting and storytelling at an intermidate level
14. Utilise good basic posture, breathing, support, release, grounding, resonance and diction
Skills for life and work (general skills)
Assessment Criteria (what you are going to be marking students on within this class
mapped onto the module assessment criteria)
Assessment Criteria at level 2 for Voice
Component : Voice into Text for Actors
The student will demonstrate the ability to:
 Align and use a free breathing technique
 Achieve a released and supported vocal sound
 Connect breath and thought
 Articulate with clear and fluid speech
 Integrate physical and vocal techniques both into production work and everyday usage
 Recognise aspects of sound in text and be imaginative to the possibilities of language
 Produce accurate vowel phonemes (includes placement)
 Produce accurate consonant phonemes (includes th/f substitutions, dark l, syllabic cons. etc)
 Use fluent, connected speech (assimilation, elision, linking r/w/j, intrusive r, etc.)
 Use resonance (including absence of nasality)
 Connect accent to the supported voice
 Work with believability and ownership
 Speak in the accent consistently
 Apply phonetics (aural transcription and from written text)
Assessment tasks and activities
Class work cumulative practice.
Connection and Integration
This strand continues to underpin the students acting development by supporting their ability to find
physical and vocal style and developing articulation and precision to support their voice work and
characterisation in the acting work.
This work will support and inform the student’s work in acting projects throughout this term.
Any other relevant information
Student’s will arrive on-time and ready to work.
Weekly Lesson Plan and development of work
Week 1
Week 2
Week 3
Week 4
Week 5
Week 6
Introduction
Name game and Extended warm up – covering much of the work from year one –
encouraging students to notice differences in exercises or anything new and different from
previous work.
Discussion and goal setting – assessing where students are in their vocal practice and what
work they have enjoyed.
Taking a verse each of ‘The Highwayman’ and working in stages to apply all last year’s
work to the text (breath release, support, relaxed jaw for resonance and shaping the sounds
for articulation). Tutor to listen and note areas for continued work.
Resonance
Warm up focused on release and resonance (extra work on releasing tension in jaw, throat
and tongue)
Exercises to explore different resonators (chest, face and head)
Exercises to find optimum pitch – partner work and sirening.
Application to text ‘Everyone Sang”
Resonance into articulation
Warm up – focus on resonance and exploring full pitch range (exercises for breath control)
Connecting that work to resonating through articulation – working with the consonant
orchestra – include drills and time with students who have speech issues remaining
Resonance into articulation
Warm up – focus on resonance and exploring full pitch range (exercises for breath control)
Connecting that work to resonating through articulation – working with the consonant
orchestra - include drills and time with students who have speech issues remaining
Articulation continued
Resonance and range focussed warm up followed by further articulation and muscularity
work into text
Articulation continued
Resonance and range focussed warm up followed by further articulation and muscularity
work into sight reading text
LECTURER SIGNATURE: Kat Hicks
HoD SIGNATURE: George Ryan
DATE September 2015
DATE September 2015