Voice

Why is the voice of the actor important?
 You
must be heard by everyone!
 Lines
contain crucial info about plot and characters
 Audience will get angry/bored if they can’t hear
 It
conveys what kind of character your are
playing
 It conveys what your character thinks and feels
about the events that are taking place
Breath Control

Diaphragmatic Breathing
A
breathing technique useful to actors that
increases air capacity and improves breath
control
 Diaphragm:
connective muscle and tissue between
your abdominal and chest cavaties
 Contracts when you inhale, causing your abdomen
to expand
 Expands when you exhale, causing your abdomen
and rib cage to contract
Breath Control
Making and Shaping Sounds

Vowels: open, sustained sounds


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Formed by RESONATORS: the hard and soft palates,
throat and sinuses
Openness and flexibility of your resonators affects the
RESONANCE of your voice: quality of your vocal tone
Consonants: stopped or shaped sounds
Formed by ARTICULATORS: jaw, lips, teeth, tongue,
and soft palate
 Use of your articulators affects your ARTICULATION:
the clear and precise pronunciation of words

Resonators and Articulators
Projection

Project: (verb) to use your voice in such a
way that it fills the performing space so that
every member of the audience can hear and
understand you
 SHOUTING
IS NOT PROJECTING!
 Achieved by focusing your voice on a particular
spot and speaking clearly with sustained control.
Expression

Use variety in your voice to express changing
thoughts and emotions.

Variety in speech=INFLECTION

Inflection can be varied through changes in five elements of
voice




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Pitch: How low or high your voice is
Volume: How loud or soft your voice is
Tempo: how fast or slowly you speak
Phrasing: how you divide your speeches into smaller parts, adding
pauses to create emphasis and a rhythmic pattern of sounds and
silences
Quality: the individual sound of a particular voice, characterized
as any of the following
 shrill, nasal, raspy, breathy, booming, quivering, etc.
Diction

Diction involves…
 The
correct articulation of sounds
 Proper formation and pronunciation of words
 Careful enunciation of syllables
 Clear and distinct speech
 The musical rhythm of naturally spoken
language