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The Passionate Speaker
"To free the voice is to free the person."
- Kristin LinklaterA Newsletter for Speakers By Michael Landrum May 12, 2003 — Number 53 The Original Voice Everyone seems to feel that their own speech is perfectly clear, and that if there is a breakdown in communication it must be the listener's fault. Only rare individuals seek help with their voice production. A clear, relaxed voice emerges from a clear, relaxed mind and body. Classical actors approach the voice with a Zen-like reverence. Unfortunately most actors, like most speakers, don't appreciate the importance of voice work. There is a prejudice against craftsmanship that springs from the erroneous view that by practicing one moves away from natural spontaneity. They think that by working on their vocal instrument they will somehow acquire an 'artificial' voice. This shows a serious misunderstanding of the purpose and methods of good vocal technique. They are confusing the natural with the merely familiar. The best modern voice coaches work to recover the client's "original voice." There is no intention to somehow "build" a vocal technique, a phony, imposed, "perfect" voice on a person. It is rather to release the natural voice which has been bound and fettered by the tensions of modern life. The ideal is to produce a voice that is free to express the full emotional life of the individual, shaped by the mind but not inhibited by it. As Kristin Linklater, voice coach for the great British acting companies and one of the foremost teachers in the field says in her book, Freeing the Natural Voice: "The approach is to liberate the natural voice rather than to develop a vocal technique. The basic assumption of the work is that everyone possesses a voice capable of expressing, through a two-to-four octave natural pitch range, whatever gamut of emotion, complexity of mood and subtlety of thought that he or she experiences." The main obstacle to this goal is tension. If we think of the entire body as the vocal instrument, even tension in the feet will be reflected in the voice. This is not so far-fetched as you may suppose. Plenty of people try to clutch the floor with their toes when on-stage, as though the laws of gravity had been suspended. That tension, as with any tension, mental or physical, will show up in the voice. Freeing your voice means dealing with those tensions and finding an alert, alive relaxation to express your thoughts and feelings. If you are interested in working with a professional on your voice, I recommend you check out the Voice and Speech Trainers Association web site http://www.vasta.org/ . They have people all over the US, mainly attached to theatre companies and Universities. They also have a complete list of voice resources on the internet - including a vast array of tongue twisters. Enjoy! A Thought to Ponder "I have often thought that the best way to define a man's character would be to seek out the particular mental or moral attitude in which, when it came upon him, he felt himself most deeply and intensively active and alive. At such moments, there is a voice inside which speaks and says, 'This is the real me.' " - William James ©2001-2003 Michael F. Landrum |
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