Directing: Teaching actors to project.

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Teaching actors to project.

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Forum Name: Directing
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Topic: Teaching actors to project.

Posted By: GoldCanyonLady
Subject: Teaching actors to project.
Date Posted: 12/27/07 at 10:46am

I am the director of active adults (55 plus) who are not trained actors. Several have weak voices and our stage and auditorium leave much to be desired in the way the sound carries to the audience. How can I teach them to project their voices more?

Barb

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Barb Hofmeister,
MountainBrook Village Players, Gold Canyon, Arizona.

Replies:

Posted By: Director1
Date Posted: 12/27/07 at 2:20pm

I would begin by conducting vocal sessions with them, teaching them how to project and use their voices. This will give them some confidence as well as actual technique. Then, you may want to emphazsize the idea: "Share with the audience". (Many times poor projection is caused by fear or neglect of the audience.)

Can the auditorium be altered for better sound quality?

At the very last, can you amplify the voices with microphones?

Best wishes... I know it can be a challenge.

Posted By: TonyDi
Date Posted: 12/28/07 at 8:17am

Teaching projection to anyone is similar - if not directly related to how singers are taught to sing and/or control/use their natural lung capacity and so forth for purposes of being heard - i.e. volume...although it is NOT just lung capacity but much more.

It's a learned technique that once learned can be controlled by the individual. Having had 16 years of private vocal instruction I can tell you it's NOT an overnight process. Basically it's a matter of them understanding the physical parts of how proper breathing is accomplished and using that in combination with proper diction to accomplish the projection of the voice enough to be heard in a relatively large auditorium. HOWEVER and I am going to qualify it here - I would NOT expect ANYONE (and much unlike MY big mouth) to NOT overdo what cannot be done - or that is that can only be done with amplification. It depends upon the acoustics of the building you're in. I have worked in about a 130 seat theater for a long time and being heard in there is rarely a problem. BUT I've also done shows at the Opera House here with full orchestra - THOUGH STILL was heard in the third balconey because the acoustics were so incredibly good and I didn't need to "push it". Fact of the matter is - that is what MOST people think you MUST do to be heard and therefore experience hoarseness, sore throats, and in many cases loss of the voice completely - or at worst early vocal death (thanks to Musical Theater - and untrained actors).

Basically put, it's an element of understanding the physiology of how sound is produced by the human voice and how the volume is controlled through properly taught breathing techniques. Again, NOT an overnight process. If they understand what the diaphragm is and how it operates in the body, and if they understand the vocal cord structure and how both that and the diaphragm, lungs and diction/placement of tone/sound is produced - then perhaps they can understand how to develop a more voluminous sound without hurting themselves vocally. I have been able to teach that because I've taught voice to singers but if I were NOT qualified, I'd not attempt to do that and thus feel responsible if they damaged their voices by improper techniques. It IS VERY similar to teaching singers how to sing and/or produce tones using the whole body - not just those elements of the anatomy that combine to make sounds at whatever volumes they will be made.....all without hurting someone vocally.

Perhaps you can find a vocal instructor to come in for a session and explain the techniques of proper vocal sound production and all the elements involved so they can get an understanding and a feel for how to adjust as required for the space they're trying to fill. IF the place is too large and the acoustics are weak, then amplification should be the order of the day - general, ambient miking would be required.

I could go on but this is too long already. I think you get the idea.

TonyDi

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"Almost famous"

Posted By: whitebat
Date Posted: 1/09/08 at 10:03pm

Read Plato's "The Meno" on teaching virtue. That seems to be the level at which many of us are taught projection; sometimes it is by accident and sometimes not at all. I am able to project my voice well, and can't recall ever having lost my voice. The way it "feels" to me is: a slightly lower pitch, and also the way you make your voice sound "normal" when you have a cold. It seems to be very nearly impossible for someone to project in a higher than normal pitch voice, unless perhaps if they have been trained to sing falsetto? We had to mike an actor in one of our shows, who normally has fine projection, but he was playing a female role.

Posted By: Kibitzer
Date Posted: 1/21/08 at 11:45pm

One caution - or consideration: You are dealing with older people (like me) who have vocal chords that are probably no longer as pliant as they once were (that could be said for any part of my current body!) So, you'll have to work within that constraint.

There was an exercise that an acting teacher taught me many years ago. We often rip up our voices due to tension. Here's the exercise he used to overcome - or at least recognize - that. Have everyone lay down on their backs on the floor and do a basic relaxation exercise. Pay particular attention to the neck and to the muscles around the vocal chords. As they breath in and out in relaxed ways, have them add a vowel sound on the exhalation. Volume is not as important at this point as maintaining the relaxation with the sound. As they "master" maintaining the relaxation while vocalizing, have them slowly get louder and louder. Eventually, you want them to visualize that sound being heard by someone standing on the roof above them (or in the room on the floor above them). Once this is done laying down, have them sit up and do it; then standing. I always like to give people a "target": "Aim your voice to the person in the last row of the balcony - they paid for a ticket, too!"

The other problem that some people believe is projection but isn't is enunciation. Think about it. We can hear a stage whisper (which is not necessarily low volume, but is certainly lower volume than full speech) in the back row. The key is making sure that every consonant - especially ending consonants - are hit distinctly. An idea I have used was taught to me by my Italian teacher. She told me that you can not have a "lazy mouth" when speaking Italian. Every letter has to be shaped and articulated and to do so you must work every part of your mouth and tongue. I think it is very much the same on stage. That's why we can have "quiet moments" on stage and still be heard by everyone in the audience.

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"Security is a kind of death." - Tennessee Williams

Posted By: TonyDi
Date Posted: 1/22/08 at 10:15am

The ONLY problem I know of with the exercise you mention is that you're using the breath only to articulate sounds - or making vowel sounds building the volume from nothing to a full voice. One of the issues is this - whispering - which this is after a fashion at least for a time until a normal volume is reached is EXTREMELY hard on the vocal cords. Whispering - even stage whispers are normal voice at lower volumes made to "sound" like a whisper (others on stage CAN hear the whisper - it's just delivered to LOOK like you're whispering). But whispering or whatever is incredibly hard on the vocal cords and while perhaps it will warm the voice - also is potentially damaging to the vocal cords. You can trust what I say or not - been there, done that, got the t-shirts. But it's very hard on the voice. The simplest warm up exercise is to HUM, even humming the vowel sounds in this case (yeah I know how do you hum without opening your mouth - but I mean starting with a hum and articulating the vowel sound), teeth apart, tongue relaxed, not loud just enough to warm the voice over a period of time until a normal voice volume is reached. Then gradually and slowly, doing enough exercise with breath control, vowel enunciation, placement and intonation as to get a bit more power behind it so that the voice is NOT damaged but is reaching places in the theater it might otherwise not. BEAR IN MIND, all the proper techniques, proper approaches STILL MIGHT NOT produce the results you want or need. Older folks just have softer, less pliable voices as you say. I DO like the idea of the exercise you mention is to get the mouth in motion. The ONLY problem with THAT is that conveying what you mean such that they don't get the impression that you must contort the face when getting the mouth in motion that it looks unnatural.

VERY difficult situation to deal with - especially with older adults because the voices number one, just might not be there or condusive to stage use, and secondly they may not be able to pump up the volume period - even with the proper exercises and techniques or tips to help do it. Approach cautiously always. EVERY voice teacher is going to tell you something different in many cases - it's technique to a great degree but often with less qualified teachers it is a matter of personal (uneducated) opinion.

TonyDi

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"Almost famous"