29 August 2012

Beating Voice Guilt

 'The worst guilt is to accept an unearned guilt' - Ayn Rand
 
Some might see performance as a kind of religion. We have the discipline, the theatre of it all, the regalia, the customs and, of course, the gods.

One thing we should not have is the guilt.

Over the years I have discovered you folk like to beat yourself up over the things that do happen, don’t happen, won’t happen, are going to happen, might happen, have no chance of happening and happen when you least expect.

Seattle's Bubble Gum Wall
Worrying and creating guilt within yourself for not addressing voice time is about as 'effective as trying to solve an algebra equation by chewing bubblegum' (if you listen to Baz)....and in my opinion, simply not worth it.

Let’s face it: feeling guilty is only going to create a sense of repulsion to the task at hand. We’re going to procrastinate....and whilst the house may get tidy and the emails answered, our voice technique is not going to improve. Sometimes, you may even lie to your voice coach....and trust me we can tell........

I’m not using busy-ness as an excuse, but lets examine some of the ways in which we might alleviate the guilt by allowing voice time into our everyday activities and lessening the burden of 'practice time'**:

1. Set your phone alarm 5 times a day and when it goes off check your jaw is not locked, do a spinal roll, lift your soft palate......hell, anything that you’re challenged by. It will help your exercises become technique.

2.
Blu-tac some exercise sheets on the outside of your glass shower screen facing in and have some time in the shower. As well as giving yourself voice space, you’ll also benefit from the steam. Great for resonance work too.

3. What can you do silently on the tram in the morning? Tongue work with the mouth closed, soft palate work, silent breath work..........and in the car, you don't even have to worry about noise.....

4. Read the morning paper out loud at the breakfast table. As well as creating conversation, you can really give your voice a great start to the day by waking up your pitches, articulators and connecting to your breath.

5. Got 20 minutes - reset your body with a good dose of semi-supine....a great silent one if you’re on set or working in an office......

6. Have time to watch TV? Do some silent breath work whilst watching or get up and do one exercise in every add break. Even better - turn that thing off and give yourself some real space!

7.
Do you exercise in the morning? Stretch out those inter-costals as part of your stretches.....by increasing your capacity first thing, you’ll also get more out of your exercise session.

8. Employ your voice time into your everyday speech...we cannot have a voice for inside the performance space and one for outside. Don’t try to fool yourself by employing an “acting voice” during your voice sessions! We can see straight through this.

9. If all else fails and you’re just too exhausted, look up a good voice article online by Patsy Rodenberg or at www.theatrevoice.com - at least you can get some new ideas and inspiration to drive you forward tomorrow......

There are plenty more things I could advise you to do. Use your imagination and see what you can come up with.

Most of all, if it doesn’t happen in one day, or two or three even, DON’T FEEL GUILTY! Just try one of these things tomorrow and see how easy it can be to get back on track. 

**Ultimately, a dedicated time is going to provide you with the focus your artistry requires (see my blog on Space) ...... most of these suggestions will apply to creating excellent muscular habits.

22 August 2012

Miss Pronunciation X

Diamonds are a Girl’s Best Friend.......

...........and Miss Pronunciation is very fond of flashy bijoux, especially the kind that comes from a plastic egg. She much prefers that over Mummy’s boring pearls.....

So I’m focusing on the often mispronounced word ‘JEWELRY’ (U.S) or ‘JEWELLERY’ (B).

Don’t skip straight to the the L making the pronunciation ‘JOOLRY’ - it’s pure laziness and you’re not giving this wonderful, meaty word the weight it deserves.

It can be pronounced properly either of the following ways:

dʒuː ͜  əlrɪ  or (as in British English) dʒuː ͜  ələrɪ. The move from the 'OO' sound to the shwa gives you a lovely little hint of 'w' - almost feels like you're kissing the sound.......

If you want it to remain your best friend, don’t be lazy and give it the respect it deserves......

16 August 2012

Miss Pronunciation IX

Miss Pronunciation is a Goody Two Choux **

 It was the choice between the potato salad and the.........what? The WHAT? Did you really say that?


Dare I?

The coldslaw.......

I couldn’t work out if I was choosing between a form of herpes or a side dish.

It’s coleslaw - it originally comes from the Dutch “Koolsla” or “Koolsalade” meaning cabbage salad. Taking this into account, one can see how cold might be thrown into the mix.

However, it remains that the correct pronunciation stands without a ‘d’: kɒɫsɫɔː .

**Incidentally, my good and very clever friend Elinor has a theory about the phrase "Goody Two Shoes": in French it is popular to call someone dear to you "Chou Chou" (ʃuː ʃuː)  as in "cabbage" (aaaah, my little cabbage). It's far sexier in a French accent. So someone always dear to or held in favour by another might be labelled a Goody two Choux. I like this explanation.

15 August 2012

Quality vs. Quantity

I constantly see performers struggle in keeping up excellent personal voice practice. Think you need a good hour? Two? 

You're mistaken and it comes down to one thing:
Truffles Anyone?

My father wisely taught me this lesson when I was young: Go for quality and you’ll never be sorry.

I apply this to many areas in my life: my shoes, food, education (also, my husband would like me to make special mention of him here); but none more so than my voice work.

I’m busy, so busy thanks to my wonderful and ever growing flock of students, and so I have learned to use my time wisely.

Here are several ways you to turn your short voice sessions (either daily routine or warm-up) into quality time:

A Good Focus:
So you have 20 minutes** set aside? Spend the first 3 minutes focusing your senses and you’ll get more from the remaining 17 than you might imagine. Also, tailor this focus to the area you are particularly addressing today. (For more info on this, contact me)

Clear your Space:
I learned from the wonderful Bryce Ives that a clear space is necessary to create art. Get rid of the crap surrounding you, this includes bags, mess and general paraphernalia. If at home, light a candle or two, welcome your art by giving it some respect and space. Get rid of any white noise. And, for goodness sake, turn off your phone and computer - they will only serve to distract you.

Challenge Yourself:
It is really easy to work on all the things we are good at - and we just roll along in a world of bliss and good vibration - but you’ll never actually improve. Put in some of the hard yards. Don’t flounder - have a clear, concise and progressive plan.

Bring Enjoyment Into your Session:

Enjoy yoga? Doing Zen Zen Zo? Love your Alexander or Feldenkrais technique? Well, combine it into your voice session and reap the benefits.

Morning Papers:
For those not familiar with The Artist’s Way, you might want to look it up. Morning papers are part of this amazing program....they manage to halt that invasion of crap that interferes with one’s head at the most inappropriate times and also may help you to structure your warm ups to be more effective within your overall artistry.

Last of all......
Enjoy this time with yourself. You work hard for it and it will only make you a stronger and more flexible artist.

**I’m not putting a time estimate on your voice work. I can manage a good one in 20 minutes, but we all work at various rhythms and this can vary widely according to circumstances.

8 August 2012

Miss Pronunciation VIII

An Olympic Disaster


McGuire & Co. - it may be that I am forced to watch the Olympics via your hideously over commercialised channel, but I shouldn’t be forced to listen to such slovenly pronunciation.

If one more of your crew describes an olympian's campaign as disas-TER-ous, I’m boycotting.

You’re adding an extra syllable - the word is disastrous (dɪzaːstrəs or dəzaːstrəs).

Quite frankly, I find it disastrous that other more worthy media outlets are having to resort to demonstrating races using LEGO figurines: http://www.latimes.com/sports/olympics/olympicsnow/la-sp-on-usain-bolt-gold-100-20120807,0,1878460.story




Cute, but a disastrous outcome for an event that is supposed to be for the people.

2 August 2012

Miss Pronunciation VII

Miss Pronunciation gets wired.....

I do realise this is the second Miss P. to deal with the art of speaking about coffee - but this is Melbourne after all.

I prefer a flat white, by the way. And, for anyone who wants to take Miss P. out - she prefers a babycino with marshmallows.

However, should you wish to go for a strong brew, you might like a percolated coffee.

And there is is: percolate (pɜ:kəleɪt).

It is not perk-YU-late, as in peculiar.

Take your coffee however you like, but there it is.


1 August 2012

Emotion

Emotion.

Emotion.

Emotion.

Sigh.

Always.

        The same

                    Question:

           
            How do I get emotion into my voice?

Sigh.

I question you:

        Why are you targeting emotion? When you speak in everyday life are you aiming to create an emotion for yourself * ? OR are you aiming to achieve something?

That’s another kettle of fish....exactly the kettle and exactly the fish you need to be investing your time into: Intention.

Emotion. Sigh.

In life I want or need to do something (my objective).

There are an unlimited series of actions I might follow trying to achieve this (intentions/actions).

The emotion I feel is a symptom or a product of me either achieving this thing (maybe relieved), not achieving this thing (maybe disappointed) or achieving something else entirely all together (maybe surprise) **.

Why on earth are you treating your acting any differently?

Aim to achieve something - an intention that is firmly rooted in your breath. The emotion will come and it will surprise you if you have opened your body to it.

Emotion is the symptom - the destination - not the journey.


* Yes - admittedly as a teenage drama queen (it lasted well into my 20s) I did. But on the whole as a functioning human being, is this standard?

**The problem is sometimes emotion is blocked. Physically or mentally. This is the reason we train....it is to avoid these blockages occurring and undo the existing. That IS another kettle of fish.