Kristin Linklater and warming up the voice

Kristin Linklater's main theory is that "knowing how to connect language to breath and voice is a golden key to hang on the chain of an actors craft"

                                                                 - Kristin Linklater

Linklater is along with Berry brings more of a formal approach to theatre with extensive research into the voice and resonators. 

Linklater speaks about a natural sounding voice, freeing your voice. Using humming, sighing, yawning, buzzing of the lips and pushing sounds up or down into the different resonators around the body. Completing the exercises set out by Linklater you must never imitate the sound but let it come naturally.

Using the exercise created by Kristin Linklater I can construct a warm up and down for the voice. Beginning with breathing from the diaphragm, working our way through the exercises. Starting with a soft hum (my voice when not pushing or imitating a sound is quiet) then opening it up into an ahh sound, still not pushing the voice. I then yawn as many times as I need and make sure I smile as I yawn to stretch and open up my mouth, this also creates a natural ah sound. The laying on the ground I pant. Lying on the ground helps me to see that I am working my diaphragm. The panting warms up my diaphragm and helps me remind myself how to breathe with it, especially if I am doing this in the morning.  Then I can go through a brrring of the lips on one note then repeat the burr but exploring different pitches. I then begin to explore the sounds of different resonators around my body. Trying to get the sound up in my nose, front of the skull, back of the skull and ribs by humming. I then go through another deep breathing and I feel as if I am ready for a stage performance. 

Utilizing these skills that can be learnt through repetition I can enhance not only my voice but also the work presented in performance because of having a stronger sounding voice. 

Grotowskis Work

Jerzy Grotowski was a theorist who has dramatically changed the approach of theatre today. His idea of minimizing the gap between audience and performer has heightened stage work. He had a simpler approach to theatre. This was refreshing as most directors, actors and writers in theatre get distracted by lighting and sound. If you pull back on these elements you get a clear sound and movement coming directly from the actor him/herself. I found myself being drawn to Grotowski as a theorist because he had such a simple idea yet nobody had thought of it before. I do prefer the work of Grotowski and trying to stray from his ideas and accept those of others was something I had to do. I think that applying the work I have learnt from Grotowski and then applying it to other theorists’ ideas is going to give me a heightened attitude towards vocal work. 

cicely berry and the anatomy of the voice

Cicely Berry, the second theorist I looked at when studying voice. Her work is more of a formal approach than that of Barba. Studying her vocal exercises help me to develop my voice. Diction, pronunciation, learning vowel sounds, shaping of my mouth and research on my actual voice helped me develop a keen understanding of my own individual voice and how it works and also the anatomy of my mouth and throat. 

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As you can see in this diagram the throat and mouth are separated into many confusing sections. For now I have just focused on the soft and hard palate. The soft palate helps you to create open and muffled drawn back noises as it moves around unlike the hard palate. The hard palate helps you to articulate and pronounciate. Having a clear understanding of the palates really brought forward my understanding of Berry. Reading through her work with a further knowledge I found myself being able to understand the exercises, know where to place my tongue and then was able to complete all exercises without struggle or confusion.

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odin teatret- starting from the basic form

 For two years I have been trying to push my voice not understanding that by pulling back and starting from the basics with voice can we transform it into an instrument that we can control all by ourselves. I began my transformation by looking at the first theorist; Barba and his theatre troop Odin Teatret. established december 1964.  http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=S97jHiIz6lU the first exercise in this video shows actors responding to sounds. They are being lifted by the woman’s voice then lowered and moved around the room. They are listening to the voice. This was my first step in learning. I listened to the voice and responded to it. Paying attention to the finer details like the highs and lows, when the voice gets gravely or when it begins to convey an emotion. Then I moved my body to match with the voice. Starting at this level taught me not only how to listen and react to another's voice on stage but also that the use of voice onstage has necessitated different processes.