This is my show reel blog explaining how I have used my voice in different shows and how I have progressed throughout these performances.
Greek Ensemble piece
When we were given this piece we first read it though in different ways to give us ideas such:
All saying the text in unison
One person reads it to the punctuation then the next person
One person reads to the full stop then the next person
One person reads the whole passage and the rest of the group repeats a word that they think stands out in the sentence
All saying the text in unison
Reading in unison I felt that the class were a whole chorus and our own individual voices were coming though through others joining. However after a while the tempo of the chorus become out of sync and it looses the effect and breaks the atmosphere.
One person reads to the punctuation
Personally this exercise gave me a different insight to if you read only to the punctuation it could change the meaning of the extract. Also because there s quite a lot of punctuation there were moments that people were only saying one word or a short sentence. For me this method of reading only to the punctuation gave more suspense and it gave a message to the extract.
Reading to the full stop
Reading to the full stop felt that different individual voices could be hard on there own which produces different viewpoints. If this was the case maybe the chorus were not collaborating together.
Reading the whole extract
This vocal technique felt that there was leader of the chorus and it didn't feel that they were speaking as one.This technique gave us a chance to work more as a team and hear our voices by following each other which meant we could speak as one.
Our group
The general idea we came up with we linked to asylum and going mad because it links the mood of our voices that we were going for. For example the chorus is getting the gossip and telling the story of the death of Aegisthus. From the exercises we decided to say each section separately so we can imitate different characters that way our voices could be heard as different parts of the chorus. We then thought our idea was original as it has been done a lot times so we decided a different idea and felt our breathing whilst saying the lines and that made us sound more alarmed and panicked and getting frustrated. We then played around with the speed of our voices and made us more rushed and panicky in our voice. It also drawed the audience more in.Our piece was named panic at the city partly because of the breathless our voices combined.
The death cry
We were originally struggling with this part of the section of the story. We didn't want a complete scream as it ruins the back of your throat and isn't unique. However we picked out some of the words that jumped out off the page for us personally. My word was justice which made me want to have a forceful approach which meant my voice went a slightly lower pitch and articulated the 't' sound to make sure I was being understood. We all felt a natural speed and brought this speed faster and faster to create more suspense.
Comments on the performance
Overall I got some positive feedback regarding my voice during the voice. Karen liked the city interpretation which meant anticipation and a great sense of pace which flowed with the theme. She also commented on my articulation and diction. Responding to this comment my vocal programme is improving on my voice as my exercises were to open my mouth more and to say some tongue twisters. She loved the sung part of the piece. I thought this part of the piece gave some variety in my voice as the singing part gave more of a character therefore I put a voice that suited that character which was a slightly mad person in the chorus. The piece was dynamic and energised. There was clarity of energy coming from me in my voice.
Radio- Atching Tan
What were the struggles that you had during the process of Atching Tan Radio?
I think firstly I had to get my head around the radio plays were purely on the voice which meant you had to use your imagination towards the action is happening in the play. For example one scene I am talking to Lovvie through a bathroom door which meant I had to slightly shout because I was further away from the microphone which brought my pitch up slightly in my voice. On the whole sight reading is one of my weakness when it comes to radio plays. During the rehearsal I had to repeat some of my lines as it wasn't either clear or I stumbled on my words.I felt frustration to this project because sometimes I pronounced a word wrong. For example 'Adam-ski'. However when I started to do my warm up exercises which I opened my mouth as wide as possible it allowed me to be more clear in my articulation. Once I had the line said correctly I felt more confident with myself. I think the sight reading lead back to my normal pace which is fast when I am nervous but once I thought about with my breath control my body and voice felt more relaxed and calm. . I have noticed that when I say a line my pace becomes fast which is the reason why I sometime stumble over my words.
What did you discover in working on a radio play?
I discovered that when rehearsing we were sat down when saying our lines which gave a poor affect of the sound as the focus of the sound was more shown to the floor. However when we stood up our posture came in to place. I noticed that my shoulders role forwards because that how they naturally fall. With standing up it gave a lovely vocal energy within the group and gave a very good performance overall. I noticed that when recording in the studio you didn't have to use projection as such because the microphone could pick up your voice with subtle voices such as there is a scene between me and Lovvie where I am whispering to Lovvie because I am excited about my wedding day. That part was a pure whisper it wasn't a stage whisper where you have to project slightly.
Another part of radio is not using projection and just using your voice normally. In one scenario I had to whisper to Lovvie as we were in bed which meant that I use a soft tone and a quiet sound. This was slightly unfamiliar for me as I didn't need to do a stage whisper but the first time recording it felt natural and believable with my voice.
Solo Performance
This part of the radio I felt I could be more imaginative by using the voice for different sections. One of my solo pieces were a childrens book which meant that I had to use more softer tones as children like to part of the book. Peace At Last was my book and I loved performing this piece. The story is based all about Mr bear not getting any sleep which meant that my voice should be soft as it is a calm story to tell. Soft effects were great to do as it really brought the story to life such as 'mmmmmmmmmm' went the refrigerator and 'tick tock went the living room clock'. The main character was a male character which that I had top use a deeper pitch. My first few attempts was a booming voice as he was grumpy saying 'oh no'. However my feedback was saying that it was a bit heavy for the voice so I gave Mr Bear a slightly higher pitch to the voice which felt a lot better. Before the recording I woke up all of my resonators to use my chest resonator for Mr Bear's voice. I did this by doing a hmm and tapping my chest.
Scissors by Allan Alberg
My next performance was a poem which had a rhyming scheme to it. At the start of the poem I wanted to make it a little sinister to give a short sharp opening. To do this I used my articulation to allow my dictation to be short and sharp. In the middle section I used a softer tone to allow the narrator to not loose her patience by saying the line ' We really need those scissors thats what makes me mad'. I spoke this line by saying it in a quieter volume to allow the poem to be slightly calmer than the opening. The ending was a a dramatic ending by lifting the volume and giving the articulation to a clear level of understanding.
Much Ado About Nothing performance
Looking back over my Shakespeare piece I think that this wasn't my strongest piece.The reason is because I had to get use to do getting my tongue around the hard words which I had never heard before which was a challenge. Also I think my pace let me down as I speak fast sometimes which affects the voice. I didn't feel relaxed at times as I didn't have the vocal exercises that I was comfortable with which made the voice lack in confidence. However after weeks and weeks of rehearsing his I felt a lot better as I knew what the words meant and I could put some character into it. Beatrice my character a strong woman to fight with so she is that person who cant take no for a an answer. At times I think nerves got the better of me. However I seem to have felt that my vocal energy was good as I kept the play interesting. Also I feel that my projection was strong once I was more confident with the lines. If I were to do this performance again I would tell myself to slow down and before I go on stage I will take some deep breaths to calm my body down which will able my voice to feel more comfortable to before rather than being tensed and stressed.
Man Of Mode
Man of Mode was great fun to work with the voice as the pitch of an upper class lady was a high pitch which allowed my head resonator to work more than the others. Playing an upper class character needs to have a clear articulation by pronouncing every vowel and constant. For a 17th century lady posture was very important so I always spoke with my back straight. I felt that my posture gave my more energy in the voice. Compared to Shakespeare I could feel that because of my posture I could hear an improvement in my voice by lengthening my spine. My feedback that I had in rehearsals that my posture was excellent which therefore helped the scene. I noticed that my pace was not effected during this performance as I was confident and in character every performance. I really enjoyed using my voice in this project as it was a challenging part of my voice which was the head resonator. Every warm up I woke up my head and opened my mouth for articulation and my high pitch voice.