First Voice Seminar: Ellie

Wednesday 31^st October

Lesson by Ellie: Voice

To begin today’s session Ellie lead the class in a vocal warm up in which we repeated the phrases “Bunny Bunny, tikiki and ooha” .

“Bunny Bunny” Was said if you where the person pointed at in the middle, you would then have to do bunny ears, people on either side of the individual in the middle would then progress to say “tikiki” whilst the mass group would do a gesture and say “ooha”.  The purpose for this activity, I believe, was to gently ease us into the topic of voice in a creative and fun way, whilst warming up or vocals chords; and making our ensemble concentrate, due to the games nature being one of speed and group participation we all needed to be focused.

This activity was followed by another basic warm up that focused on alleviating tension in the body. We lied on the floor in a supine position (flat back legs on the floor) and also in a half supine (knees pointed up feet flat on the floor).  Whilst in these positions we did stretches to loosen the rib cage to allow for easier intercostal breathing.

Intercostal breathing is breathing into and filling the top third of the lungs, as in clavicular breathing, and then continuing to breathe into the middle part of the lungs.

Intercostal (“between the ribs”) breathing is accomplished by pulling up the clavicle, shoulders and torso, and then expanding the chest wall and ribs.

Intercostal breathing is useful for a performer because it allows for deeper breath inhalation which doesn’t stress the throat muscles. For a performer having to do a long monologue this technique would help pace the speech and help them carry the voice on the breath without tiring their voice too much.

This technique is also great for a performer’s posture, as we have to stand up straight to allow the technique to work properly, posture significantly helps a performers presence on stage, because it is a symbol of their character’s status.

The quote of the lesson for me, “voice is completely different from speech, it is a noise carried on the breath” helped me to clarify the difference in my head and allowed me to go home an d research.

What I realised is voice and breath are independent factors, breath can function independently but the quality on the voice is affected by the quality on the breath. Voice needs breath to carry and support it.

 

Diagram depicting what happens during intercostal breathing.

Bibliography

Author/s	Year	Title	Edition (if not 1st)	Location Where published	publisher
Ellie Darvill         2012                      Verbal quote: “ voice is completely different from speech, it is a noise carried on the breath.” http://www.sharecare.com/question/what-is-intercostal-breathing (Accessed 31 Oct 2012) http://www.ehow.com/facts_7469579_intercostal-breathing-useful-performer_.html (Accessed 31 Oct 2012) http://g09respirationr3a.wikispaces.com/file/view/sports-training-diaphragm-breathing1.jpg/337689418/sports-training-diaphragm-breathing1.jpg (Accessed 31 Oct 2012)