Comprehensive Voice Warm-up And Devlopment

This routine can be performed simply as a comprehensive voice warm up or as an exercise to develop your voice further.

Warm up physically

Anything to get you muscles warm and working; jogging on the spot, push ups or sit ups.

Stretching on the breath

Go through a series of conventional stretches, but with the following instructions:

Hold stretch, breath in, then on the out breath release further into the stretch - this is the first step in connecting breathing to physical release.

Work through stretches following parts of the body: head/neck, chest, back, all the areas relevant to voice production.

Repeat the stretching on the breath process three times with each exercise, each time releasing further into it. Make sure you experience this feeling of release.

Guided Relaxation

Lie down, knees up in the air arms by your side.

'Lying down for five minutes is an essential part of any warm up - we lose an inch in height over the day as gravity acts on us. When you lie down you allow gravity to spread you rather than compress you, removing tension and creating more space in the body for resonance and articulation'

Shut your eyes but remain focused - the next five minutes will be spent actively releasing tension in various areas of the body.

Put your attention in your face. Feel the tension in all muscles around your eyes and mouth; creating expressions, held in readiness or eagerness to please. - Breath in, then on the out breath, release some of that tension. Feel the tension melting, the muscles relaxing, the face smoothing. Important to note the emotive quality of relaxing the face. Repeat twice more.

Repeat this exercise moving through the neck, the shoulders, the arms, the hands pelvis and the legs. Focusing attention in the areas, then releasing that tension on the out breath.

Abridged Alexander

'F. Mathias Alexander was an Australian actor who toured relentlessly as a Shakespearean orator in the 1890s and early 1900s. He regularly lost his voice and worried about losing his living, he studied himself in mirrors while performing to establish why. His findings and subsequent solutions became what is known as the Alexander Technique'

We are going to deal with one aspect of Alexander Technique; the release of tension and the creation of space in the body through active direction in posture

From lying down, come to standing, rolling up the spine vertebra by vertebra.

Breath in, and on the out breath allow your head to float forward and up (chin down), and your shoulders to drop down.

This should create a lengthening of the back of the neck and a feeling of 'nobility'.

If you have someone with you, you can help each other by augmenting the direction in posture, so it's possible to feel it more: - Pull up gently on the hair on the crown of the head to augment the direction. Allow the person to breathe and release as you hold. - Rest your hands on their shoulders to allow the head to float up and away. Allow the person to breathe and release. - Hold the head in your hands with your elbows resting on their shoulders so you are supplying both directions. Allow the person to breathe and release. Gently!

Now walk around the room, while maintaining this active release. You should feel 'noble' as you walk around, like a king or queen. But never fixed, you should be constantly releasing into the directions discussed with your breath. Active, free and mobile.

Using Alexander Technique like this allows you to release tension in your voice production. This means you'll be able to speak or sing with greater range, articulacy and specificity, and that you're less likely to strain and lose your voice. The release and use of active directions in your posture also creates more space in the body, allowing you to create more resonance and thus a larger, fuller sound.

Voice Production

A brief outline of how we create speech.

The ribcage is a bell shaped cavity that contains the lungs. When we breathe out a sheet of muscle that stretches across the bottom of the ribcage, called the diaphragm, pushes up into the cavity, while at the same time interlocking muscles around the abdomen chest and back contract. This expels the air from the lungs, pushing it up through the trachea and larynx.

The air then passes through the vocal cords. These are actually a single sheet of tissue blocking the Larynx and separated in a line down the middle, creating two edges. When these edges are brought together with air passing through them it creates a vibration, and thus a sound.

This small sound is then amplified by the pharynx, mouth and nasal cavities, which act as resonating chambers, to create a larger fuller sound.

This sound is finally shaped by the lips, tongue and movement of the jaw to create specific recognizable noises and speech.

An easy way to think of the process is comparing it to a musical instrument, especially wind instruments, which function on the same principles - vocal chords are like the reed on a clarinet: blowing air through it creates a buzz which is then amplified by the body of the instrument into sound. Think of the resonating chambers, and indeed your entire body, as the body of a cello amplifying the sound and making it fuller and richer.

The important thing to grasp is that voice production does not originate in the neck and throat - it is brought about by the sustained passing of air through vocal equipment which is best thought of (impressionistically - not accurately) as the rudder on a ship, or wing flaps on an airplane adjusting and sculpting not straining to generate.

Breathing

The ideal situation for breathing during speech performance is to have a controlled and sustained exhalation and a quick reflex inhalation.

This is especially important for theatre - and doubly so for verse such as Shakespeare. If you have four or five lines of verse to get through to maintain the flow of the writing, you need to manage your exhalation to supply enough breath. This is usually known as speaking with 'support'. When you finish the lines you need to ensure that your inhalation is instinctive and effortless so as to give you the most air as quickly as possible, so you can continue without a gasping pause.

The best way to control the out breath is using the diaphragm - but you can't actually feel it, so you use your abdominals. By pulling your belly button in as your breath out you can control the flow of air. -On a SHH sound practice this

The best way to inhale is NOT TO. To suck in air creates tension and takes time - so after exhaling, instead of consciously breathing in, concentrate on relaxing your abdominals and letting the air rush into the vacuum created. This SHOULD be unflattering as your belly pops out, displaced by the diaphragm. - Get on all fours and on a SHH squeezing the abdominals, expel all the air from your lungs. - When all air is expelled, relax and allow your belly to pop toward the ground aided by gravity, as air rushes back in with no muscular effort. - Repeat several times until you get the hang of it

Imagine you are breathing in and out of your belly - although movement of the chest and back is vital, don't concentrate on them, this will lead to much shallower breathing. It's recruiting the diaphragm that creates the most volume of air in the lungs and the most effective control of the breath.

Repeat the exercise standing, this time to a count. Make sure you feel your abdominals contracting as you exhale. - Breath out on SHH to the count of five, making sure you have used all your breath by the end of the count, then relax and allow the air to rush back in. Repeat. - Same again but on a count of ten, try and ensure an even flow of breath from start to finish. Manage the flow using your abdominals. Then allow the air to rush back in. Repeat. - Same again but on a count of fifteen. Repeat.

You are trying to achieve a steady constant exhalation and a quick reflex inhalation.

First Sound

How to make your first sound: use the abdominals to control a steady exhalation. Then practice bringing the vocal folds together, just touching them together to create a croaky groaning noise. Practice this to get a sense of how sound production works.

Resonance

As aforementioned your body is like the body of a musical instrument, capable of amplifying any sound created.

It's important that you realize just how much of your body you can recruit as a resonating amplifier, allowing your speech to become fuller and richer.

Start humming (and continue humming through this process): - Feel the vibration in your lower ribcage, put your hands on yourself and feel it. - In your chest and through your sternum, follow the feeling with your hands - In your throat/trachea/larynx - In your Pharynx (by feeling below your jaw and ears) - In your mouth (hands on cheeks) - In you nasal cavity (feel either side of your nose beneath your eyes - your sinuses) - Feel the vibration in your skull

Experiment with how much you can make an area vibrate. Build an awareness of yourself as a hollow resonating object - like an audio speaker at a concert.

Imagine the vibration spreading through your whole body. Extend your arms and imagine the buzzing extending out to the tips of your fingers, as you fill the room with sound.

Speech

Having finally got the sound from your vocal folds and amplified it, it is now shaped by your tongue, lips and the position of your jaw into recognizable speech.

Obviously in theatrical performances it's important that your speech is as clear and audible as possible, but wherever you're performing it's crucial that any choice you make with a character in terms of the way they speak can be carried through to it's fullest potential. Whether you're playing someone with a lazy, drawlinh delivery or perfectly articulated RP, developing the coordination of your lips and tongue will allow you to follow your instincts further and more specifically.

First warm up your jaw - to ensure you've got as much space in your mouth as possible for resonance and the movement of your tongue. - Place your hands over your jaw muscles and let them warm up - Gently and slowly pull down, opening your mouth as you go, until your opens as far as it can. Repeat until warm.

Next warm up the tongue; it's important to understand that the following exercises when practiced and developed, allow you to create greater coordination and specificity in speech. - Tongue root: with the tip of the tongue tucked behind the lower teeth 'pump' the tongue out of the mouth using the tongue root. Repeat 20 times. - Tongue root: stick the tongue as far out of the mouth as it will go. Now recite the months of the year. Repeat. - Tongue tip: with the very tip of your tongue touch in N, S, E, W order the middle of your top lip, the middle of your bottom lip, the left hand side of your mouth and then the right. Start slowly and specifically; pick a very specific spot for each touch then increase the speed without getting inaccurate.

Next warm up the lips; again it's as much about recruiting new muscles and developing your skill and coordination as warming up. - Pout. Imagine your lips are the top of a bag with a drawstring. Then pull the imaginary drawstring with your fingers, to make the pout more extreme. Then release. Repeat 20 times. - Sneer. With the rest of your face relaxed raise first your top right lip upward in a sneer, and then the left. Repeat 20 times.

Tongue twisters: Any number of ditties or poems that use complicated language and exhaustively cover vowels consonants. Here are a few:

'She sells sea shells on the sea shore the shells she sells are shells no more' 'A proper cup of coffee in a copper plated coffee pot' 'She sat upon the balustraded balcony inimitably mimicking him hiccoughing and amicably welcoming him in' 'Articulartary agility is an admirable ability manipulating with dexterity the tongue, palette and the lips'

Final Exercise

This exercise brings all the elements of voice production together, and allows them to practiced and developed.

Applying all of the techniques we have been through at the same time requires practice and some effort: it should be difficult. It's vital to understand that it's supposed to be hard. It's an important part of development and should be embraced.

This is one continuous exercise:

- Stand feet shoulder width apart - Apply the Alexander directions on the out breath - Count to five controlling the out breath with your abdominals, and ensuring you use all your breath by the fifth count. - Relax your abdominals and allow a reflex breath to fill your lungs. - Repeat - Count to ten with the same instructions, make sure you keep your voice clear, even and controlled and release any building tension through the Alexander directions. It's important to note that it is tension that will restrict your breathing - if you feel like you're running out of breath relax, don't tense up. It's counterintuitive and requires practice to get right. - Repeat - Count to fifteen with the same instructions. This will be harder and the temptation will be to double up and squeeze the breath out. Don't. Relax attend to your Alexander directions and control your breath gently with your abdominals. - Repeat. - People who can try for twenty. Then repeat.

This is an exercise of great value - practicing the coordination and relaxation necessary to create a calm, resonant and clear voice while using ever increasing speech lengths allows you tackle the effects of tension on the voice head on, and understand how to release and relax through it. This needs practicing until every element of the exercise is instinctive. Removing any conscious effort from it ensures that when it comes to an actual performance your body will be able to instinctively reach it's fullest potential.