5/12/13: CHORUS WORK

In today's lesson we were given a poem written by Welsh poet Dylan Thomas. The poem consisted of three stanzas and signified how death had no power over somebody, how death did not frighten them or have any haunting effect over them.


And death shall have no dominion.
Dead man naked they shall be one
With the man in the wind and the west moon; 
When their bones are picked clean and the clean bones gone,
They shall have stars at elbow and foot; 
Though they go mad they shall be sane,
Though they sink through the sea they shall rise again; 
Though lovers be lost love shall not; 
And death shall have no dominion.

And death shall have no dominion.
Under the windings of the sea
They lying long shall not die windily; 
Twisting on racks when sinews give way,
Strapped to a wheel, yet they shall not break; 
Faith in their hands shall snap in two,
And the unicorn evils run them through; 
Split all ends up they shan't crack; 
And death shall have no dominion.

And death shall have no dominion.
No more may gulls cry at their ears
Or waves break loud on the seashores; 
Where blew a flower may a flower no more
Lift its head to the blows of the rain; 
Though they be mad and dead as nails,
Heads of the characters hammer through daisies; 
Break in the sun till the sun breaks down,
And death shall have no dominion. 

We were split into three groups and each picked out one stanza each to perform combining voice and movement, performing as a chorus.
My group chose the second stanza. In our performance we used forms of chorus;

• UNISON
• CANON
• MOVEMENT
• 1 WORD EACH 
• CALL AND RESPONSE

In my group I was with LIAM, GRETA AND JENNY

We all decided to say AND DEATH SHALL HAVE NO DOMINION in unison once at the beginning and once at the end, this has a strong effect and emphasises what the poem is about.

We created movements that matched the words, for example;

"TWISTING ON RACKS WHEN SINEWS GIVE WAY" 

I performed this line, and when I said TWISTING, I used a twisting movement and turned my body round in a full circle, twisting my arms around my torso. We used CALL AND RESPONSE so when I said TWISTING the group repeated using the movment, and when I said ON RACKS WHEN SINEWS GIVE WAY the group repeated. The movement I used for this was to lean onto GRETAS back and pull her back and forth, as SINEW is a word for muscles and joints giving way, so we wanted to portray this through her body.

We also used movements to symbolise the words when JENNY said "STRAPPED TO A WHEEL, YET THEY SHALL NOT BREAK" We symbolised a wheel turning using our arms when she said this, and all put our arms together within a circle when she said "YET THEY SHALL NOT BREAK" symbolising unison and power.

The movements we used when performing allowed us to project the words with power and meaning, and our performance came across as very powerful and confident.

Vocal development programme

Voice and the Actor 2

Vocal Development programme

Sophia Hinchliff

Since beginning Voice classes I have noticed my own personal strengths and weaknesses and have found particular exercises helpful to my own personal needs.

I feel some of the vocal exercises accentuate my strengths and as well help me to work on my weaknesses.

The exercises I find helpful to me are firstly;

Releasing sound exercise: Half neck rolls

This exercise helps me project my voice better and helps prepare my voice to be clearer and powerful before I speak.

The exercise involves, standing in neutral with feet parallel, dropping my head forward so my chin touches my chest, and then rolling my head over to my right until my right ear is directly above my right shoulder. When in this position I breathe in and out and then roll my head back to the centre. And go on to repeat this on my left side.

Another exercise from Releasing sound I personally enjoy is “Drop and Release” this exercise involves standing in neutral, blowing out my breath and then as the new breath comes in letting my arms float up until they are above my head, and as I breath out I let my arms come down and release my ankle, knee and hip joints so that my whole upper body drops over from my hips and my legs bend. When doing this my arms are swinging gently back and forth and when I run out of breath I gently roll back up and my arms will float above my head again. When doing this exercise I really feel that my whole body feels calm and released, and it helps with my breathing pace and how effective my sound release is. I like to do this exercise with sound added, so when I breath in and release my arms, at the same time I say something from my first performance, for example ‘” We can’t help you’ and then let my arms swing freely below my hips. I can hear how much stronger and powerful my sound is when doing this exercise as it is relaxing my body and building my voice up so it releases loud and clear sound.

The last exercise, which personally helps my vocal development from “Releasing the Sound”, is “Giggle and Sob”

This exercise involves really focusing on the inside of my throat above my collar bone. I release a giggle using the exericses “Hee Hee Hee, Hoo Hoo Hoo” and as I do this I can feel my throat opening up, I count from 1 to 10 giggling and feeling the opening in my throat on each number. I can repeat this exercise with a sobbing noise and repeat the same exercises. At first this exercise feels quite strange and I could not really notice anything in my throat, but after I began to really focus on my breathing and sound I noticed that there was a small opening in my throat after I repeated this exercise a few times. This exercise is very helpful for controlling the pace of your breath and alternating the pitch of sound which comes out from your throat.

The exercises below are the 3 main exercises I feel help me in my personal vocal development; these exercises are from Breath into sound….

Giggling the sounds from my diaphragm: This exercises helps me to open up my throat and be able to have a stronger breath, which leads to a stronger projection. I focus on my diaphragm in this exercise very carefully to notice any movement or improvement coming from there. The giggling voice exercises I use are ; “Hee Hee Hee, Ho Ho Ho, HaHaHaHa, HorHorHor, HeyHeyHey, High, High, High” these exercises help me work on my breath, every time I do this exercise my breath has improved as I do not get out of breath anymore like I did when I first started this exercise. Releasing my breath in between giggling each sound has became much easier and I now need to use less breath than I did when first began so I really feel this exercise has helped improve my breathing massively.

Bouncing words from my diaphragm: This exercise is similar to the giggling exercise except I am not giggling when doing it I am “bouncing words” which means projecting the words and placing my hands on my diaphragm whilst doing so and it feels as if the words are bouncing out from my diaphragm as it pushes outwards when I do it. The sequence I use to do this exercise is; “Nuh-Nuh, Nuh-Nuh, nuh-NO” “Yuh-Yuh, Yuh-Yuh, Yuh-YOU!”

So it feels like I am stuttering slightly before I say “No or Yes” which allows the words to almost bounce from my diaphragm, this helps my breathing as when I am saying “nuh nuh, yuh yuh” I am preparing my sound and breath in order to project “NO” in a powerful way, it is like preparing my voice to say a certain word and adds a build up for my voice.

Bouncing phrases from the diaphragm: This exercise is almost like a follow on from the last two I have explained and it is more developed as I am using phrases and not just words. The phrases I am using are as follows; “ High- high, High, High, HI” “ How-how, How-How, HOW ARE YOU?” “High, high, high, high, HI I AM FINE THANKS’

This exercise is more advanced using phrases as it requires more breath and more vocal projection. The build up to the phrases prepares my voice and warms it up before I say the phrase. I feel using “High high” before I say HI allows my sound to be much louder as it would be if I just said HI on its own.

I have listed 3 main exerices from Breathing below which have helped me develop my voice and work on my breathing and how often I need to breath in between speaking….

Centring the breath: This exercise requires me to lie in Alexander position, with my hands just above my navel with my full attention to where my hands are. When I feel the need to breath I do so but not consciously, I just imagine the breath flowing in and out of my body as it naturally does. And once the breath has flowed into my body, I let out an easy sigh and the breath will flow out again.

It is quite a simple exercise but I feel it helps me centre my breath and my chest and diaphragm always feel more relaxed and loose after doing this exercise. It definitely allows me to breath more freely and not get out of breath when saying a lot of words at a time.

Another exercise from Breathing I have chosen for my personal development programme is very similar to the centring the breath but it is more focusing on my out breath;

Developing the out breath: I again, lie in alexander position with my hands just below my navel. I then think of my body lengthening and widening and as I do this I blow out my breath from below my navel and imagine in my mind I am reaching down to the second half of my out breath for more air. After I have released my out breath I release my pelvic floor muscles and allow the in breath to flow in.

This exercise is very relaxing for me, and enables me to think about how I breath and notice any weaknesses I have which could be affecting my voice. It makes me feel calm and produces power and control from my out breath which allows me to project my voice much better than if I did not do this exercise. I do this exercise before any performance I have as it is great for relaxation of the mind and body, and also it helps me to create a stronger out breath which will clearly help me project my voice better during a performance.

Using the “H” technique: This exercise I can do standing up or lying in alexander position. I prefer to do this in alexander position with my hands above my navel, similar to the 2 exercises I have described. This exercise helps my “ In Breath” I have deep attention and concentration on the inside of my body and I imagine the letter “H” forming stretching across the centre of my body and its “legs” stretching right down to my buttocks and its “arms” stretching through my rib cage. I will release Out breath and wait for the impulse to breath in, when breath begins to flow in my mind I imagine the “H” being filled with all my breath and it expanding and growing through my body just as the breath does. This image in my mind allows me to create a stronger in breath in order to fill the “H” I imagine within my body. It really does work if I concentrate really hard and make it my job to fill the H as much as I can with breath.

The exercises I have included in my personal development programme all have helped me to enhance my vocal technique and they outline my weaknesses. Examples of exercises which show my weaknesses are; The giggling exercises, when I first started doing them there was not a lot of power or force coming from my diaphragm, but as I have practised the exercise more and more the pulses coming from my diaphragm have became more stronger and evidently my voice has became louder, stronger and clearer.

I have quite a rounded voice and my pitch is quite low so exercises which allow my voice to range more have helped me a lot. For example, the exercise I learned in voice class were we had to stand opposite a class mate and take a deep breath in and project are voices saying “ Yuh, yuh, yuh YOU RESENT THEM!” This allowed my voices pitch to range, as sometimes when I projected my voice it was higher than usual and other times it was lower than usual. I want to be able to have a wider range of pitch in my voice and this exercise has definitely helped me and my pitch is beginning to become more varied.

I feel exercises for Posture I have learned in class have helped the way I project my voice, for example Alexander Technique is a great way to create better posture as it is opening up your muscles and essentially trying to make my spine longer and more developed. Posture is very important for me, I feel I can project my voice very well and this is due to good posture and good breathing techniques I have learned in my voice classes so far.

Personal Vocal development programme

Voice and the Actor 2

Vocal Development programme

Sophia Hinchliff

Since beginning Voice classes I have noticed my own personal strengths and weaknesses and have found particular exercises helpful to my own personal needs.

I feel some of the vocal exercises accentuate my strengths and as well help me to work on my weaknesses.

The exercises I find helpful to me are firstly;

Releasing sound exercise: Half neck rolls

This exercise helps me project my voice better and helps prepare my voice to be clearer and powerful before I speak.

The exercise involves, standing in neutral with feet parallel, dropping my head forward so my chin touches my chest, and then rolling my head over to my right until my right ear is directly above my right shoulder. When in this position I breathe in and out and then roll my head back to the centre. And go on to repeat this on my left side.

Another exercise from Releasing sound I personally enjoy is “Drop and Release” this exercise involves standing in neutral, blowing out my breath and then as the new breath comes in letting my arms float up until they are above my head, and as I breath out I let my arms come down and release my ankle, knee and hip joints so that my whole upper body drops over from my hips and my legs bend. When doing this my arms are swinging gently back and forth and when I run out of breath I gently roll back up and my arms will float above my head again. When doing this exercise I really feel that my whole body feels calm and released, and it helps with my breathing pace and how effective my sound release is. I like to do this exercise with sound added, so when I breath in and release my arms, at the same time I say something from my first performance, for example ‘” We can’t help you’ and then let my arms swing freely below my hips. I can hear how much stronger and powerful my sound is when doing this exercise as it is relaxing my body and building my voice up so it releases loud and clear sound.

The last exercise, which personally helps my vocal development from “Releasing the Sound”, is “Giggle and Sob”

This exercise involves really focusing on the inside of my throat above my collar bone. I release a giggle using the exericses “Hee Hee Hee, Hoo Hoo Hoo” and as I do this I can feel my throat opening up, I count from 1 to 10 giggling and feeling the opening in my throat on each number. I can repeat this exercise with a sobbing noise and repeat the same exercises. At first this exercise feels quite strange and I could not really notice anything in my throat, but after I began to really focus on my breathing and sound I noticed that there was a small opening in my throat after I repeated this exercise a few times. This exercise is very helpful for controlling the pace of your breath and alternating the pitch of sound which comes out from your throat.

The exercises below are the 3 main exercises I feel help me in my personal vocal development; these exercises are from Breath into sound….

Giggling the sounds from my diaphragm: This exercises helps me to open up my throat and be able to have a stronger breath, which leads to a stronger projection. I focus on my diaphragm in this exercise very carefully to notice any movement or improvement coming from there. The giggling voice exercises I use are ; “Hee Hee Hee, Ho Ho Ho, HaHaHaHa, HorHorHor, HeyHeyHey, High, High, High” these exercises help me work on my breath, every time I do this exercise my breath has improved as I do not get out of breath anymore like I did when I first started this exercise. Releasing my breath in between giggling each sound has became much easier and I now need to use less breath than I did when first began so I really feel this exercise has helped improve my breathing massively.

Bouncing words from my diaphragm: This exercise is similar to the giggling exercise except I am not giggling when doing it I am “bouncing words” which means projecting the words and placing my hands on my diaphragm whilst doing so and it feels as if the words are bouncing out from my diaphragm as it pushes outwards when I do it. The sequence I use to do this exercise is; “Nuh-Nuh, Nuh-Nuh, nuh-NO” “Yuh-Yuh, Yuh-Yuh, Yuh-YOU!”

So it feels like I am stuttering slightly before I say “No or Yes” which allows the words to almost bounce from my diaphragm, this helps my breathing as when I am saying “nuh nuh, yuh yuh” I am preparing my sound and breath in order to project “NO” in a powerful way, it is like preparing my voice to say a certain word and adds a build up for my voice.

Bouncing phrases from the diaphragm: This exercise is almost like a follow on from the last two I have explained and it is more developed as I am using phrases and not just words. The phrases I am using are as follows; “ High- high, High, High, HI” “ How-how, How-How, HOW ARE YOU?” “High, high, high, high, HI I AM FINE THANKS’

This exercise is more advanced using phrases as it requires more breath and more vocal projection. The build up to the phrases prepares my voice and warms it up before I say the phrase. I feel using “High high” before I say HI allows my sound to be much louder as it would be if I just said HI on its own.

I have listed 3 main exerices from Breathing below which have helped me develop my voice and work on my breathing and how often I need to breath in between speaking….

Centring the breath: This exercise requires me to lie in Alexander position, with my hands just above my navel with my full attention to where my hands are. When I feel the need to breath I do so but not consciously, I just imagine the breath flowing in and out of my body as it naturally does. And once the breath has flowed into my body, I let out an easy sigh and the breath will flow out again.

It is quite a simple exercise but I feel it helps me centre my breath and my chest and diaphragm always feel more relaxed and loose after doing this exercise. It definitely allows me to breath more freely and not get out of breath when saying a lot of words at a time.

Another exercise from Breathing I have chosen for my personal development programme is very similar to the centring the breath but it is more focusing on my out breath;

Developing the out breath: I again, lie in alexander position with my hands just below my navel. I then think of my body lengthening and widening and as I do this I blow out my breath from below my navel and imagine in my mind I am reaching down to the second half of my out breath for more air. After I have released my out breath I release my pelvic floor muscles and allow the in breath to flow in.

This exercise is very relaxing for me, and enables me to think about how I breath and notice any weaknesses I have which could be affecting my voice. It makes me feel calm and produces power and control from my out breath which allows me to project my voice much better than if I did not do this exercise. I do this exercise before any performance I have as it is great for relaxation of the mind and body, and also it helps me to create a stronger out breath which will clearly help me project my voice better during a performance.

Using the “H” technique: This exercise I can do standing up or lying in alexander position. I prefer to do this in alexander position with my hands above my navel, similar to the 2 exercises I have described. This exercise helps my “ In Breath” I have deep attention and concentration on the inside of my body and I imagine the letter “H” forming stretching across the centre of my body and its “legs” stretching right down to my buttocks and its “arms” stretching through my rib cage. I will release Out breath and wait for the impulse to breath in, when breath begins to flow in my mind I imagine the “H” being filled with all my breath and it expanding and growing through my body just as the breath does. This image in my mind allows me to create a stronger in breath in order to fill the “H” I imagine within my body. It really does work if I concentrate really hard and make it my job to fill the H as much as I can with breath.

The exercises I have included in my personal development programme all have helped me to enhance my vocal technique and they outline my weaknesses. Examples of exercises which show my weaknesses are; The giggling exercises, when I first started doing them there was not a lot of power or force coming from my diaphragm, but as I have practised the exercise more and more the pulses coming from my diaphragm have became more stronger and evidently my voice has became louder, stronger and clearer.

I have quite a rounded voice and my pitch is quite low so exercises which allow my voice to range more have helped me a lot. For example, the exercise I learned in voice class were we had to stand opposite a class mate and take a deep breath in and project are voices saying “ Yuh, yuh, yuh YOU RESENT THEM!” This allowed my voices pitch to range, as sometimes when I projected my voice it was higher than usual and other times it was lower than usual. I want to be able to have a wider range of pitch in my voice and this exercise has definitely helped me and my pitch is beginning to become more varied.

I feel exercises for Posture I have learned in class have helped the way I project my voice, for example Alexander Technique is a great way to create better posture as it is opening up your muscles and essentially trying to make my spine longer and more developed. Posture is very important for me, I feel I can project my voice very well and this is due to good posture and good breathing techniques I have learned in my voice classes so far.

10th October 2013

Why are the exercises you have chosen important for vocal development/ you personally?
The exercises I have chosen in my videos are The diamond point exercise and drop and release.
The diamond point exercise helps me identify where the power comes from in my body, the diamond points are the "pubic bone, below the breast bone, the hips and lower back" these points pulse when you pant which shows how powerful your diaphragm is and where the most power is coming from. I identify that the most power comes from below my breast bone and my lower back, the muscle always feels stronger coming from here than it does in the other diamond points on the pubic bone and hips.
This exercise helps me as I can feel how strong my voice is when I pant, and it helps me identify where I need to improve on.
The drop and release exercise is a really good exercise for me as it helps me to project my voice after inhaling. It sounds quite breathy which is good and my chest and diaphragm opened up when I exhaled and said a line from my performance " we can't help you"
With practice I feel everyone can improve on this exercise you just have to focus on the breathing and not on what you are saying and how well you are breathing.

Describe how you used pitch, pace, pause and inflection, vocal idiosyncrasy/accent in your monologue?
The monologue I performed today was quite slow paced and serious, yet soft. It was not an angry monologue like the one I performed last week. It had quite a soft pitch but it did have "fuck" 3 times, in which I emphasised the word fuck to create more of an effect.
I think my pace was really good as I kept it quite slow throughout and used good pauses, especially after the word "fuck".
My articulation has improved I was pronouncing my T's better at the end of my words.
The feedback I was given by my tutor was to vary my voice range next time and perform a monologue which conveys a posh accent and quite a high pitch. My tutor also said that I disconnected with the words in my monologue and really went for it, which is a good thing as some people find it difficult to loose themselves in a monologue, I find this quite easy to do as when I choose a monologue to read I make sure it is something I can really get into and understand fully. If I don't understand a piece of text then I cannot perform it to my best abilities.
Next week I will pick a monologue which is quite romantic and soft, which also requires quite a posh accent and a higher pitch as  I feel I can definitely range my voice a lot more by varying the styles of the monologues I choose.

Video of the 2 exercises I chose in today's lesson; diamond point and drop and release

3/10

Why are the exercises I have chosen important for vocal development for me personally?
The two exercises I have chosen shown in the videos below are important for my personal vocal development as the "Initiating supported speech from the lower belly" exercise helps me to project my voice and have more power and force in my voice. I feel naturally I have a good projection and quite a rich voice but I am always looking for ways to make my voice even stronger and better pronounced.
I have learned to make sure I always have enough breath in my lower belly as this supplies my diaphragm with great power in enable to project my voice even louder than I can naturally.
Example of this exercise: Stand feet parallel and hip width apart, knees and hips should be loosening and the spine lengthening and shoulders widening to get as much power in your voice as possible. Keep attention on your belly where your hands are and project your voice and pronounce " Yuh x4 YOU resent them!
Yuh x4 YOU resent the time I spent with them!"

The second exercise shown in the videos below is finding the "Diamond Points" in your body. These are located on your hips, your lower back, below the breast bone and below your belly button.
This exercise helps me improve my voice as it allows to feel the little pulse that happens in the diamond points when I speak, if they are quite light and not very powerful this shows me that I need to project my voice more. Especially on my hips and lower back as this is very near to my diaphragm.
Example of this exercise: Stand feet parallel and hip width apart, place your hands just below your breast bone and pant quickly and you should feel a pulsing in the muscles. Do the same with your hands on your hips, the lower back behind the hips and just above your pubic bone.

The feedback I was given when I performed my monologue
I was happy with the feedback I was given and was aware of what it could be, I was told I have;

•  Good projection 
• A strong clear voice
• Powerful emotion
• Great inflection
• Good pause and pace
The things I need to work on are my;


• T's, most of the time I don't pronounce T's at the end of words as well as I could due to my "southern accent"!
• More of a range in my voice, I naturally have a loud voice so I naturally find performing loud, angry and powerful pieces easier. I want to be able to perform soft and sad emotions just as well as I can angry so I am going to perform a softer monologue in the next lesson in order to improve my range ability...

26/09

Why are the breathing exercises you have chosen important for vocal development, or particularly for you?
The exercises I chose were the out breath exercise in Alexander position and the silent pant exercise.
The silent pant exercise is really good for my vocal development as it opens up your throat and diaphragm which will help me to project my voice from my diaphragm and not my chest.
How can you use pitch, pause, pace or inflection to convey a particular emotion?
Pitch, pause, pace and inflection all create the tone of someone's voice.
For different emotions you use different tones, for example if you are angrily screaming you will use more high pitch tones and a faster pace, and if you are conveying a sad emotion, for example grief, you would use more pauses and a slower pace and generally a more monotone way of talking. Pitch, pause, pace and inflection are key in order to convey emotions as they can all be used in different ways. You can generally always tell when a person is angry and happy by the tone and pace of their voice.

Videos of my exercises I chose...

Bodywork Voice

Why are the exercises I videoed important for your local development?
The exercises I chose to video shown below were Neck rolls and Ankle rolls.
Neck rolls help me release any tension I have in my neck and shoulder area which can cause me to feel stiff and achey which does affect my ability to project my voice particularly in singing, as it is all connected and has an impact on my throat and voice box.
Ankle rolls really help me to get rid of any lower leg strain I get from exercising which affects the way I stand and my posture, which does evidently affect my ability to sing as my posture is not as it should be  in order stand up straight and project my voice.
What I personally would like to improve on...
I would really like to improve on my pitch and range when I sing. I feel I am comfortable singing in the pitch I know I am good at, but I really want to move into different pitches and ranges to try and improve and vary my singing abilities.