Description
Students practise using a number of techniques for warming up the voice for dramatic performances. The necessity of warming up your voice is discussed with specific details about the vocal chords and how body posture can affect your voice.
Classroom Ideas
Students could be given a line from a play (an insult works well and grabs the students’ imagination). Begin with the humming exercise and ask them to learn their insult (walking around the room saying it, getting comfortable with the words and the sound). Working in pairs, students could (very quietly and gently) begin whispering the insults to each other, until they hear it (discuss the importance of a stage whisper). Student could then differ their body language, taking particular notice of the impact each position has on their voice (for example, the foetal position, sitting, standing, hunched shoulders, tip toes and so on). Each of the pairs could then face each other (standing from different sides of the room) and carry out a breathing exercise with their hands on tummy and diaphragm (ensuring their breath comes from here and not the chest and throat). Encourage them to try to project (not shout) the insult across the room to their partner.
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