Sing-a-long
Do you get hoarse after a long recording session? Does your throat hurt? Have you ever lost your voice?
Voice-over coaches often advise their students to take acting classes. That’s an excellent suggestion, but I can’t tell you how much I have benefited from singing lessons.
VOCAL WORKOUT
Just as every sportsman (or woman) has to train each day to keep those muscles strong and flexible, we as voice-over artists are vocal athletes. We have to do everything we can to keep our voice in great shape. For me, singing is the preferred exercise routine that gets me ready for that marathon recording session.
SACRED SOUNDS
For many years I was a member of a choir specializing in the ancient art of plainchant. Gregorian chant is just about the oldest western classical music known to mankind. The fragile, meandering unison melodic lines of certain songs can seem deceptively simplistic. Most of the vocal techniques I use today date back from my time as a member of this choir. We sounded like this:
Here are just a few things I learned from being in a choir:
* effective warm-ups
* the right posture
* voice projection
* diction
* word coloring
* supportive breathing
* text interpretation
* taking directions
ADDED BONUS
In our profession it’s so easy to become a recording recluse. In the old days, we had to go to a studio to do our work. We’d actually see the people we were working with and really connect. Nowadays, we’re often home alone, locked up in a dark whisper room, glued to our computer screens and we text, twitter and blog till we’re blue in the face. Rumor has it that some of us have even started “talking to the hand”. In this case that hand looks very much like a microphone…
Here’s a suggestion: get out there and join a choir! It’s not only a fun-filled feast for your vocal chords; it’s the perfect excuse to get out of the house. You’ll meet lots of interesting people and you’ll even get a chance to perform in front of an audience. Most of us rarely get a chance to observe how people respond to the fruits of our labor. I’m telling you, it’s a thrill to see audience members magically moved by marvelous music. And it’s an amazing experience to fill a void with the sound of many voices blending together in (hopefully) perfect harmony.
RESOURCES
The National Center for Voice & Speech has a terrific site called “Voice Academy”. Although it’s mainly geared toward teachers, many of the tips apply to voice-over talents as well.
If you love to twist your tongue, I have the ultimate site for you. It has 2790 entries in 109 languages.
And for those of you who are already a member of a vocal group of some sorts, I hope you’ll forgive me that I’ve been preaching to the choir…
Paul Strikwerda © 2009
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