Voice, Breath & Projection

Breathing is more than just the inhale and the exhale. This is especially true for actors. As a beginning actor, the relationship between you and your breath might be exactly the same as in...

The following exercise gives students the opportunity to explore different ways of approaching and performing a two-person scene, using two different levels of volume: only whispering and shouting....

Hearing is a passive, physical act of using the ears to perceive sounds. You can hear without understanding or acknowledging the sounds. Listening, conversely, is an active, internal behaviour,...

The exercises listed below can be adapted to distance and online learning opportunities. Students work individually (rather than with partners or in groups). Group work and discussions can be...

Acting is supposed to be real, right? We talk with our students about bringing honesty and realness to the stage when they are performing. With that in mind, however, how often have you heard...

In our recent post 3 Tips for Keeping Your Voice Healthy, we discussed three ways for students to focus on vocal health and vocal hygiene, working from the inside out (focusing on good health and...

Isn’t it funny how some students are loud and enthusiastic during break time, but once they’re onstage, their voices seem to disappear? No, you haven’t lost your hearing – it’s one of the many...

Student actors often find it challenging to create a character with a unique-sounding voice – that is, to make their character not sound just like they do themselves. Whether students are trying to...

Vocal health and hygiene are crucial for drama students. Whether students are working on monologues, group scenes, or musical numbers, having a healthy voice is a must. It’s important for drama...

Episode 160: Student Voices: Competition The topic this week is competition. Lindsay interviews four groups of students who competed with scenes at the Florida State Thespian Festival. How does...

Ontario teachers Claire Broome, Colin Oliver, and Carmelina Martin put together this awesome exercise that gets students to create their own vocal workout. Thank you so much for letting us share it...

When you’re rehearsing a musical close to performance week, the last thing you want to hear is that one of your students can’t sing. Promoting vocal health in young singers is crucial. Here’s how...

The Vowel Tree Exercise enables us to practice making sounds with our voice and exploring the entire vocal range from low to high. It allows us to be vocally impulsive in a non-judgemental way....

The actor’s job is to tell the story of the play to the audience. Proper enunciation is essential for the audience to have any idea of what the actor is saying or singing during a production....

Tongue twisters are a fantastic tool to use in drama classes and rehearsals. They help students to warm up their voices, improve diction and enunciation, and get their brains moving! But repeating...

Directors and teachers, we’ve all been there: You’ve cast a wonderful young actor in a role that is fantastic and challenging for them. You get into the rehearsal room and all of a sudden, it’s...

Breath control is so important for performers, whether they’re in rehearsal, onstage, or somewhere in between. Breath control affects the range, volume, and speed of both speaking and singing....

Breath Control and Projection are critical skills for an actor, but they’re just as critical for drama teachers. The trick is to speak loudly and project without yelling. We often tell our students...