I’m working with a truly magnificent actor at the moment. She’s making steady progress and all of the elements are coming together. Like most of my private students, she records our sessions to use later as a reference. I say:
- Hey, when you are listening back to that, I want you to specifically hear the difference in resonance between that first try and the second one.
I then see it. It’s the cringe - that shrinking down of the neck like a turtle withdrawing into a shell, that grimace, that tightening of the throat. I say:
- Don’t do that! I want you to listen purely for comparison of what those two different shapes achieve.
But it’s too late. The simple mention of listening back to her voice made her want to run from the room, screaming!
What is that?
VOICE LOVE VS. CRINGE
The first question I ask a new student is this:
- What do you love about your voice?
....followed by......
- What would you like to change about your voice?
Every time, I have to prod and poke to get an answer on the first question......while the answers to the second are usually numerous and (9/10 times) ridiculous things they have been told by past directors/acting coaches.
Why do we willingly hate the sound of our own voices?
Our voices reflect who we truly are - they’re like a passport covered in stamps of where we have been, both geographically and emotionally. This makes us vulnerable, it makes us compare them to other voices, it makes us undermine the confidence in the thing that is arguably the most expressive outlet we have.
And when this thing is criticised, we really take it to heart....we start to believe it. My voice is too high, my voice is squeaky, my accent is too strong.....the list could go on and on and on.......
STEPPING BACK FROM THE PRECIPICE OF VOCAL CRINGE:
It’s so important to give your voice some love, and here are some ways you might be able to change your view on the thing that is most reflective of you:
1. Sit down and write a list of 5 things you LOVE about your voice. NOW.
2. If you’re having voice doubts or a director/lecturer is giving you vague voice instruction, book a session with a voice professional - they’ll be able to put it into terms you understand and can act upon.
3. Examine your goals - beware of going for the 'voice beautiful' and steer towards the voice healthy, sustainable, open and flexible.
4. Your accent is part of who you are - don’t force another accent (this used to often be done at drama schools), head for a more open and flexible version of you, and a greater understanding of how your own accent is configured.
5. Find a POSITIVE voice mantra (it might be one of your points from the initial list) and write it down, repeat it, use it when facing someone critical.
6. Warm up your voice & support system daily and give it a fighting chance to be the very best it can be.
7. Examine other performers that have amazingly unique voices that have become their brand: Sean Connery, Bernadette Peters, Joan Rivers, Jane Horrocks, Michael Jackson, Bryan Brown, Fran Drescher, Alan Rickman......
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