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HANDOUT - Voice Training: Stanislavski On Voice Work

Stanislavski believed that actors must have excellent diction, pronunciation, and feel for each syllable and letter in order to fully express subtleties of emotion on stage. Voice training is included in many actor programs but is not always fully integrated into performances, so actors' vocal instruments may be insufficiently developed. Effective theatre involves honestly exploring what it means to be human and how people interact, rather than pretending or hiding behind performances.

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278 views1 page

HANDOUT - Voice Training: Stanislavski On Voice Work

Stanislavski believed that actors must have excellent diction, pronunciation, and feel for each syllable and letter in order to fully express subtleties of emotion on stage. Voice training is included in many actor programs but is not always fully integrated into performances, so actors' vocal instruments may be insufficiently developed. Effective theatre involves honestly exploring what it means to be human and how people interact, rather than pretending or hiding behind performances.

Uploaded by

api-364338283
Copyright
© © All Rights Reserved
We take content rights seriously. If you suspect this is your content, claim it here.
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Download as PDF, TXT or read online on Scribd
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HANDOUT – Voice Training

Stanislavski on Voice Work


“After many years of acting and directing experience I arrived at the full
realisation…that every actor must be in possession of excellent diction and
pronunciation, that he must feel not only the phrases and words but also each
syllable and each letter.

Words and the way they are spoken show up much more on the stage than in
ordinary life… An actor should know his own tongue in every particular. Of
what use will all the subtleties of emotion be if they are expressed in poor
speech? Re: David Tennant as Doctor Who is a Scot and yet speaks in the
character with no trace of an accent, but his natural voice is with accent.”

Voice Training for Actors


Certain methods are identified with certain teachers and many actor-training
programs around the world involve some form of Method training
(Stanislavsky/ Strasberg/ Adler/ Hagen/ Meisner) in which the actor works
from the inside out, identifying with a character’s emotional life and using
creative imagination to give the character a lifelike quality. Sometimes this
type of training been carried to extremes, emphasising inner life at the
expense of total development of words and language.

Actor-training programs do include voice classes, but often the work is not
fully integrated into the actor’s performance. As a result, many actors think
that a few relaxation techniques, some sense memory, and rehearsals are
good enough to yield good acting but if the actor’s total physical and vocal
instrument is insufficiently developed or flawed, all performance, no matter
how large or small will not reach or engage an audience.

Quote
“The best theatre is about trying to find and tell the truth. It’s not about
covering up. It’s not about playing games, it’s not about hiding. It’s not about
pretending you’re something you’re not. It’s trying to find out what it is to be a
human being and why we behave towards each other as we do.”

Glenda Jackson (from the biography by Chris Bryant).

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