As a vocal/text coach one of the first things I do is go through the text with the actor and help them figure out where to breathe. This work begins after the actor has studied the script, has made some character choices, and knows what the director wants from the scene. The breaths help to clarify the texts and make each moment specific.
Key words (also called operative words) need a supported voice in order to be understood and used effectively. This support is needed for film and television as well as for the stage. I was asked by someone why an actor needs vocal support for film and television when the microphone is right above them or next to their mouths.
When you listen to the actors, the ones with the most resonant voices and with the ability to use the range of their voices to clarify the ideas are the ones we want to listen to. The microphone enhances the voice so that everything (good and bad) can be heard.
Vocal/Text Coaching
Vocal/text coaching is useful for commercial copy, voice overs, and audio books as well as for stage and film scripts. Sometimes commercial copy is as tricky and complicated as a text from a play which uses heightened language.
I remember one time when one of the students from my Voice and Speech for Actors class had a commercial audition, she said she went through the text and realized there weren’t any verbs in the text and it did not make sense!! The other actors were wandering around the hallway complaining that nothing made sense.
She took the tools she had learned in class and went through the copy and figured out where to breathe, lifted out some key words, found the spine of the thoughts and put in parentheticals to clarify what she was saying. When she finished the audition the director said “You’re the only person we’ve seen today who made the copy make sense”! And I’m happy to say she got the job.
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