The Hopkins Creative Language Lab announces a free demonstration class and the initiation of a workshop on acting and storytelling, on March 29th at 3 p.m., in Buenos Aires City.
The acquisition of language was a revolutionary event in the history of mankind: it enabled men and women to share their experiences and to pass them down from generation to generation by means of retelling, chanting songs and poems and—somewhat later on—acting out legends, heroic deeds or dramatic episodes. Greek chorus singers, Middle Ages troubadours and jugglers, and today’s storytellers and actors and, indeed, teachers and all those whose work depends on the spoken word, share in common a profound love for language and the urge to embellish it.
Today’s teachers, lawyers, salesmen, politicians, business people and countless others in all walks of life use the spoken word as a key tool in their everyday dealings. From the moment the first word was uttered it has accompanied men and women in their work and play, in love and in war, in crisis and in celebration. It is therefore essential to develop the art of speaking clearly, with sharp and concise sounds, with conviction, with determination and with know-how.
Nevertheless, countless persons suffer diverse maladies related to the abuse or incorrect use of their organs of speech. The day-to-day rat race, shouting in the classroom, at the soccer stadium, in the midst of traffic jams or even at home or in the office play havoc with our most precious tool of communication. Nerviousness oftens lead to thick raspy sounds which not only throw stumbling blocks onto communication’s path but discourage our listeners; our voices turn into depots for the underlying tension and stress that writhe within us like live wires. As a result communication efforts become contraproductive. Instead of capturing the interest, sympathy or affection of listeners, the tense speaker provokes negative reactions or what we might describe as “the syndrome of relayed tension”.
Trained teachers, public speakers, salespersons, actors, and storytellers capture our attention not only due to the discernible structure of the scripts they read or reproduce; additionally they embellish their deliveries with the timbre of their voices, with rhythm, flow, vivid imagery, change of tempo and denouement. Our attention is captured by the resilience and sonorousness of the speaker’s words, the ease with which he/she reproduces sounds and also by the overriding state of relaxation, the honesty of the speaker’s gestures, the élan that exudes from every pore.
The listener’s imagination is awakened when he/she begins to “see,” “feel,” “associate” and “recreate” the places, characters, conflicts and events described.
Breathing Technique
Good speech is directly related to how we supply air to the vocal foils, the resonators, lips and the tongue. The development of breathing technique therefore provides vast potential vast possibilities for both native speaker and foreign language learner. As frequently as not, language learners sit before a recorder and try to mechanically reproduce the sounds of a native speaker. How often is attention placed on how we supply our vocal system with air to produce the infinite varieties of sound, to express emotion, conviction and excitement? In our view it is essential that teachers and learners develop their breathing capacities through simple and systematic drills so they can then take advantage of the unique opportunity to explore and enhance their vocal expression.
"Suit the action to the word, the word to the action," says Hamlet. Speakers must ask themselves may questions about their art. How can I develop my power of observation? What must I do to avoid getting nervious, gasping for breath when reading or speaking? How can I project my voice with feeling to the last row without strain or emotional stress? What can be done to bring dialogue to life?
The Organs of Speech
The production of sound involves three basic elements: 1) an exciter, or force making the sound production possible. The diaphragm, located at the base of the conical cage, is located in the abdominal area. It is a balloon like muscle capable of regulating the flow of air past the 2) vibrator, or vocal foils which resist the energy and chop it up into notes. The foils or chords open and close rhythmically in accordance to our inhaling and exhaling, cutting the air stream up into minute puffs, which we call notes. The air is then sent against the 3) resonators, which amplify the note. Although there are many different resonators, the most common are the hard palate, the nasal passage and the cranium.Any tension in the body will necessarily alter the quality of the sound produced. In extreme cases, when the tension affects the foils, it may produce irritation of the tissues and, eventually, nodules. It is therefore important to teach speakers to relax the area around the neck and shoulders. Often this stress is caused by chest breathing.
Very frequently we must re-educate the breathing process, lowering it to the rib or abdominal area. Pushing the air into the larynx from the chest not only creates tension: it prevents us from regulating and “aiming” the stream of air. An additional difficulty—especially in the production of English sounds—is failure to allow the jaw to open at the back. The jaw becomes stiff and defiant rather than agile and flexible. Instead of welcoming the sounds being produced our jaws turn us into tenth round boxers.
Speech then is the result of a whole chain of interrelated events. Its beauty, artistry or expressive potential are conditioned by the subtle harmony among the diverse elements involved in the process of sound production. If our breath is faulty, the tone may become weak or of a quality that impedes clarity. Inflamed vocal foils prevent them from vibrating at normal intensities and likewise seriously alter the quality of the words we pronounce. A bad choice of resonators may distort the sound or give it an unexpected dimension. Errors in articulation, in the use of the tongue, lips or soft palate may result in garbled vowels or unclear consonants.
Some Practical Drills
1. Breathe from the core. Try to imagine that the centre of your body is not your heart, but a “core” area just below your umbilical cord. Sit in an erect position on a chair. Drop and dangle your hands to your sides while you inhale and exhale imagining the core. Gradually allow your chin to fall upon your chest. Rest it there pushing all of your air in and out from the abdomen. Raise your arms slowly as you inhale, lower them when you exhale.
2. Allow your body to flop over like a jelly fish, as you exhale. When all of your air is expended, slowly raise your body from the abdomen as you inhale. It is important to lift only with your abdominal muscles. Repeat using one or another vowel sound as you exhale.
3. Place your hands against a wall, while maintaining your feet firmly on the floor, one in front of the other. Push against the wall, trying to do so from your abdomen, as you exhale all of your air. Repeat using one or another vowel sound. Then do the same but without touching the wall. The same drill may be done a companion, using his or her hands as the wall.
4. Lie flat on the floor, trying to touch the small of your back against the floor. Take in air from your abdomen. Push it to your chest, then push it back to your abdomen and expulse it as you raise your neck. Do the same but push out the air in hefty bursts and stops, holding for a few seconds and then exhaling.
5. Place your hands firmly on your lower rips. As you inhale try to feel your ribs pushing against your hands. A similar drill: standing with your feet at shoulder’s distance, allow your whole body to collapse inward as you expulse your air. Then raise your arms, ribs and neck outward as you inhale.
6. Cup your fingers, maintaining your elbows at the height of your shoulders. Pull hard as you inhale. Then turn your hands around and place palm against palm as you exhale. Repeat saying vowels.
7. Yawn and stretch as you inhale and exhale freely. Practice “popping” your ears as you do at high altitudes. In a standing position imagine you are at the bottom of the sea, being pushed to and fro by the waves. Allow you breathing to accompany the waves.
8. Drop and relax your jaw, from the back. It is important that you do so from the back because it is that area which must drop to allow for a greater opening for the air stream. With your jaw dropped and relaxed, throw the air in bursts from your diaphragm against your hard palate.
9. Walk about as if you were floating. Try to involve in relaxed movements all of your limbs, arms, shoulders, knees, ankles, etc. Allow the air to feely accompany these movements, allowing your arms to swing as if without control. Repeat, adding vocalized sounds such as vowels or onomatopoeic expressions.
10. As you stand in place slightly shake your body to the rhythm of your inhaling and exhaling. Do the same but shaking only your shoulders, only your arms or only your torso.
11. Stand with your feet at shoulder’s length. Raise your arms, spreading your fingers and pointing the left fingers at the right fingers, maintaining only a slight distance between them. Bend your knees slightly. Breathe in and out from the core. Pronounce “tho” as you expel the air.
12. Run slowly in place as you inhale and exhale. Try to coordinate your intake and expulsion of air, with each step. Do the same as you count, as you say the vowels or as you hum or sing a song—beating the floor with your feet.
13. As you walk or climb steps time and regulate your breathe to the speed of your steps. Remember breathing can be either a voluntary or an involuntary process. We can speed it up or slow it down. Retain your breath, then expel it in bursts.
14. Clap your hands to any beat or to that made by a group of persons. Inhale and exhale with the beat.
15. Say the vowels silently, making sure to open your mouth as wide as possible in accordance to the position required for each sound. Repeat imagining your whole body to be the sound. Repeat producing the sound. Retain the sound as long as your air permits. Repeat producing a choppy sound by bouncing the sounds against your hard palate, then holding your air for a few seconds before continuing.
16. Stand at one end of a room. Call to someone at the other end bouncing the room, dividing his/her name into sound units and giving them different tone levels as you send them in a flowing arch first against the ceiling and then downward. Do the same with short sentences, phrases or improvised situations. A similar game is to imagine the phone is out of order.
17. Describe everything you did this morning, with as many details as possible and as rapidly and clearly as possible. Do the same running, bending over or speaking to the floor or ceiling.
18. Laugh, cry, stutter or speak with accents or clearly marked diction as you talk about an experience, event you are familiar with, or a passage you have memorized.
19. Take a script of any sort. Whisper it, chant it, sing it, project your voice to the last row. Direct and bounce first your breath, then your voice, against a wall, the ceiling, to one side. Remember to open you mouth as widely as required for each sound. Relax your shoulders. Choose your resonators and bounce your air against them with the firmness required to produce the desired sound.
20. Read or speak the script stressing first the vowel sounds, then the consonants, then both. Go through the text and mark the stress and accent. Try different possibilities rather than mechanically repeating only one.
21. Tell a story or an experience as you perform some common task: brushing your hair, counting the dollar bills in your wallet (!), brushing your teeth, shaving, etc.
