Exiting my comfort zone
One of the biggest challenges for me transitioning from opera to voice acting is going to be figuring out and becoming comfortable with conversational, intimate vocal production. Don’t get me wrong, there are conversational sections in opera, especially in the recitatives of Mozart. That said, these are still sung with breath support and resonance to allow your voice to fill a 3000 seat house. Also, there are tons of scenes that require intimate, elegant vocal production. And in recital, you can sing about as soft as you want.
But that’s still different than conversational speaking. So that’s a focal point for me. As someone who has had a TON of schooling, I understand the academic approach. (Fingers crossed I’m not getting too academic…) So I decided to pick up the book freeing the natural voice by Kristin Linklater. It has a pretty rigorous structure (I do well with structure) and I’m looking forward to working my way through the book in the coming months — in addition to my regular voice over practicing.
A big part of all performing is stepping out of your comfort zone. So here we go.
In the section “Preparation for the Work,” Linklater asks the reader to pick up a crayon and draw a picture of “My Voice As It Is Now.” Then, draw another picture called “My Voice As I Would Like It To Be.”
I’m not a confident visual artist. So this is outside my comfort zone. So to symbolize my dedication to this, I’m sharing it here, dammit!!
Fortunately, my beautiful 6 year old daughter decided to join me in the exercise 🥰
But wait! There’s more!
I also was tasked with writing a poem entitled “A Poem To My Voice.”
…I haven’t written a poem since high school…
(Unless you count my cringy, unintentionally emo attempts at song writing)
So, here that is!
A Poem To My Voice
I am proud of you,
my voice,
for the desired resonance
that eschewed the mic.
Together for decades,
we studied and trained
for the joy of filling
the biggest of halls.
And now our journey
turns from the grand to the intimate,
to conversations, to whispers,
to the studio, from the stage.
I think that’s enough outside my comfort zone for today.
