The Responsive Voice: A dialogic approach to actor voice training

This course will apply key insights from research on natural conversation to voice and dialect coaching for actors. Current actor voice training approaches the voice as the product of an individual speaker. The voice is seen as expressing inner truths and emotions, and there is a strong focus on learning lines and soliloquies. However, some voice coaches have called for ‘a genuine, dynamic, and spontaneous responsiveness as opposed to learning how to say lines without really listening or reacting to others’ (Gutekunst & Gillett 2014:4). This aligns with findings from research on natural talk. Here, it has been shown that the voice is a tool for dialogue rather than only for monologue.

The course will start by introducing the dialogic functions of the voice as it is used in real-life conversation. In natural talk, speakers vocally align with each other, for example, by mirroring each other’s pitch or speech tempo. Here, the voice - or ‘prosody’ -  manages interaction with other people rather than revealing an emotional state. Aligning with others frequently leads to prosody that is different from prosody produced in isolation. These insights have not yet been applied to actor voice training, where they have the potential to transform dialogue coaching.

The course will give an overview of how recent voice training approaches teach voice/ prosody and will outline areas where the prosody of acting may differ from that of natural conversation. We will propose ways in which the prosody of natural talk can be meaningfully applied to the work of actors, acting students, and voice coaches, with many examples and exercises that students can take part in if they would like to.

🏷️ Price £30 (UK VAT inclusive)
🎥 Recording automatically sent to all who book (even if you cannot attend live)
▶️ Rewatch as many times as you like
📜 Certificate of attendance available