The Actor's voice

No singer would sustain a career without continually working on and developing the voice. But there are actors who allow their voice to look after itself as soon as they leave drama school.

Why?

I come across actors, both who come to me privately and at the Actors Centre, some well into their careers and with good experience, who still have insecurities about their voices, and whose vocal range and expressiveness is nowhere near as developed as their work in other respects. Again, why?

Because it is very difficult to keep up the motivation to work on your craft when between jobs. And many actors carry with them bad feelings about voice work. It’s not always easy to see the point of it while you’re at drama school. Some voice teaching is insufficiently related to language and text: it then becomes unreal, even precious – the voice then comes to seem an end in itself, unrelated to the business of acting. Sometimes exaggerated importance is given to “problems” (weak consonants, etc; even non-standard accents can be misconceived as problems!), rather than to creative potential. For one reason or another actors sometimes finish their training with an inadequate foundation of vocal development, knowledge of how the voice works, and means to take themselves forward.

Difficulties about accents can also be long lasting. It can be difficult to be authentic in RP if you feel it conflicts with something of your regional or ethnic self. In the past voice-work has often been too closely identified with the acquisition of RP.

Click for how it’s changing

"From William I had patience, clarity, and a technique that gave me confidence" – Jeanne Marine