Voice studies focuses on the development of spoken voice in terms of resonance, flexibility, range and expressiveness in communication. Although it is usually taught as a component of acting courses, voice work is highly relevant to all professionals who work with voice, including, yes, teachers.
My love affair with voice work began while doing a Masterclass with Prof. Geraldine Cook, Head of Voice at the University of Melbourne, in 2009. Prof. Cook, who trained with Cicely Berry and Patsi Rodenburg, introduced me to a range of voicework techniques, and the theory in The Right to Speak. This is fascinating book by Rodenburg, an overview of voice, social and cultural conditioning, which identifies different categories of speakers: the devoicer; the waffler; the hesitator (see Chapter 3, The roots of habits).
Rodenburg links voice with power, manipulation, limitations and restrictions imposed on us by society’s stereotypes, peer pressure, gender, geographical and social class expectations. She talks about the ‘habitual’ voice and the ‘natural’ voice, i.e., an unlocked voice, freed by debilitating habits (p.19).
“Voice work is for everybody. We all breathe and the vast majority of us speak. All of us would like to improve the sound of our voice and the way we speak” (Rodenburg, 1992, p.1).
Kristin Linklater is an internationally renowned voice coach, became famous in the 1970s through her training program, known as the Linklater progression. This method, originally developed for training actors, is a progression of exercises that use visualisation, imagery and physical stretches, aimed at helping speakers to free, develop and strengthen spoken voice.
The progression is described in Linklater’s classic, Freeing the Natural Voice (2006). This is a seminal text for everyone working with the voice, including public speakers, radio and TV broadcasters, and teachers, who is interested to improve their vocal resonance.
Linklater differentiates between the ‘natural’ voice and the ‘familiar’ voice, stressing that in order to free one’s natural voice it is necessary to remove the blocks that inhibit the human instrument that is the voice. Freeing the natural voice means “a voice in direct contact with emotional impulse, shaped by the intellect, but not inhibited by it” (1976, p. 1).
For Linklater (1992) voice and emotions are tightly interconnected. She writes: Today’s adult voice is deprived of the nourishment of emotion and free breathing. Society has taught us that it is wrong to express ourselves freely. Conventional child-raising … tells children that it is not nice to shout, that is it ugly and dangerous to get angry, that it is upsetting to others to cry in public and that loud hoots of laugher are disturbing. The adult voice is the product of other people’s voices. […] The adult voice is, in most instances, conditioned to talk about feelings rather than to reveal them (1992, p.5).
Linklater advocates for the need to restore the balance between intellect and emotion – a balance which has been conditioned out of us both by the evolution from an oral culture to a print, and by the mind/body split promoted by western educational strategies (Linklater, 1993 in Berry, Rodenburg and Linklater, p. 51).
Although it is a well-known field within acting circles, training in voice studies is virtually unknown outside the acting industry. In education, much emphasis is placed on learning theories, pedagogical knowledge, behaviour management, assessment and so forth. Yet, the importance of using voice, i.e., the main instrument at the teachers’ disposal, is rarely discussed.
Indeed, voice is related to engagement: when a teacher’s voice is monotonous or disinterested, the students are more likely to become disengaged. Rodenburg frames this issue in terms of ‘lost’ voices, voices which are not engaging: “More and more today we are in danger of losing our voice for the simple reason that we are in danger of losing our connection to oracy […] It turns off a listener’s need to hear. (2001, p. 12-13)
Martin and Darnley (1996) frame teachers as professional voice users, and discuss the need for teachers to get inspired by voice training. They suggest that teachers explore vocal training to enhance their teaching effectiveness in the classroom, and (importantly) to avoiding vocal straining. They present a series of strategies, exercises and case studies.
Alan Maley (2000) worked on taking the legacy of voice studies into the language classroom, creating a practical guide for teachers interested to work with voice. Recent studies have researched the impact of voice work on teachers’ professional development, as well as on the process of learning, in an undergraduate context, with positive results, indicating that exposure to voice work is beneficial to teachers’ confidence and ability to engage in the classroom (Piazzoli & Kennedy, 2018).
Berry, C. Rodenburg, P. & Linklater, K. (1997). Shakespeare, Feminism, and Voice: Responses to Sarah Werner. New Theatre Quarterly, 13(49), pp. 48 – 52.
Berry, C. (1992). The Actor and the Text. London: Virgin Books.
Berry, C. (1992). Voice and The Actor. London: Virgin Books.
Linklater, K. (1976). Freeing the natural voice. New York: Drama Book Publishers.
Linklater, K. (1992). Freeing Shakespeare’s voice. New York: Theatre Communications Group.
Maley, D. (2000) The Language Teacher’s Voice. Oxford: Macmillan Publisher.
Martin, S. & Darnley, L. (1996). The Teaching Voice. London: Whurr Publisher.
Piazzoli, E. & Kennedy, C. (2018). Voice as aesthetic element of language learning: Enhancing learners’ performance through actors’ voice training. In Fleiner, M. (Ed.) The Arts in Language Teaching. International Perspectives: Performative – Aesthetic – Transversal. Berlin: LIT Verlag.
Rodenburg, P. (1992). The Right to Speak: Working with the Voice. London: Methuen Drama.
Rodenburg, P. (2001). The Need for Words: Voice and the Text. London: Methuen Drama.
