Acting on stage - voice projection. Any tips, please?

[MirandaGoshawk]

This is my first time with an Am Dram group, in a panto. We've had the dress rehearsal and it went well, but I was told they couldn't hear me at the back of the hall and that I should shout. I don't have a strong voice and we have five performances. First one is tonight (yikes!). Once I lost my voice after talking with a friend for two hours! Any tips, please?

All they have said is about speaking from your stomach rather than your throat, but I have no idea how to do that.

Just to add - we don't have microphones, and I am getting over a cold so am a bit snuffly.

Urgh!. You don't speak from your stomach, that's physically impossible. You vocal chords create the sounds, you breathe with your lungs and you feel supporting vibrations/in your head and chest.

You need to make sure that you are not constricting your vocal folds. Try and get the feeling of a happy laugh in your throat when you speak. A good way to get the feeling is to breathe silently then laugh silently. Thats what you want to re-create.

You also need to ensure you have good vocal fold closure and that breats isn;t escaping. Try a few eh o's and feel the glottal stop (whilst maintaining the open happy laugh feeling.

Then if you want your voice to carry a bit more try putting a bit of twang in. Try a few nyeh nyeh nyeh (like a happy witch).

Or (the best option of all) try having a few sessions with a good vocal coach. One who deals with speech as well as singing.

Sorry, first performance is tonight so vocal coach not an option short term I see.

Thank you Comeaway… I'll try those today.

Yes, I thought I was projecting OK but was only told yesterday that I'm one of the quietest!

Ensure you Head is tilted slightly up, open your mouth as you speak and imagine your talking to Aunty Mabel in the back room.

Thanks, Lonecat. I've been looking at the front few rows, but I need to be looking up towards the back. Makes sense!

One thing - I have to speak from behind someone at one point. I've been worrying about deafening her but I guess that's just tough!

You need to do a proper vocal warm up. Lots of apps and youtube videos to help you with this. If you have an apple product look up Yvonne Morley's app. You need to keep your throat muscles loose and engage your diaphragm. Keep your hand on your diaphragm and try some short 'huh, huh, huh' sounds while making sure you keep an open throat and are pushing the air from your diaphragm - it's quite an ab workout!

Ooh yes, thank you!

Imagine your voice like a ball or an arrow and try to bounce it across to the back of the hall. I don't know what difference this makes physiologically to how you use your voice, but it really can help the voice carry without straining and shouting.
Look up some online videos on how to project your voice.

My nose and ears are slightly bunged up, but my lines are quite short. will it be OK to breathe through my mouth? Otherwise I'll get light-headed.

Ah yes, the power of the mind. Thank you, millie.

Of course it well. Steaming may help too (as long as its just a cold not an infection)

My singing teacher told me to imagine I was trying to focus the sound onto a specific point at the back of the room. Definitely don't focus on the front few rows.

Getting a bit more technical - it also helps me to try and feel the resonance of my voice somewhere around my nose and forehead. It should definitely not be all in your throat. Try humming in a way that makes your nose positively buzz. If you are doing it right, the sound should stop completely when you pinch your nostrils. That's where you want the volume to come from - basically you are making all the spaces in your skull resonate like a loudspeaker.

I realise you are speaking, not singing, but the principle is the same.

Yes, was laid low for a day about a week ago but I feel fine now otherwise. Being in a group in the winter, loads of sniffles being passed around. Sometimes my nose clears completely.

Lovely. Thank you AChicken.

I bloody love MN.

Actually, the humming has cleared my nose :)

Lol - at least I've helped you breathe if nothing else . Hope it goes really well tonight. It's such a buzz being on stage!

All these comments have been really helpful. I've always fancied doing AmDram but I only volunteered after I saw a neighbour do it and it gave me the confidence to think I could do it too. I like (most of) the group and have really enjoyed the role-playing workshops. But now it's nitty-gritty time - a paying audience! Also I have to do something important with a prop that has gone wrong a few times in rehearsal. But hey ho - it's panto!

The stance thing (above) is a good tip as I can stand like that a lot of the time and I can feel that it will help.

Oh, I meant to say at the beginning of that para - terrified doesn't even begin to cover it. I hope they've got a sick bucket backstage! But I also know there are people singing who say they can't sing, so they are likely as terrified as me.

When people talk about speaking from your stomach, they're talking about the breath.

Most of the time when someone tells you to take a deep breath, you'll inhale and your shoulders will go up toward your ears. Instead, try inhaling and imagining inflating your abdomen.

Then when you speak, engage your core and squeeze the air out with your stomach muscles, imagining your voice coming up and out from deep inside your ribs. Obviously it doesn't ACTUALLY come from there, but the visualisation will help you project from the right places.

If you feel like you're projecting but your director is saying they can't hear you, maybe download a decibel monitor app and stick it on your phone at the other end of your living room. Try a few of the approaches suggested in the thread and watch the results so you know when it's working....

My music teacher at school used to say, "Breathe from the diaphragm".

in the long run a voice coach or singing lessons might be useful.
I give talks/trainings for work, and before microphones were common for rooms with more than 20 seats talking was hard work.
I try to concentrate on slowing down and lowering my voice at the same time as raising the volume. feels totally counterintuitive at first but makes a difference to the umph.

and yes to belly breathing.
volume of the voice comes from volume of the air in your breath.

good luck!

OK, thanks to everyone. I found a good vid on Youtube by someone called Caroline Goyder - but - she says, "We always speak on an in-breath." She's got that wrong, hasn't she? After all, we don't sing on an in-breath... It's called How to Project Your Voice and she says it at 3.53. here: www.bing.com/videos/search?q=youtube+caroline+goyder+projecting+your+voice&view=detail&mid=1D7665208C5B31990F6D1D7665208C5B31990F6D&FORM=VIRE