"The rain in Spain stays mainly in the plain." This is what Eliza Doolittle recites several times for Henry Higgins, who is trying to get Eliza to talk 'properly'. These are characters from the musical My Fair Lady, based on George Bernard Shaw's play, Pygmalion. In other words, he was giving her elocution lessons. Historically, this essentially, was what voice training was all about.
In 1882, Gustave Garcia published a book called The Actor's Art, dedicating it to Sir Henry Irving, a famous Victorian actor/manager. The first in his profession to be knighted in 1885 for services to the stage. Gustave Garcia was probably the first professional voice teacher to concentrate on the actor's, as opposed to the singer's, specific needs. Up until then, any voice training was based very much on the techniques used in singing. What we refer to as 'Vocal' coaching, rather than 'Voice' coaching. The book concentrated a lot on having a 'beautiful' voice with good articulation - elocution - accompanied by the appropriate rhetorical style and gesture to match. It was only when The Central School of Speech Training and Dramatic Art was founded in 1906 by Elsie Fogerty, an actress and specialist in speech training, committed to advancing the study of theatre as an academic discipline, did voice training for actors become more prominent. This led to the first speech clinic being founded in London, in Saint Thomas's Hospital. For the first time, voice training was taken seriously as a separate skill. Fogerty was more concerned with the meaning and texture of the spoken word, the nuances, with speaking becoming more personal, rather than speaking with rhetorical style and gesture. In other words, actors were moving away from declaiming speech, and moving towards a more natural way of speaking. Although it was still the well spoken, middle-class accent that prevailed. Gwynneth Thurburn continued the work of Elsie Fogerty, developing the principle of a more 'natural' voice, with J Clifford Turner taking these principles further. Voice classes generally then, into the 1930's, were more concerned with correcting the accent, diction, elocution and voice production.
In 1935, Michel Saint-Denis, nephew of Jacques Copeau, greatly influenced by the Moscow Art Theatre, set up the London Theatre Studio. With a view to producing actors who were expressive, imaginative, and who had the physical and vocal capacity to use their voices to tackle a wide range of modern and classical texts, rather than the follow the pattern of actor and voice training that had been prevalent thus far. This was a completely different approach to actor and voice training, and one that enabled actors to explore the voice through the body. The Second World War meant that the LTS had to cease its training of actors. However, after the war, Saint-Denis, along with Glen Byam Shaw, an English actor and director, and George Devine, a theatre manager, continued the work that the LTS started, with Saint-Denis becoming the General Director of The Old Vic Theatre Centre, housing both the Old Vic Theatre School and the Young Vic Company. Because it was subsidised, they were able to take less students, coming from a much wider range of backgrounds. This meant that actor training was no longer the preserve of the middle classes. Saint-Denis was able to develop further the teaching of 'voice-speech language', developing physical and vocal imagination.
Essentially, Saint-Denis laid the foundations for a more comprehensive and integrative form of training - one that put voice connecting through the body at its heart. There was a distinct shift away from the old style elocution voice training, with actors integrating their voices with their bodies in a more realistic way.
This is what we Voice Coaches continue to do. There are many different ways to teach or coach 'Voice', many different techniques, but essentially, the body, breath and voice ,work in tandem. We all work to the same goal. That is, to help people get the best from their voices, by encouraging the breath, body, voice connection. We help people to discover what their voices are capable of achieving, in the safest way. Every voice is unique. Every voice has it's own story to tell. We help people to tell their stories, whether it be on a stage, in a presentation, giving a speech at a wedding, in front of a mic, or just in a conversation. Oh, and we can even change their accents. But that's a whole new blog...
In 1882, Gustave Garcia published a book called The Actor's Art, dedicating it to Sir Henry Irving, a famous Victorian actor/manager. The first in his profession to be knighted in 1885 for services to the stage. Gustave Garcia was probably the first professional voice teacher to concentrate on the actor's, as opposed to the singer's, specific needs. Up until then, any voice training was based very much on the techniques used in singing. What we refer to as 'Vocal' coaching, rather than 'Voice' coaching. The book concentrated a lot on having a 'beautiful' voice with good articulation - elocution - accompanied by the appropriate rhetorical style and gesture to match. It was only when The Central School of Speech Training and Dramatic Art was founded in 1906 by Elsie Fogerty, an actress and specialist in speech training, committed to advancing the study of theatre as an academic discipline, did voice training for actors become more prominent. This led to the first speech clinic being founded in London, in Saint Thomas's Hospital. For the first time, voice training was taken seriously as a separate skill. Fogerty was more concerned with the meaning and texture of the spoken word, the nuances, with speaking becoming more personal, rather than speaking with rhetorical style and gesture. In other words, actors were moving away from declaiming speech, and moving towards a more natural way of speaking. Although it was still the well spoken, middle-class accent that prevailed. Gwynneth Thurburn continued the work of Elsie Fogerty, developing the principle of a more 'natural' voice, with J Clifford Turner taking these principles further. Voice classes generally then, into the 1930's, were more concerned with correcting the accent, diction, elocution and voice production.
In 1935, Michel Saint-Denis, nephew of Jacques Copeau, greatly influenced by the Moscow Art Theatre, set up the London Theatre Studio. With a view to producing actors who were expressive, imaginative, and who had the physical and vocal capacity to use their voices to tackle a wide range of modern and classical texts, rather than the follow the pattern of actor and voice training that had been prevalent thus far. This was a completely different approach to actor and voice training, and one that enabled actors to explore the voice through the body. The Second World War meant that the LTS had to cease its training of actors. However, after the war, Saint-Denis, along with Glen Byam Shaw, an English actor and director, and George Devine, a theatre manager, continued the work that the LTS started, with Saint-Denis becoming the General Director of The Old Vic Theatre Centre, housing both the Old Vic Theatre School and the Young Vic Company. Because it was subsidised, they were able to take less students, coming from a much wider range of backgrounds. This meant that actor training was no longer the preserve of the middle classes. Saint-Denis was able to develop further the teaching of 'voice-speech language', developing physical and vocal imagination.
Essentially, Saint-Denis laid the foundations for a more comprehensive and integrative form of training - one that put voice connecting through the body at its heart. There was a distinct shift away from the old style elocution voice training, with actors integrating their voices with their bodies in a more realistic way.
This is what we Voice Coaches continue to do. There are many different ways to teach or coach 'Voice', many different techniques, but essentially, the body, breath and voice ,work in tandem. We all work to the same goal. That is, to help people get the best from their voices, by encouraging the breath, body, voice connection. We help people to discover what their voices are capable of achieving, in the safest way. Every voice is unique. Every voice has it's own story to tell. We help people to tell their stories, whether it be on a stage, in a presentation, giving a speech at a wedding, in front of a mic, or just in a conversation. Oh, and we can even change their accents. But that's a whole new blog...
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