22/5
voice lessons




This Tuesday during voice lessons, Michael taught us how to anchor and ground ourselves properly and also how to ensure that we are always grounded and projecting our voices. This is to prevent under voice-ing.

to do this, there are certain steps to follow.
1. Yawn- the opening of your jaw movement helps to activate some muscle in your throat and thus allowing your voice to sound better and supported.
2. Lift your facial muscles (raise your cheeks)- this not only helps in projecting your voice but also helps to make the face look more animated.
3. Flare your nostrils- this sort of helps to open all the cavities so as to let out sound better.
4. Always remember to breath air out first then take in a deep breath; all the way down using your diaphragm.

This will help in projecting a solid and firm as well as stable voice. It is a lot of things to think about especially during a performance when all you would be worrying about are things like your nerves and remembering all your lines! But i think that if we keep practicing these few steps everyday (and i mean during our daily speech, haha) it will and can come to us naturally.

He also explained to us how the throat and voice worked, the mechanisms of it all. It was very interesting to find out that so much goes into us talking, its almost like a machine or even a miraculous wonder; that it is a real wonder why anyone would want us to keep quiet in the first place (:

latissimus dorsi

The latissimus dorsi is the large, flat, dorso-lateral muscle on the trunk, posterior to the arm, and partly covered by the spinotrapezius on its median dorsal region.

The latissimus dorsi is a triangular, flat muscle, which covers the lumbar region and the lower half of the thoracic region, and is gradually contracted into a narrow fasciculus at its insertion into the humerus.


The latissimus dorsi is responsible for extension, adduction, transverse extension, and internal rotation of the shoulder joint. It also has a synergistic role in extension and lateral flexion of the lumbar spine.

there are some pretty cool pictures which can be found on http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Latissimus_dorsi_muscle

Quadratus lumborum

The Quadratus lumborum is irregularly quadrilateral in shape, and broader below than above.


In front of the Quadratus lumborum are the colon, the kidney, the Psoas major and minor, and the diaphragm; between the fascia and the muscle are the twelfth thoracic, ilioinguinal, and iliohypogastric nerves.

Actions
The quadratus lumborum can perform three actions:

Lateral flexion of vertebral column, with ipsilateral contraction
Extension of lumbar vertebral column, with bilateral contraction
Fixes ribs for forced expiration

pics at http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Quadratus_lumborum_muscle

Italian comedy!

I really enjoyed the performance put up by the two italian comedians. it was different from all the other performances involving masks that i had watched, it was interesting and fresh, and of course funny!

I always thought putting up a performance involving masks would be about the easiest, because then you wouldnt need to put in so much effort in perfecting your facial expressions. you would be hiding behind a mask! oh but was i ever so wrong!

Its about isolating our different body parts to bring out a story and then to tell that story with JUST OUR EYES- the only facial feature apart from the mouth visible to the audience when wearing a mask. it is indeed a challenge!

Of all the many characters introduced during the performance,i liked the crazy frustrated slave who by the way was just too tired of everyone stepping over her and making her do everything for them the most! she was so funny, even when she was speaking italian!(mind you, i do not speak italian!)

Overall it was a great experience and an especially great start to our very first dep lesson! it really did brighten up the gloomy and tiring afternoon.

samw