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Vocal Process Reports...
A Perfect Summer
Voice Spa:
Vocal Process Core Training
These two Voice
Styles Intensive courses were created specially for the Rimon
Academy of Jazz and Contemporary Music using information from our
foundation course, Core Training.
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Each two-day course
introduced the moveable structures of the vocal tract and
explored several basic vocal sets. All the participants had
the chance to experiment within the group, and either
performed or observed the Masterclasses that
followed each days teaching. |
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Professor Rena Cook |
Picture this: a
sunny summer day in the Thames Valley village of Hitchen, an
expansive lawn beside a sprawling country manor. Add to this idyllic
scene the words “retraction,” “vocal fold plane” and “thyroid tilt”
wafting through the air. An odd combination you say? Not to this
theatre voice trainer.What was called a voice intensive was more
like a Voice Spa!
Let me clarify – I
am an American in love with all things British and I am a voice nerd
(translated: one who never tires of talking, contemplating, and
learning about the human voice). The Vocal Process
Core Training provided an opportunity
to feed both these passions.
Lead
by Vocal Process founders Gillyanne
Kayes and Jeremy Fisher,
this three-day intensive provided an in-depth look at the
foundational tenets of a voice training technique that continues
to be a corner stone of my teaching practice. Based on sound
science, research, and accurate anatomy, Vocal Process looks
at vocal production, dissects its functions into teachable
skills and reorganizes it again into a voice that is greater
than the sum of its parts.
Before I share the
details of this rich and varied experience, let me clarify what led
me to this work. While I was attending the Central School of Speech
and Drama, Gillyanne did a one off workshop that left me hungry for
more Vocal Process. I took some private lessons from her and began
to see that her approach would be extremely beneficial to actor
training. I have endeavored to incorporate many of the exercises, or
figures, into my work with students and young actors. I have used
her book 'Singing and the Actor' as a
text in several courses I have taught. But it was not until I did
the Core Training with Gillyanne and Jeremy that I had a deep enough
handle on the information and techniques to assimilate the work into
the heart of my teaching.
The location for the
Core Training was the pastoral environment of the Benslow Music Trust in Hitchen.
Accommodations on site, tasty meals, hot tea with cakes and fruit
all provided an ideal backdrop for concentrated study. The energized
group of thirty participants came together from diverse backgrounds,
including young performers, barbershop singers, choral conductors,
and experienced voice trainers, with two of us making the journey
from the US. This cross section of interests and range of experience
is a testament to the wide application of Vocal Process.
A further tribute to
Gillyanne and Jeremy, the course was professionally organized and
presented, each hour carefully planned to enhance information,
practical application, complete with tea breaks for reflection. In a
clear effort to teach to diverse learning modalities, Jeremy shared
a design for a paper model of the larynx, which each of us built and
referred to throughout the sessions. The handouts and overheads were
concise and supported the presented information. Jeremy’s
computerized sound analysis demonstration was excellent, even for
the few of us who are hopeless techno-phobes.
The facilitators,
Gill Main, Mathew Reeve, and
Julie McLean provided
knowledgeable and comfortable support. Each brought an individuality
to the process that kept energy circulating during the small group
sessions.
The highlights of
the material included an in-depth look at how the voice works; a
clear explanation and demonstration of the moving parts of the voice
and how they alter sound qualities; and four vocal set ups which
lead to direct and immediate control of quality as it relates to
style. Each day concluded with a master class, led by Gillyanne and
Jeremy with Jeremy at the piano. The facilitators shared insight
when appropriate. The techniques presented in all the sessions were
accessible, immediately tangible and offered a deeper understanding
of solid, healthy vocal technique both for singing and for speaking.
Which leads me to
the core of my thoughts about Vocal Process, I find this approach
thoroughly compatible with and supportive of mainstream vocal
training techniques. It provides a missing link in some training
models. On a daily basis I find the work with nasal port, retraction
of the false folds, the concept of twang as a useful tool in
projection, easy glottal onset, and monitoring effort levels to be
not only helpful but also crucial. When taught in conjunction with
Linklater and/or Rodenburg based approaches, Vocal Process creates a
total training method for the actor or professional voice user.
How many people can
actually say “I spent my summer vacation at a Voice Spa?” For this
voice nerd, anglophile and dedicated voice trainer, I could not have
fashioned a more rejuvenating way to spend a holiday.
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