Review Of Cicely Berry's Voice And The Actor
Review Of Cicely Berry's Voice And The Actor
The book, Voice and the Actor by Cicely Berry explains the importance of vocal training to a professional actor. The actor relies on his or her voice to bring emotion to a character. It is taken for granted that the speaking voice is important to convey precise thoughts and feelings. Cicely Berry says that there are four factors that condition the voice: environment, ear, physical agility, and personality.
Environment plays an important factor to one’s voice. For example, one’s environment can have influence on one’s accent or the way he or she pronounces words. Children learn to first speak unconsciously through sign language and they are influenced by sounds heard around them. However, speaking for a child is an imitative process. So, the way a parent speaks to a child can definitely influence how a child speaks.
Cicely Berry defines the use of the ear as the perception of sound. Some people can hear certain sounds easily and pay more attention to the annunciation of words. You can hear different tones of the voice. For example, personally, I can reach a very high pitch when I start whining. Ear can be tied into environment because the child uses the ear to develop the voice. So, when a child listens to how someone speaks, if the parent usually speaks in a rough tone, then the child is will most likely develop those characteristics.
Physical agility is defined as varying degrees of muscular awareness and freedom. This is due to the environment as well. This might mean the person’s personality. For example, a person who is an introverted person has trouble speaking and cannot easily convey what he or she wishes to say. The author says that if there is a reluctance in speech, that the muscles will be affected making them less firm. So, it seems like any muscle, muscles in the mouth, and throat need to be exercised vocally as well. The author also provides the example of people who think more quickly than they speak. They trip over words and do not convey their message. So, the author says that the actor must learn how to relate the mental intention to the physical action. In class, this is done through...