Describe how you are going to use pitch, pause, pace, inflection and vocal idiosyncrasy/accent in your performance of text.

The monologue I'm reading is about someone who's meant to be hard-core but has got a terror about being reincarnated in a fish, because she can't swim.
I think to improve I need to slow down and stop being afraid of pauses and breath while I'm performing.
I also need to work on my accent, because the character is meant to be really, really common because she comes from a rough background, so I think I need to talk a lot more common for that monologue.
I also need to talk slightly deeper for the character.

Chorus Speech;

In today's lesson we were being assessed on a chorus speech.
We were put into groups of four and we had to choose a song, poem or a short speech to read out to the class.
I was put with; Greta, Jade and Jenny.
The song we chose to read out to the class was "Barbie Girl".
The reason why we decided to use this is because we had to put on a high, flawless voice because we were being... Barbie.

Whilst performing it to the class, we took it in turns to say a line from the second verse.
In the first verse we all took it in turns to say "I'm a Barbie Girl" and then when we all did that we then said simultaneously "We're all Barbie Girls and we live in a Barbie World".. and for the rest of that verse we spoke at the same time so that our voices became one.
As it got to the second verse we then took it in turn to say a line, apart from certain bits like "uh, uh, uh, yeah!!" which sount better when we all did it together.

1. Why are the breathing exercises you have chosen important for vocal development or particularly for you?

One of the breathing exercises I have chosen was the one where you go; "Hoo Hoo- Hah Hah- Hor Hor- Hah Hah- High High- Hey Hey- Hee Hee"
I think this is a good way to develop your vocal skills, because you have to make sure you pronounce each word clearly as they could sound the same if you don't use you mouth properly.
I also think this is particularly good for me as I can be lazy when it comes to moving my mouth, so by doing this it's making me move my mouth to pronounce the vowels properly.
When we did this exercise, it pushes your diaphragm out just bellow your bellybutton.

The other breathing exercise I decided to do was the Alexander Position.
Personally, I find the Alexander technique really good to use, because it relaxes your whole body and gets rid of any unnecessary tension in your body.
It's helpful because I usually have quite a lot of tension in my shoulders and neck and that can stop me from using my voice to the best of my ability.


2. How can you use pitch, pause, pace and inflection to convey a particular emotion?

Well, when you're angry you tend to pick up the pace quicker and you usually use less pause and you emphasize certain words.
While when you're sad, most people lower the tone of their voice, they could use inflection but it's not that common, it depends what they're sad about. When you're sad you also use a lot more pauses in sentences, and slower down the pace.

You can use all of these different techniques to convey the way someone is feeling.




  

1. What feedback was your given when you performed the text?

The feedback I got was;
- Stop moving back and forth,
- I have a lisp,
- Good projection,
- Slow down when I speak,
- Next time read a completely different monologue so I can change the tone I speak in,
- Use more pause,
- Good monologue choice.

1) Why are the exercises you chose important for your vocal development?

The first exercise we did was the shoulder role. This is important as in opens up the diaphragm and releases any tension you may have there. It is important for when you are talking on stage as we'll be able to speak louder and clearer because we'll feel more relaxed and your diaphragm will be open.
The other exercise we did was the neck role. This is important because it gets rid of any tension in the neck, and it allows us to stand taller which would help us project our voices on stage.

2) What's one thing I would really like to change about my voice?

One thing I'm desperate to change about my voice is my incredibly irritating lisp!
For this I will have to mainly focus on vocal idiosyncrasies.