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| Bollywood stars with their good voice as one of the success factors (Clockwise: Amitabh Bachchan, Amrish Puri, Arjun Rampal and Om Puri) |
Do you recollect the voice quality of successful Bollywood actors like Amitabh Bachchan, Late Amrish Puri, Om Puri or Arjun Rampal?
One of the success factors in their career had been "An excellent voice". However, remember that though they had some quality in their voice, they got trained in the "voice culture" and practiced the recommended steps regularly
Casting director: "What an impressive personality! Great acting techniques! But, unfortunately, the moment he opened his mouth… I’m sorry Kiran, well… he has a weak voice which clouded all his other strong points. The character in the story required a strong voice as well..” And the casting director looked at me with his raised eyebrows!
This happened long back at the beginning of my career as an acting coach. The day taught me a lesson which I don’t think I will ever forget. I now make a point in my training lessons to devote sufficient time to voice development
Voice is God Gifted. Yes, it's true and a fact, but it can be trained. This also is a fact.
- Nobody is a born singer or narrator or voice artist. He/she may have a sweet, melodious voice inherited from birth, but still, his/her voice needs to be trained enough to modulate, varied and able to perform professionally for required time
- Speech is a very powerful tool and it can assist an actor in achieving objectives in a scene or the whole production. Think about some of the great actors of the time like Late Raj Kumar, Late Murad and his son RazaRurad, Nana Patekar, Late Amrish Puri to name few of Indian Actors blessed with a golden voice.
- Today, a Bollywood or a TV serial casting director is an extremely busy and tired guy on a typical audition day where he has to audition hundreds of actors for a character. Obviously, he/she further may get put off with many of the poor performances. Actors can get stuck with emotions and actions, but they forget that our voice is so important. A good voice is one of the dominant factors, plays a significant role in getting yourself registered in a casting director’s mind and may keep you ahead in getting the dream role.
Do you have a thin, shrill, faint, low or muffled voice? Do you mix words or speak too fast?
Here are exercises which will do wonders to your voice.
Like what a singer does every morning called "Riyaaz" (practice) you should do these exercises every morning or evening before dinner.
1. Keep your thumbs on your chin. Open mouth. Stretch your tongue out and massage your tongue with both index fingers making loud sound (3 minutes)
2. Keep your index fingers in front and close to your ears and open and close your mouth, making a loud sound (3 minutes)
3. Make loud funny sounds shaking your head
4. Yawn repeatedly making a sound
3. Make loud funny sounds shaking your head
4. Yawn repeatedly making a sound
4. Yawn repeatedly making a sound
5. Say “HUM” from a lower to a higher pitch. Try 8 different pitches
6. Make "Burr" sound repeatedly at different sound levels
7. You can take "
8. Breathing: Inhale deeply
7. You can take "
8. Breathing: Inhale deeply, then hold the breath and exhale very slowly (10 times). If possible, try to do this lying on a bed before sleep, keeping a book on your belly.
Versatility, range and volume improvement exercises
9. Breathing: Inhale deeply, then hold the breath and exhale very slowly (10 times) making a “hissing” sound. If possible, try to do this lying on a bed before sleep, keeping a book on your belly.
10. Say or sing each
“Sa Re Ga Ma Pa Dha Nee Sa”
“Sa Re Ga Ma Pa Dha Nee Sa”
11. Make Cracky door opening sound. Pitch differently (As in a horror movie where a door in an old castle opens slowly)
12. You should everyday practice at least one full-length script with proper Hindi diction, pronunciation, modulation (as & when). If you do not have the stamina you may lose your voice in a long script. Your voice may be bold, enthusiastic, and fresh in the first quarter of the script and may get tired or becomes low in the end. This is called the stamina of Voice, and it must remain uniform in quality (one) till the end.
13. Watch and listen carefully Hindi news with high volume on TV channels. Speak along with news anchor. Practice at least for 30 minutes, with different anchors.
14. Listen to carefully voice artists (background voices) in different commercial ads on TV. Speak along with them by following their spoken lines, focusing on the quality of voice.
15. Watch and listen carefully Hindi news with high volume on TV channels. Speak along with news anchor. Practice at least for 30 minutes, with different anchors.
15. Listen to carefully voice artists (background voices) in different commercial ads on TV. Speak along with them
Yoga plays a very important role in improving voice quality
16. One Yoga asana which is the most effective is “Ujjayi Pranayama“
Ujjayi Pranayama for voice improvements
It's very simple to practice:
1. Sit in a comfortable position on a mat on a floor, preferably legs crossed
2. Breath in and out in while contracting your throat, which will produce a sort of hissing sound in a rhythmic fashion
3. However, while breathing do not extra strain to contract your throat
4. Continue for 15 minutes
Don’ts
1. Stay away from alcohol and smoking, very cold ice creams, beverages, aerated waters, chocolates or pickles, chilies and anything very sour.
2. If you eat occasionally do try to clear your throat and brush your teeth before sleeping.
3. Gargle your throat with salted warm water. This is a must for an actor
4. Do not shout that make your vocal chords vibrate so harshly that can be damaged.
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