Back to Basics Lesson 5 – Vocal expression

Lesson Objectives  By the end of the lesson pupils will have:  Recapped the meaning of vocal expressions  Developed their use of vocal expression  Used their understanding to realise (bring to life) a short text extract  What grades are we aiming to work between in year 9?

What is Vocal Expression? Vocal expression is how you say lines; the emphasis that you place on them and the volume with which you speak Your voice is an extremely important tool in helping to build clear characterisations and showing the audience how you feel Vocal expression is not about what you say but HOW you say it

Task 1  Controlling your volume  In pairs labelled A and B you are going to become a human volume control! A will be using their voice to move between an extremely quiet speaking voice and a loud shout! As B moves closer to A you become quieter until you’re so close you can whisper but as B moves away from you, you have to begin to project your voice in order for them to hear you  Let me show you…  Swap over  How did you get on?

Task 2 Into new pairs! This time you are going to have a conversation at a normal volume but only using a range of fruits or vegtables. Scenario 1 - you are 2 old school friends who bump into each other in the street. You really liked each other at school Scenario 2 – again two school mates have bumped into each other in the street A really disliked B but B thought that they were really good friends Scenario 3 – A and B are family members and A has been waiting around for an hour for B to turn up

Task 3  Karawane  This a non-sense text. Because there are only non- sense words you will need to rely on your vocal expression and vocal projection to get the meaning of the text across. The meaning of the text is open to interpretation.  Have a chat to the person next to you – what could it be about?  In groups of 3-4 you need to come up with a presentation of the text. This means not only do you need to use your voices to show the audience what the text is about but also movement  We’ll be watching these soon, so make them good!

Plenary What is vocal expressions? How is it useful to an actor? What has been challenging about the work today?