1. Sound & Voice
Year 7 Drama

2. Learning Intentions
Know: How to use your voice as a tool for expression.
Do: Refine use of voice to portray characters, mood and atmosphere.
Be: Be clear and concise, project voice and use a range of vocal tools.

3. Our voice is the single most important way we have of explaining our thoughts and feelings.
It is the outward expression of our inner self, the way people learn about us and get to know us.

4. Why is voice and sound used in Drama?
An Actor’s tool is their voice.
Your voice can be used to express different feelings, emotions and thoughts of your character.
The use of sounds are often used in drama to convey different things. Think about how voices are used in ads, voice overs, TV, film and theatre.

5. The sound of your voice.
Pitch: Highness and lowness of the voice Volume: Strength, force or intensity with which the sound is made. Pauses: Groups of words are separated by pauses of varying lengths. Rate: The speed at which words are spoken. Emphasis: The way the actor stresses particular words more than others. Inflection: Whether the voice rises or drops at the end of sentences and phrases. Clarity: Speaking clearly, pronouncing our ‘t’s’ and our ‘h’s’. Projection: The strength of speaking or singing whereby the voice is used loudly and clearly.

6. People use a mixture of these vocal techniques when they speak and it is the way they do this that can give us clues about them.
Age-younger voices tend to be high pitched and our voices deepen as we get older.
Gender-male voices are deeper and more resonant, female voices are lighter and higher in pitch.
Personal background-whether a person uses correct grammar, drops the endings off words or has a particular kind of accent all help to build a picture about his or her life or background.
Emotions and feelings- speaking very quickly and in a high pitched voice shows excitement or nervousness. A loud or sharp tone suggests anger.
Status-if the speaker pronounces words very carefully and uses a confident clear tone of voice, we often believe that they have an important position of authority such as a doctor, teacher, manager etc

7. The voice is like a musical instrument that we must learn to play appropriately and effectively in order to express ourselves. This means that effective voice is one of the fundamental skills of drama.