Voice Studies 1

This subject has the following teaching availabilities in 2011:

120 hours per year. Students are expected to undertake a minimum of 60 hours of self-directed, individual practice.

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Voice Studies is designed to explore the world of voice production and its application specific to the Music Theatre genre. Particular focus will be on the physiological understanding of the human voice as an infinitely variable, expressive instrument and the relevance and practice of this within the confines of past, present and future-driven music theatre voice usage. Throughout this subject, the phenomenon of individual voice difference will be taken into account and students will be encouraged to explore and value these differences in themselves and others. An ongoing focus of this subject will be the study of the inextricable link between technical voice study and artistic expression, taking into account ‘the actor’ as the germinal cell in all dramatic human voice production.

Voice training in this course will comprise separate classes for sung and for spoken voice.

The contact hours will be divided between small and large ensembles and individual lessons.

Upon completion of this subject students should be able to:

Singing Voice

• understand the fundamental physiological foundations of different components of human vocal sound;
• apply the aforementioned physiological information directly to their own voice production;
• understand the vocal technical requirements of a specific range of music theatre voice sounds;
• appreciate the richness of human vocal sound and demonstrate a developing understanding and practice of its artistic application;
• demonstrate a fundamental understanding of the need for a rich and varied array of Music Theatre vocal sounds;
• demonstrate an emerging and practical understanding of the relationship between 'the actor' and 'the singer' as a fundation for holistic Music Theatre voice use.

Spoken Voice

• demonstrate a developing understanding of voice production from a physically released body;
• demonstrate an ability to speak on full breath support with strong, secure tone;
• demonstrate the development of flexibility in range;
• demonstrate the development of clear articulation;
• interpret selected texts with appropriate vocal energy ie appropriate to the material, and/or the venue, and/or the style of performance;
• devise and practise an individual voice and speech rountine on a regular basis.

Continuous: preparation and participation in classes, demonstrating continuous application (60%)

Formal: based on performance of two set tasks, one at the end of each semester (25%)

Written: self-assessment of progress based on a journal of classroom experiences, self-directed study and progress towards personal artistic objectives (a journal of 350 words, to be submitted at the end of each semester) and written tasks/s (in total 1,000 words) to be submitted at the end of the second semester (15%)

This subject is not available as a breadth subject.

At the completion of the subject students should be able to:

• demonstrate an appropraite level of skill in the three major skill areas of singing, acting and dance, both individually and in combination;
• recognise their uniqueness as a performer and maintain that integrity whilst developing diversity;
• practise their craft with autonomy, confidence, self-awareness and self-motivation;
• synthesise the knowledge and skills necessary to adapt to the various requirements of genre and style in diverse range of Muisc Theatre practice.