“Let Me Play the Lion, Too”
Last summer I did a film in which I had to deliver speeches to crowds. And every time after filming, I nearly lost my voice, which caused me no end of embarrassment. How can a professional actor not know how to support his voice for two days? It was another reminder that I had gotten off-track in nearly every aspect of my life.
Granted, I work in film and television, where you can whisper your way through any performance, and I’m rarely called upon to make the guy at the end of the block hear me, but still… fundamentals are fundamentals, and I felt a fool. So, months later, I have taken it upon myself to study voice.
And it is a marvelous experience.
No, I have not simply fallen in love with my mellifluous tones, but rather I’ve discovered something remarkable, and shockingly basic: there’s a whole new world for me to use in performance. It’s as if I suddenly turned around and realized that the room I’m standing in is twice as big as I’d thought. And very well decorated.
Who knew? Actually, many people. And many of them had told me this very thing for years. Train your voice, and you will become a better actor. Yeah, yeah, yeah, I replied. A good haircut and some teeth whitening trays are what’s really needed. Just look around.
Well, that may be true for some, and true for a part of this industry, but it’s not where I want to live. Or how I want to live. I want a voice that can hit the back of the biggest halls, night after night. Even if I never have to speak above a hush.
The journey continues. For the Mineralava Musings, this is Edoardo Ballerini.
This really takes me back. I went to a performing arts high school, and one vivid memory in particular was being told, “Project! Hit the back wall!” Even if we made a mistake, we were told, it should be loud. “If you’re wrong, be wrong at the top of your lungs,” they told us. Maybe I remember this because it was one thing I never could get the knack of, much as I tried to. More power to you if you can master this; it isn’t easy.
And until you master it… tea is your friend. Hot tea. Lots of it. But you probably figured that out already.