Drama Biog Blog

These are a couple of Voice and Speech exercises that I remember doing in drama at school, that can be used to experiment with voice.

1. Air whispers through the trees (students say this line softly, almost whispering)

Steam hisses in a kettle (slightly louder)

Water crashes from the seas

And fire melts metal (scream)

(The volume of each line gradually gets louder, but the students still need to pronounce every word clearly).

2. I can make my voice climb higher and higher..

3. I can make my voice go lower and lower…

4. In the drawing room Lady Penelope languidly sipped a long, cool glass of lemonade while listening to the dulcet tones of the flute played by her companion. (Pitch, pace, volume, tone, articulation)

5. Tongue twisters-

Red leather, yellow leather; red leather, yellow leather

Black bugs blood

You lose too many shoes

Alone at home

A wicked cricket critic

From Thalia

Hi. This is Jo. Thanks to Alison who put in the last post about posting up ideas for dramatic elements.

Here’s a simple one off the top of my head to get the ball rolling.
Music (Sound) and Mood

Ask students to form a small group (3-4) and develop a simple scene - one that can be performed in about a minute and involves some simple interactions between characters - no dialogue is necessary. Have them perform their scene in a neutral way in silence. Introduce some different kinds of background music (eg: scarey, romantic, lighthearted, funky…). have the students perform the scenes to the different kinds of music.Questions for reflection:

• How does the music effect the way the scene is played by the performers?
• How does it effect the scene for the audience?
• Think about the ways music is used to enhance mood in theatre, film and TV productions.
• How can silence also create mood?