Peer-reviewed Article To Train and Test the Voice in Violence

Abstract

During my tenure as a professor of Voice and Acting in the Department of Theatre and Drama at the University of Wisconsin-Madison, I have the continuing privilege of collaborating with respected Speech/Language Pathologist colleagues in UW's Department of Communicative Disorders. We exchange guest lectures; we share technical expertise and make referrals for our students and clients; we facilitate the occasional cross-registration of our students; our graduate students share techniques and experiences to mutual benefit. And we conduct research of mutual interest. A recent study which we conducted jointly and which involved the effects of voice training on the actor's production of vocally violent sounds (see Appendix C), led to my thoughts about the benefits of using science to enhance actor voice training techniques, the importance of conducting scientific research on vocal technique, and the problems which must be solved when the rigorous discipline of science encounters the no less rigorous, but quite different discipline of art. I offer the following discussion in the hope that more voice trainers will join forces with speech scientists to pursue investigations of mutual benefit to both disciplines.“Yes, I have tricks in my pocket, I have things up my sleeve. But I am the opposite of a stage magician. He gives you illusion that has the appearance of truth. I give you truth in the pleasant disguise of illusion.” (Williams, The Glass Menagerie)