Freeing the Natural Voice: Imagery and Art in the Practice of Voice and Language by Linklater Kristin

Author:Linklater, Kristin [Linklater, Kristin]
Language: eng
Format: epub
Publisher: Drama Publishers/Quite Specific Media
Published: 2014-02-05T00:00:00+00:00

Step 1

■Lengthen the front of your neck so your head is back as in the throat-freeing exercise. Picture the resulting wide channel down into your chest. Imagine it broadening out into the rib cage as though into a great, hollow cave.

■Focus clearly on the back of your neck, and be sure not to use any jaw muscle strength. Do not tighten your stomach muscles as you lengthen the top seven vertebrae that comprise your neck until your head floats on top of the topmost vertebra. Notice that the channel has changed its shape but has not closed.

■Drop your head forward without letting your mouth close. Notice that the channel has again changed its shape but that it need not close, although the opening in this position is narrow.

■Bring the top seven vertebrae of the neck back and up into alignment with the rest of the spine, the head floating on top. Leave the jaw muscles loose enough for the jaw to drop slightly as the head comes up. The space between the teeth is a little wider than it was when the head was forward.

■Lengthen the front of your neck, leaving the bottom jaw behind so that the wide channel—the chasm—through the throat to the chest appears again.

The primary action here is to shift all the responsibility for moving the head into the top seven vertebrae of the spine (the back of the neck). The by-product of this action as the neck moves from front to back is that the shape of the channel automatically changes as the relationship between the skull and jaw changes. This spontaneous response depends on complete freedom in the jaw hinges and, as it is possible that there is still some tension there, you may, for the time being, consciously have to drop your jaw when you bring your neck up from the forward position and over to the back.

■Practice Step 1 until you feel you have made strong contact with the back of the neck and that you can move it through the three positions without any tightening in the stomach muscles. Put your hand on your stomach and insist that your breathing continue in a natural easy rhythm as your head and neck go back, up and forward. Remember the great chasm that opens as the neck goes back and never quite closes in the other positions.

Download

Copyright Disclaimer:
This site does not store any files on its server. We only index and link to content provided by other sites. Please contact the content providers to delete copyright contents if any and email us, we'll remove relevant links or contents immediately.