VoiceGuy.ca Goes Live

Today marks the first regular posting to the VoiceGuy.ca website. Today's post is the first post in the Basic Warm-up Series, which will lead you through a ten-step warm-up. Though the material is all on the site already, I'll be posting it daily to the front page of voiceguy.ca so you can follow along in your RSS reader. [Don't HAVE an RSS Reader??? Well, try Google Reader out if you don't!]

End of VoiceGuy on Blogger, the Beginning of VoiceGuy.ca

July 1st, 2007 marks the official release of VoiceGuy.ca, my new website that grew out of the ideas I experimented with here on my Blogger site. Eventually, I will take down this site, but for now, it will sit here and point to VoiceGuy.ca.

VoiceGuy.ca, or "The VoiceGuy" aims to target a specific audience: Professional Actors and Actors-in-Training who are seeking voice work that they can explore on their own, guided by daily blog posts and weekly podcasts.

Thank you to anyone who subscribed to this Blogger site, and I hope that you will subscribe to my new site, whose feed is http://feeds.feedburner.com/voiceguydotca

New Speaking-Hearing Exercise

I continue to develop new exercises for students to practice their IPA skills. This one may be too challenging, I fear! It's a listening exercise. Please try it out. Print out the file at
http://www.yorku.ca/earmstro/introducing_the_ipa/speaking-hearing_comp.pdf then listen to the two audio files, and try to put the transcriptions in the right order for what is said. Version two is MUCH more challenging.


The audio for these (which can be done by pairs of students in class, btw) is at:
http://www.yorku.ca/earmstro/introducing_the_ipa/audio/speaking-hearing.mp3

and

http://www.yorku.ca/earmstro/introducing_the_ipa/audio/speaking-hearing_2.mp3

The second version is much more difficult. I'm fearful that it is just way too challenging... but we'll see what you think. I like to remember that students can listen to these several times to "check their work" which I think makes it more valuable practice.

I'd love your feedback on the exercise!

Eric

Practice Material

I'm in the process of developing new resources for "Introducing the IPA," my workbook for learning the International Phonetic Alphabet. They will be posted at: http://www.yorku.ca/earmstro/introducing_the_ipa/. So far there are only two things available, but that number should slowly climb. Special thanks to Mark Ingram, D'Arcy Smith, Brad Gibson, Danielle Wilson & Jeffrey Simlett for their help in editing these worksheets.

Practise, Practise, Practise. But for how long?

Yesterday I got an email from a student wondering what she should be doing over the summer to maintain the work we'd been doing all year. She needed to know how much work to do so she didn't lose anything. 
In my response to her, I said:

"As the body shuts down systems it doesn't use, in order not to regress you must practise at least once every three days, though doing it more often will probably have better results. Then you're likely not to regress but to progress over the summer. Not a bad goal, I'd say...

" Remember that several short practice sessions are better than a marathon session in any given day, though a minimum of 15 minutes is probably required for you to ever hit your stride. More than an hour at a time and fatigue starts to kick in. So make sure you get enough, but not too much..."
That seems like a fairly do-able guideline.

Kinkless GTD

I've been experimenting with some strategies to stay on top of my to do list, to keep my INBOX empty in my email, and to get more stuff done. I'm using Omni Outliner with something called Kinkless GTD based on the book "Getting Things Done" by David Allen. Interesting stuff to be sure, and I'm finding I'm actually GETTING THINGS DONE! Wow.

I've also started using something called "quicksilver" for my mac which allows me to jump to just about anything on my computer (files, applications) with just a couple of key strokes. Very interesting. And it's FREE. Gotta love that. I really got hooked on all this stuff thanks to a site called "43 Folders" which focuses on productivity & how to be more effective with your time. Cool stuff.

Back in Business

Well, we've managed to create a class for 2006-07's Acting Area. After 2 full days of auditions and 1 day of callbacks, we're getting set for next year already. Busy times ahead for all! This really marks the end of the school year for me, so this is quite good news. I'm excited because it means that I can shift gears into prepping for next year and then beginning to check things off in  my "to-do" list! Good times ahead. I'm essentially back in business as a coach and as a writer. Yeah.

End of School Year, Beginning of Spring/Summer Projects

The time for more VoiceGuy posts is upon us and I'll be beginning to write more regular updates on what I'm up to right now in the world of voice, speech, dialects and text. Plans for the summer include work on more materials to support my teaching, more Podcasts, more IMAGINE IPA newsletters, plus coaching on shows and privately. I'll also be teaching beginner voice at Equity Showcase this June and July. So keep you eye on the VoiceGuy.