Voice - Patsy Rodenburg

After reading about the voice in Patsy Rodenburg’s The Second Circle, I was able to make some observations and conclusions about what I read and how it pertains to what we’ve been doing in voice and speech class. I like that Rodenburg asks general questions about the voice and how it feels when we use it and how people react to it. This seems important to me because how can you know the effectiveness of your voice or how to manipulate it if you are not cognizant about its effects on you and the people around you. By being aware of your voices place in the world you can begin to realize how to use it in a second circle manor and have it live in second circle. I like that Rodenburg discusses the exercises to find second circle because it displays to the reader that even if you don’t use the exact same warm up to free the natural, second circle voice, precision is key. It shows that if you’re not specific when warming up the voice, how can you expect to be specific when using the voice? The section on intoning kind of made my heart smile because we do it so often in class and it’s incredibly affective. Rodenburg describes the effects of intoning at an increase of color and movement in the voice and I think that’s quite beautiful considering when I intone in class, I find myself becoming much more open and expressive and free. Intoning allows the voice to find a rounder tone that’s more welcoming to an audience and more interesting in general. Overall, I learned that if the voice lies in first or second circle it can be either indirect and confused or jarring and irritating, and neither are desirable options. The second circle voice is the most affective and the most complimentary to the individual.