This course continues the students' training in voice, speech and text from the work begun in Voice & Speech I. With continued exercises on the body, coupled with a larger array of vocal skills and increased imaginative capacity, students will have access to their expansive selves to serve the characters in plays. Students will also learn a variety of methodologies and extended vocal techniques, which can be applied to resonance, range, and vocal extremes. This training is designed to empower all students, recognizing that for our culturally diverse students, the voice is a powerful site of both personal identity and cultural expression.

This course will focus rigorously on applying voice into representative performance texts. Students will develop increased strength, flexibility and range through their exercises. Our work in accents, classical poetic text, and heightened text will go beyond mimicry to critically examine how voice is used to portray character, status, and social class. The implied goal of empowering students to trust and apply their voice, follow their imagination, and bring life to language.

Students are required to keep an individual journal throughout the course. The progressive learning will create specific critical demands on learning, and students are expected to develop their ability to form judgments and enhance their understanding of the lectures, readings, and exercises. The journal will be an articulation of critical analysis, reflection on personal vocal identity, and self/peer appraisal.

The progression of in-class exercises/experiences, with two presentations on working with texts, a speech and a poet collage, is designed to further liberate students' natural voice and develop a better vocal. Ultimately, this mastery of craft is a crucial step towards securing sustainable and decent work in the performing arts. The course will culminate in a play on stage, which is expected to be the outcome of a smooth transition into performance by consolidating, defining and expanding the vocal skills and knowledge accumulated in this advanced course.