Lesson video

Hello, and welcome to Drama.

This is Practising Physical and Vocal Skills.

And this is lesson one of five vocal skills, part one.

My name's Mr. Wood and I'm going to be your teacher for this unit.

For today's lesson, you're going to need a little bit of space.

So just make sure your surrounding area is clear and you can move without anything hindering you.

You can stand if needs be.

If you've started today's lesson with your intro quiz, well done.

Now, we're going to continue with the lesson and you will have a look at understanding vocal skills.

We'll then move on to experimenting with those vocal skills before we finish off with our exit quiz.

Your key words for today's lesson, are emotion and that is a strong feeling which comes from someone's mood or circumstance.

Emphasis.

An emphasis is stress given to a word to indicate a particular importance.

And scenario is an outline of a scene or play with its own setting.

So let's understand some of these vocal skills.

What are they? They are the skills that we use when we're speaking or making sounds.

There are many vocal skills when we speak.

There are even more in drama.

Here are some.

Pace, pitch, volume, tone, accent, clarity, pause, emphasis.

So pace is to do with the speed at which you speak.

Pitch is how high or low it might sound.

Volume is of course how loud or quiet it might be.

Tone gives off a specific meaning or feeling.

Accent generally, gives us a sense of location as to where the character is from.

Clarity how well pronounced or how there is a lack of clarity.

It might be that they don't pronounce their t's or vowels or consonants as well.

Pauses, stopping for a brief moment in time.

And then emphasis is of course stressing the words to give it more meaning or importance.

Just be aware that today the skills we're looking at will intertwine and overlap with each other.

The beauty of these skills are that they blend very nicely and it is quite easy to make them very effective by combining them.

So for example, if we're looking at tone and we don't realise that pace comes into it as well and it sounds very effective, even though we were focusing on tone to begin with.

We're going to start experimenting with vocal skills next.

Just before we do, we need to make sure that our voices are ready.

So let's warm them up.

Okay.

Make sure that you are sitting up nice and tall or you can be standing for this.

We're going to start with the letter P and we're going to copy the sound of /p/ with a really strong push through that word.

And I want you to be able to breathe out the letter as you say it, okay? So we'll do it all together.

We'll do it five times.

Three, two, one.

Okay.

We'll do it again.

Make sure that you're really pushing that letter out, okay? Don't forget to breathe.

Three, two, one.

Well done.

Okay.

Now, we're going to move on to the letter M Same thing.

We're going to breathe the letter out and it's going to be, ma, ma, ma, okay? Again, do it five times.

So three, two, one, ma, ma, ma, ma, ma.

Okay.

We'll try that one again.

All at the same time, three, two, one, ma ma ma ma ma.

Lovely.

And then the last one we'll do is wa.

Okay, so we're going to be trying to breathe that letter out with the sound of a W, okay? Five again, three, two, one wa, wa, wa, wa, wa.

Okay.

Are you breathing? Make sure that the breath is elongating the sound of the letter.

We'll try that again.

Five more in three, two, one, wa, wa, wa, wa, wa.

Okay, lovely.

Now, I want us to think about Sandra.

Sandra sells seashells by the seashore, okay? So I'm going to say it and I'd like you to copy it back.

Sandra sells seashells by the seashore.

Your turn.

Okay.

We'll do that again.

See if we can go quicker.

We're going to up the pace.

Sandra sells seashells by the sea shore.

Your turn.

Sandra sells seashells by the sea shore.

Off you go.

And lastly, Sandra sells seashells by the sea shore.

Lovely, well done.

Now, we're going to talk about Gunter.

Because Gunter grew great hearty greens.

Gunter grew great hearty greens.

Okay, you have to go say that for me.

Let's try and get that quicker.

Gunter grew great hearty greens.

You're turn and see how quick you can go.

Gunter grew great hearty greens.

Off you go.

I'm sure you quicker than I was at that one.

Okay.

Now we're going to have a look at some emotions with words that we say, for example, if hello is the word, say that in a happy tone for me like this.

Hello.

Okay.

Now can you say in a sad tone? Hello.

Can you say it in an angry tone? Hello.

And what about confused tone? Hello? Okay? Now if we move the phrase to come back, say that with a happy tone.

Come back.

Okay, what about in a sad tone? Comeback.

Okay.

What about in an angry tone? Come back.

And what about in a confused tone? Come back? Okay.

What if the phrase was, how are you? Have a go at saying that in a happy tone? How are you? And what if it was a sad tone? How are you? What if it was an angry tone? How are you? And what if it was a confused tone? How are you? What if the phrase was finally, who are you? Say that in a happy tone for me? Who are you? What about in a sad tone? Who are you? What about in an angry tone? Who are you? What about in a confused tone? Who are you? Lovely, okay.

If you'd like to repeat any of that then please feel free.

If not, let's continue with the rest of the lesson.

Pace affects the meaning of the words you say depending on how quickly or slowly you say that phrase.

For example, I'm not doing it.

If we look at saying that at an average pace, we might say, I'm not doing it.

What's the meaning there? Obviously the phrase would always stay the same.

So we've got to think about subtle changes.

What if I sped it up? I'm not doing it.

Naturally, it comes with an emotion.

Can you identify what that emotion was, if I went quicker? I'm not doing it.

Any thoughts? And now if I slow it down, what sorts of meaning is created? I'm not doing it? I have a feeling that the latter seems a bit more defiant than the one that was quicker.

The one that's quicker seems obviously rushed but for what reason? Any ideas.

Right, I see.

Right! I see.

Right, I see.

Right, I see.

Right, I see.

Right, I see.

Right, I see.

We can slow them down, obviously.

We can speed them up.

Pace can give us new meaning depending on the speed.

Practise the line, "You can't sit with us." At a slow pace, a medium pace and a fast pace.

The aim is to understand the meaning shown at each stage and they should be ever so slightly different.

Okay? You can't sit with us.

You can't sit with us.

You can't sit with us.

Now, as I said before there are some other vocal skills that are starting to come into these.

So don't fight them.

Don't try and separate it.

Allow them to help you out when you are adapting the pace.

Okay, cause it will help give new meaning pause the video to complete this task and click resume.

When you're ready to move on.

What pace might we consider using for the delivery of the line below to show that you care? Don't worry, everything's going to be okay.

Do we think a quicker version or a slower version would be more appropriate? What do you think? A slower pace, I think so as well.

Don't worry, everything is going to be okay.

Experiment with your pace when you deliver the line, don't worry, everything is going to be okay.

Practising it out loud a few times because that's the best way to understand the communication or intention.

Okay? You need to aim to sound caring through your speed of speech.

Pause the video to complete this task and click resume when you're ready to move on.

Okay.

Now, what pace might we consider using for the delivery of the below line to show that your excited do we think, "No, really? You're joking." would be fast or slow? What'd you think? I think fast.

Should we try that? So I would like you to experiment with your pace when you deliver the line, "No, really? you're joking." Practise saying it out loud a few times, get yourself ready and comfortable.

You need to aim to sound excited through your speed of speech.

Okay? So your pace must communicate your excited emotions.

Pause the video to be able to complete this task and click resume when you're ready to move on.

Now, we're going to have a little look at volume.

Volume is incredibly useful to a performance and when you're portraying a character.

It can communicate a whole range of different meanings.

Brenda, Brenda, Brenda, speak up.

I can't hear you, Brenda.

Hello, Brenda.

All right.

No need to shout.

Hello.

Hello, can you hear me? I am trapped at number five.

Oh, hi.

You all right? You all right? No.

Hello? Hello, yes, yes.

I'm calling to tell you I have a problem.

I have.

I've got a real problem, can you help? Shh, shh, I don't want anyone to know.

Why? But why? No, no, I'm not doing it, no.

No.

So aggression.

That could either be a high volume or low volume.

Okay? Stop what you're doing.

Stop what you're doing.

Okay.

So even though we've got high and a low volume we can still communicate the same emotion.

We've got realisation, being fearful, being secretive, in shock, panic, confusion, in defence.

Okay.

So it's understanding that you can show a range of volumes to communicate meaning.

So practise the line.

"No, you mustn't." AT low, medium, and high volumes to communicate the following meanings.

Firstly, aggression.

Next, fearful.

Realisation and then being secretive, okay? They may have a similar volume, but they definitely won't sound the same.

So bear that in mind pause the video to be able to complete this task and click resume when you're ready to move on.

Part two, practise this line.

Did you see that at low, medium, and high volumes to communicate the following in shock, in defence, panic, and confusion.

Pause the video to be able to complete this part of the task and click resume when you are ready to move on.

Now, we're going to start working with emphasis.

This allows the performer to get passionate about something.

It allows us to stress a particular word and therefore give meaning or more importance to a part of a sentence.

It depends on the phrase, but to a large extent it allows you to get emotionally invested in what you are saying and doing.

I don't want that.

I don't want that.

I don't want that.

I don't want that.

I don't want that.

I don't want that.

I don't want that.

I don't want that.

I don't want that.

I don't want that.

I don't want that.

I don't want that.

Imagine you're very hungry for chocolate in a shop.

There's only one chocolate bar left on the shelf.

Someone takes it only seconds before you.

Practise saying the example below stressing the word in bold.

"I was going to have that." How does it feel? Does adding context make it easier to use emphasis to understand its effect? For example, if I would have taken away the introduction there and just given you the word, sorry.

I've given you the phrase would that have been just as easy to create? Could you have formulated in your head the reasons why you were going to have that? Okay.

Practising these four examples below stressing the words that are in bold.

So we have, "Excuse me, do you have the time?" Go for it? We have "Don't call me saying I didn't warn you." You're turn.

We have "I can't believe I'm hearing this." Give it a go.

And we've got "You're so embarrassing." Give it a go.

So "Excuse me, do you have the time?" "Don't call me saying I didn't warn you." "I can't believe I'm hearing this." "You're so embarrassing." Okay.

Now, what if you emphasise a different word in that sentence, in any of the four sentences that we've looked at.

Pick a different word in there that you think might be just as interesting to stress.

It might change the meaning.

That's okay.

Just see what you can find.

Okay.

Now, I'm going to stop exploring tone.

Tone has a very large impact on the overall meaning of what we're trying to say.

You may have heard, "Lower your tone," or "Don't take that tone with me." And they all refer to a specific way of speaking and we're going to explore different ways of speaking now.

Okay.

Okay.

Okay.

Okay.

Okay.

Okay.

Okay.

Okay.

Okay.

Okay.

Okay, okay.

Okay.

Practise saying, "Don't do that" using a range of tones.

So in other words, think of all the different meanings you could say from changing tones ever so slightly.

Okay.

One tone may give you a meaning a completely different tone.

Completely different meaning.

Yeah? So have a think.

Pause the video to complete this task.

Try them on out and then click resume when you're ready to move on.

Don't do that.

Okay.

Which meaning was presented in that example? Do you think it was me educating a child on how to use their cutlery correctly? Because they've clearly used it wrong.

Did it sound like that? What about someone who I caught stealing? Did it sound like that? Well then what about me giving a friend advice? Do you think it sounded more like that? All of the three options, yeah.

Don't do that.

Okay.

Which example was that then? Was it educating your child on how to use their cutlery correctly? No? Was it me catching someone stealing? It could have been.

I think it was more likely that than the other.

Well done.

Now you are going to adapt to the meaning.

Using the very same meaning, create your own phrase that supports that.

Consider your use of tone, pace, emphasis and volume to make this successful.

Okay, get creative pause the video to complete the task and then click resume when you're ready to move on.

Now, we're going to practise tone, pace, emphasis, and volume.

You are going to say the building is on fire.

Using a range of different vocal skills, you should aim to create a sense of urgency.

Okay.

So the idea of a rising tension through your delivery of that line.

Pause the video to be able to complete this task and click resume when you're ready to move on.

Volume, pace, and emphasis can affect the meaning of what you say.

Is that true or false? The answer is true, okay? That's exactly right.

Okay.

We've reached the end of today's lesson and you've worked brilliantly to explore and tackle various different vocal skills.

Now, we've looked at tone, varying tones.

We've looked at emphasis on stressing particular words to add new meaning.

We've looked at pace, okay? How quickly or how slowly words are said.

And we've looked at volume, okay? Now with those vocal skills, we need to understand the basis of where they come from in order to be able to use them later.

So today we've laid the groundwork to explore these skills in greater depth next lesson.

So well done for your hard work today.

If you would like to share any of the phrases that you've worked on today, if you're particularly proud of a meaning that you feel you've discovered, then you can share your work with us at Oak National.

Just ask your parent or carer for permission first where they can go to Twitter, share your work, and tag us using @OakNational and #LearnwithOak.

Until our next lesson, which is lesson two, Looking Our Vocal Skills, part two, take care.

And I'll see you soon.

Bye-bye.