Breath & Voice – Fundamentals (Part 1) – Los Angeles

w/ Kristof Konrad (PART 1 of a 2 part series)

April 23 – May 14, 2025 | Wednesdays, 10:00 am-12:00 pm (PDT)

We all breathe, but how well are we breathing?

Actors, singers, and public speakers need a highly developed instrument to meet performance demands. Faulty information and limitations in habitual body and breathing patterns can significantly interfere with free and efficient breathing.

There are four components of effective communication: body, breath, voice, and articulation. Clearing up misconceptions about these four components and learning how to use your instrument correctly & efficiently has the power to transform your performance.

PART 1: FUNDAMENTALS

Getting to know your instrument and connecting the four components

This class helps actors, singers, and public speakers (of any level) discover freedom in the body, develop breath support, and coordinate voice production to enable you to practice your craft with minimum effort and maximum efficiency. Using the principles of the Alexander Technique with Breathing Coordination will help you free your imagination and find the breath of the character.

Class 1: BODY – Connecting and organizing the body to create a well-tuned instrument; discovering our resonating chamber; understanding faulty ideas and habits and their limitations in creating a rich and free sound; opening the channel

Class 2: BREATH – The FUEL for our Voice Production. Breathing is primarily unconscious and automatic. To clarify common misconceptions, we will explore the movement and function of the diaphragm. We will also discuss the pelvic floor, explore exhalation and inhalation, and learn how to speak with ease on the breath.

Class 3: VOICE – Exploring the lower resonators: Chest, Mouth, and Teeth, as well as the upper resonators: Nasal, Mask, and Head; understanding the intimacy of the space and the impact of volume; learning the differences in sound for Theatre, Film & TV, and V/O; exploration of text and its vocal expression.

Class 4: ARTICULATION – Articulation drills and warm-ups; vowels & consonants; further exploration of the text.  

Students will choose and memorize a short monologue, poem, speech, or song for use in the class.