Voice for Improv

Prague November 25

Resources

Thanks for coming to Voice for Improv workshop!

Below are some resources from what we covered in the workshop.

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What we covered in the workshop

Voice for Improv – Prague (Nov 2025)

Day 1 Poem

Still to add

Day 2 Poem

Still to add

What We Explored

A 2-day deep dive into:

Unlocking vocal freedom
Building repeatable character voices
Improvising with sustainable vocal choices
Bridging body → breath → sound → character

We focused on shifting from: Habit → Awareness → Technique → Play → Performance

Day 1 — Habitual Voice, Embodied Play & New Qualities

Opening & Arrival

Grounding and settling the room
“Internal weather” check-in
Naming what each person wants from their voice

Theme: Safety + curiosity → foundation of playful voicework

Session 1 — Your Habitual Improv Voice

Warm-ups to reveal:

Where tension lives in the body
How that tension shapes our voice
When our voice constricts in improv

Activities included: • Improv warm-ups (“Brown Water scenes”: doing it terribly — on purpose!)
• Tension-based warm-ups: releasing before adding power
• Floorwork (Whispered “Ah”, resonance buzzing, breath resets)

Takeaway:
When we release habitual patterns, more voice becomes available.

Session 2 — Grammelot (Removing Words)

We stripped out meaning to highlight:

Rhythm → structure
Prosody → music of speech
Body → emotional storytelling engine

Exercises: • Call-and-response Grammelot
• Singing syllables with beat/groove
• Single-syllable improv scenes
• Translator game — copying sounds like learning dialects

Key Insight:
Listening to how things are said is more useful than what is said.

Session 3 — Vocal Qualities

Introduction to changeable elements of voice:

Resonance (sob, twang)
Pitch
Articulation clarity/shape
Pace & rhythmic patterns
Volume & intensity
Prosody (vocal “music”)

Main game: Radio Scenes → Quickly shifting between bold vocal choices

Theme:
Experiment! Don’t rely on just one improv voice.

Day 2 — Creating New Voices, Making Them Healthy & Going Far

Opening & Return

Releasing sleep tension
“Where am I in the body today?”
Reconnecting to breath + resonance

Trajectory:
From your voice → building other voices

Session 1 — Accents, Rhythm & Body–Voice Connection

We explored:

How posture changes resonance
How feet/grounding affect character
Song-based prosody exercises
Copying each other’s voices (body → sound)

Core Tool:

Find the voice → Get it into the body → Identify its elements

This built the skill of: ✨ Not just doing a voice — understanding how it works

Session 2 — Healthy Voice Builders

What makes a character voice sustainable?

Unnecessary tension (strain)
Useful activation (power)
Hydration + efficiency
Retraction strategies (silent laugh, yawn-breath, etc.)

🎭 We used Tom’s character voice as a case study:

Broke it down into elements
Adjusted posture + resonance to remove strain
Tested it in scene work

Theme:
Repeatability = Care + Awareness + Body support

Session 3 — Integration & Emotional Range (1 → 10)

We combined:

Qualities from Day 1
Structure from Day 2
Healthy vocal support

Exercises: • Partner scenes with scaling emotion • Strong emotional shifts with safe technique • 2–3 person scenes using learned voices

Takeaway:
Emotion shapes voice —
but technique keeps it safe and expressive

Themes Across the Weekend

Theme	What We Learned
Grounding	Voice strengthens when the body stabilises
Awareness	Noticing tension is the first step to choice
Curiosity	Play unlocks characters faster than analysis
Embodiment	Voices live in the body — not in the throat
Sustainability	A great voice is one you can repeat tomorrow

Improv expands when your voice toolbox expands.

What You Can Do Next

• Notice your vocal defaults and gently expand away from them
• Copy voices you love — play & analyse
• Track: where does each voice live in the body?
• Use Grammelot to keep freeing rhythm + boldness
• Regular reset: grounding • jaw release • soft breath-in

Continue the Journey

🎤 Click this link to join the Voice Lab Online Waitlist: https://sendfox.com/alexowenhill

Voice Videos we talked about

Here is the video we talked about from my YouTube Channel

Subscribe to my Youtube channel for more voice videos.

My Research into Creating Older-Sounding Voices

I also did some research as part of my MA in Voice into creating older-sounding character voices. It includes the 3-step process for making a voice sound older that we covered in the workshop.

Click here to download my study.