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>> SONESS: What kind of people would normally benefit
from taking your class at Yokohama Theatre Group?
>> GRAIG: A lot of people we get are obviously either
aspiring or already fairly established actors
who are just looking to bring their game up
or get into the professional world.
And because we offer a lot of our classes in English,
it means -- there are a few opportunities in Japan
for English-speaking people who want to improve,
so that's great for them as well.
And then for my class in particular, because it's a voice class,
we get a lot of teachers and there are a lot of teachers in Japan, right?
We get a lot of people because teachers are the second
most common people to get medical problems with their voices,
to develop some kind of nodules or polyps or whatever
because they're talking to classes all day every day.
So we get a lot of teachers coming.
And then also business people who are looking to improve their presentation skills --
because those are the people who really -- entrepreneurs,
and those sorts of people who need to get their ideas across
quickly, clearly and with a lot of vitality.
>> SONESS: Wonderful! I know that before I give a workshop or seminar,
I always do vocal warm-ups,
especially before speaking for a large audience. "Haahhh!"
Just to clear it out, make sure that my voice is in good condition
so that I can really get my message clearly and concisely
across the audience.
I would love to know more about how to breathe properly.
>> GRAIG: So first of all, make sure your shoulders are down and relaxed.
You can even like -- you can even bring them up to your ears
and then just feel that ugh--that drop, and then go a little bit lower.
And then just check that your head -- you're not like stretching
out this way or you're not pulling your chin back or whatever,
you've just got a nice alignment, okay?
And now the breath. So if I say take a deep breath --
now I guess you might be quite good at this. [Laughter]
When I say take a deep breath -- >> SONESS: I'm aiming towards here
>> GRAIG: That's right. Good you know.
The reason we say "deep breath" is because it's going down.
Of course, I know a little bit about biology so I know that
your lungs aren't in your stomach, but you almost have to
imagine that that is what's filling with air,
that it's all coming down in to the stomach.
So a nice, loose, relaxed stomach and
then a nice swing on the ribs.
So as I said before, if you often see people lifting from the sternum
when they breathe in, right? Deep breath.
But what you're actually looking for is -- a little bit of movement forward -- but most
of the movement is coming out this way, here.
So you can do -- I like this little teapot thing here.
Could you do your little teapot like this and put a hand on the front?
>> SONESS: I'm short and stout.
>> GRAIG: Yeah, that's it. And what you're trying to do is
try to get this hand come this way
and this hand to come this way.
[Graig and Soness do the breathing exercise.]
>> SONESS: Am I doing it right?
>> GRAIG: Yeah, that's looking really great. You're doing great!
And you can feel when you take those kinds of breaths,
all of a sudden you start to relax.
>> SONESS: I do feel more relaxed.
>> GRAIG: You start to feel a little cleaner, a little more energized.
If you're breathing -- up here all the time, that's a panic breath, right?
>> SONESS: Right.
>> GRAIG: So if you go on stage with that kind of breathing, then you're going to sound
like,
"Oh-hi-it's-nice-to-meet-you-and-I'm-going-to-show-you-my-project-here..."
You know? You're going to have that kind of voice. Whereas if you'll -- breathe in nice
and deeply, you're relaxed...
>> SONESS: Wow. And actually my voice lowered a little bit.
>> GRAIG: Yeah. Just the tension comes out of you, right?
>> SONESS: Oh, it feels really good. Wow! This is so exciting!
So Graig, where can people find more of what you're teaching?
>> GRAIG: The main place to go right now would be the Yokohama Theatre Group's website
because I teach a lot of my classes through the Yokohama Theatre Group.
If you head over to there, you'll find all the information about
our group workshops, which we run regularly.
We have longer form ones, which run sort of 8 weeks, once a night.
We are starting some short form ones, just a weekend.
And then also, if you go through there, you can find information about private lessons,
if you're interested in that kind of thing. So that's all written on there.
>> SONESS: Graig, thank you so much for joining us today! I'm so excited.
Guys, you've got to check out his lessons. They're amazing.
He has been the most amazing vocal coach for me.
And I know you will have amazing results with him.
So what are some ways that you can improve your voice with vocal warm-ups, exercises
and breathing?
Please Show-N-Tell.Us and leave a message in the comments below.
Be sure to contact the Yokohama Theatre Group.