How To Choose A Voice Acting Workshop

How To Choose A Voice Acting Workshop
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Susan Blu. Courtesy of Susan Blu.

"My whole basis of teaching is teaching through kindness," says director Susan Blu. "Finding the truth in the kindness, but being rigorously honest. Not teaching through intimidation. That can happen, but I don’t believe the good teachers are ever like that. I think you have to know that the instructor has given you a real safe playground. Because that’s what a workshop is, it’s a big playground to fail in. You want to fail in the class, so you don’t fail out there in the open world. And you never really fail in the class, you just risk everything. I say, leave your adult outside the door, bring your kid in here and play and try everything!"

It’s In The Acting!
Another thing you should look for in a coach is one who focuses on the craft of acting, rather than just reading copy. "My whole belief system," says Blu, "is that it’s not a voice-over class. It’s an acting class. I believe that you do not change your voice by trying to change your voice. You change your voice by becoming the character. You get the personality and the character going -- ‘How old is he or she? Where does he live? Who are his friends? What is he like?’ Get all that stuff, and all of a sudden this incredible character starts to emerge, and the voice is only 10% of it."

Michael Bell. Courtesy of Michael Bell.

"You have to find a teacher who will dig deep and get into the acting analysis of it," agrees The Rugrats’ Michael Bell. "You’ve got to have that motivation and you have to know exactly why it’s there. ‘Who is the character talking to? What is the distance to the other character that you’re talking to? Is the character talking to a crowd? Why is the character angry? What is it the character just said? Why did the character say that? Why didn’t he say something else?’ You have to get to the source first, and then we work on a voice. Most teachers aren’t interested. It’s just a factory -- get ‘em in, get ‘em out -- and I find it very sad."

Also, ask the instructor how many students will be attending the class and how much experience they have. "I try to limit it to between ten and twelve students per class," says Andrea Romano. "More than that, they don’t get enough mike time, they don’t get enough time to ask questions, they don’t get enough individual attention. People should also ask an instructor, ‘What kinds of students do you have in your class? What are your requirements for other students? Am I going to be among peers? Am I going to be among people who are far superior to my work? Am I going to be among people who are much more inferior to my work?’ Also, you want to make sure you’re not working in a class of all women or all men. You want a nice mix, because there’s a lot that women can learn from men’s voice-over and there’s a lot that men can learn from women’s voice-over."

"I like to give male copy to my female students and vice-versa," says Michael Bell. "It makes them stretch and reach. It makes them work for something. Most of my peers are able to do [female voices]. Many times, I’ve done female characters in animation, and I’ve worked with women who have done guys. It opens you up."