BVA Profiles
Mel Churcher interviewed by Stephanie Martin
Mel you've been an active member of the BVA for a number of years both as a Council member and currently as a member of the Education Working Party. What is it about the BVA that continues to encourage your interest, commitment and continuing support?
It is a unique organisation in that it brings together speech and language therapists, singing teachers, voice teachers, laryngologists, speech scientists and anyone else with an interest or specialisation in voice. By listening to the research, experience and views of people working with so many different aspects of the voice, I feel I have learnt so much and enriched my own perception and practice. I also owe it an enormous debt as it gave me the means to train myself when I moved from being an actor to a teacher. At first my work was empirically based, with some vague memories of my own actor training, but when I joined what was then called The Voice Research Society. I started to experience many different workshops run by many different trainers.
What do you feel are the defining strengths of the organisation?
Definitely its multi-disciplinary focus. Also the members themselves who are so unfailingly generous with their knowledge and advice. Unlike other organisations, it is tolerant of a broad church of voice views and continues to offer workshops from as many voice areas as possible.
Your classification in the membership directory is Voice Teacher, yet your own work in film is very specialised. Can you tell readers something about this and how it differs from other aspects of voice work?
Although most of my work is for screen these days, I am very lucky in that I work at both the 'microscopic' and telescopic' ends of vocal performance! By that I mean that I work both in film and as voice and text coach in what is probably the most challenging London theatre space - the Open Air Theatre at Regent's Park.
Voice for film is an area that is given very little thought both by many film actors and by directors. It is the Cinderella of the film industry. (By the way: Have you ever noticed the credit for the dialogue or dialect coach? Probably not, as it is usually right down by the tea person, after the drivers, accountants, catering etc etc!)
This is because everyone knows it can be done 'in post'. That is, the words can be re-voiced later. Of course, this is much more difficult for the actor who is not only having to match the lip movements but also the emotional intensity of the moment whilst standing alone in a small recording studio.
There is a tendency for actors to de-voice on set because they are so close to each other, whereas I believe they still need a full supported sound but at an appropriate volume - which may be extremely low. This way, they keep the emotional resonance and have a 'body' to the sound. If the sound they give is just a whisper, it can never be enhanced to a full resonant sound by a technician.
As in theatre, breathing is very important to still nerves and to keep tension off the face. And if the breath and thought are connected, the voice will sound real and immediate and there will be a direct connection to the emotions.
The technical side of voice in film, such as keeping continuity of energy through the stopping and starting, having to be careful not to knock the radio mic (or to wear silk underwear - it rustles!), watching that your use of props doesn't drown out your lines, not overlapping dialogue in single shots and all the other aspects of technology that are so important in film, makes for tense vocal delivery. Actors on film are often very tired, work in smoky dry atmospheres and have to repeat lines endlessly. Whereas a theatre actor is only too aware of the work the voice is doing, the film actor is often surprised by how tiring it is.
Herrick says 'So smooth, so sweet, so silvery is thy voice' (Upon Julia's Voice). There must be instances where the individuals with whom you work have voices that are far from 'silvery'. How much pressure are you under to make them sound good on film?
Whereas film actors often do not seem to care about voice and articulation, directors will often ask me to do something to help. This means being very discreet and I often use the period or particular aspects about the film to explain why things need to be adjusted. Directors often want lower voices from women and so I work on resonance rather than 'pushing' the voice down. Changing an accent will often completely change a performance and the director doesn't want the feisty LA actress to become 'sweet' and 'breathy' just because the placing and the vowels have changed!
The main pressure is that of time and it is hard to get a moment to work with actors on film. You are always trying to get the best results in a few squeezed in minutes.
You completed a Voice MA at Central entitled 'Voice Qualities in Women's Voices Today' Can you tell us more about the premise of the work and your findings?
I was interested in why women's' voices appeared to be changing in pitch - that is, going down. If you listen to female television presenters from the 1950's, you will hear that they generally took a higher pitch than we are comfortable with today. I was also intrigued as to why 'husky' voices that showed signs of damage seemed to be very popular with listeners and I suspected some sexual connection! I wanted to explore the social and environmental aspects and then see if these voices could be arrived at healthfully. I did find both the women themselves and their listeners preferred a lower pitch and I looked for breathing and resonance exercises to help foster this quality in a healthy way. Husky voices seemed somewhat popular with male listeners but the speakers preferred a clear tone! My hunch was hard to prove but it does seem that the husky voice quality mimics what happens to the larynx because of changes in blood flow and hormones during sexual arousal.
Within the main body of your thesis a major focus was breathing and support. Now this can be a contentious issue in the voice world, could you tell readers something about your findings and indeed your perspective on this?
I got so fascinated by the breathing aspects of the work that this area took over! Doing my literature trawl, one aspect that really struck me in the 'belly in- belly out' debate was the lack of rigour in most voice research designed for consumption by singers and actors and their teachers. This meant that it was never made clear whether the writer was talking about the in or out breath. Consequently, I deduced that most of the antipathy to 'belly-breathing' was about distension of the abdomen during the out-breath not the in-breath. Or if it was on the in-breath, then it was about distortion in the posture leading to 'sticking out' the abdomen during inhalation rather than in its natural release.
The emphasis on rib work from Garcia to the 1950's seemed to be directly connected to the use of corsets, which impeded the abdominal area. Garcia wrote that it was impossible to get a fast intake of breath - which any advocate of the 'Accent Method' of breathing would find surprising. 'Rib-reserve' breathing was probably a later refinement of these attempts to counteract the limitations imposed by corsetry.
The deeper abdominal-diaphragmatic breath appeared to provide more resonance in the voice than an emphasis on rib expansion. And I came to the conclusion that the magic word 'support' was the interaction between this healthy ergonomic breathing and good adduction of the vocal folds on voiced sounds together with well-aligned posture and release of constriction in the throat. That was one recipe, anyway!
Now I know you already have an MA from a 'previous' career- did you have a 'Voice' career path mapped out, or has it been serendipity?
Definitely serendipity. When I first left acting and began teaching in the drama schools in 1985, it was as a director and acting coach. (I had taught 'presentation skills' to business people since 1973 but had used voicework very minimally.) I stumbled on voice work as a way to free my actors' acting. Then I got fascinated and re-trained via short courses from the BVA, a phonetics course at Westminster University and my MA at Central School.
I am always interested in aspects that have shaped careers and individuals who have influenced career choices. What and who have shaped your career?
I grew up in Malawi in the bush hearing drums and chanting, which I listened to in bed at night with a feeling of great excitement and happiness.
I became an actor because of a theatre tour by the English actor and teacher, Harold Lang, to promote The Drama Centre. I was twelve and this was in Zimbabwe, and watching his Malvolio and seeing a short film of students doing improvisations made me vow to eventually return to England and go to drama school.
I had an odd voice training at my drama college (the only one that would take me as an immature 17 year old!) based on 'Sinus Tone Method' by E.H White. Later I was indoctrinated into the work of Clifford Turner and rib-reserve by external RADA classes, which, in spite of its tendency to induce tension, was certainly more effective than the 'Sinus-Tone' theory! But by far my most positive influence when I was an actor, was from Kate Fleming who was voice coach for the National Theatre when I was there 1974-5. She first made me really aware of the voice-acting connection and sorted out my own technique. After that I went to workshops by a lot of voice rainers and started to work seriously on my own voice as an actor - which, incidentally, I was never wholly satisfied with.
Later, as a teacher, my greatest influence was Cicely Berry with whom I was thrilled to work during my time in the voice department of the Royal Shakespeare Company. She is still the greatest influence on my work with text
Through the BVA, the 'Accent Breathing' method founded by Sven Smith and the interest into the workings of the larynx that Jo Estill's work has fostered have changed my work the most in technical terms.
To quote F. Scott Fitzgerald in the Great Gatsby, '… her voice is full of money'. Do the huge sums of money involved in film production present any specific pressures for you in your work with screen actors?
Because the work is given very little regard, it is very hard to find any time in the day to work with an actor unless they ask the Assistant Directors for time with you. They are rushed through makeup and hair and onto set, bypassing the dialogue coach waiting patiently outside the trailer! Time is money!
Also, if the director has a problem with a leading actor's voice, it may not be dealt with if the star is unwilling. Stars are called 'The Money' and what they want goes! Having said that, some actors work extremely hard on voices and accents and do make time for you.
You wrote an excellent book (reviewed in Communicating Voice, Vol 4 - Issue 3, April 2004) in which you explained some of the principles of working in this medium, have you any plans for a further book?
I want to write a book about the connection between voice and acting. Actors tend to compartmentalise aspects of communication. As my last book concentrated on film acting, I would also like to write a pure book on acting. I've got some half-written plays and screenplays and I'm also trying to write a couple of novels at present but I'm finding that a lot harder!
I know you are passionate about vocal health, how much can you influence the actors with whom you work regarding their vocal health?
I don't usually gain any ground on the matter of smoking but I hope the breathing work and general awareness does help. Certainly the actors at Regents' Park become very voice aware. They soon find that if they don't warm up and cool down and use steam and drink enough water, then their understudy gets the action!
Showing actors'
vocal folds in action can provide some proper respect, I find…
On films, actors are sometimes asked to do unhealthy things like
vomit or have a coughing fit thirty times in a row. At least I am on
hand to try to rehabilitate them to the best of my ability and to
keep an ear out for any signs of damage. I can also limit the
unhealthy work to close-ups by making the director more voice-aware.
What does 2005 bring work-wise Mel?
Goodness knows. Everything is very quiet at present. I am hoping to be in my usual spot in the auditorium at Regents Park for the month of May and I am running some voice workshops at the Actors' Centre. I did a little work on ADR (post-synching) with a young actor on "Charlie & the Chocolate Factory", but unfortunately didn't get to work with my hero, Johnny Depp! Films tend come up at short notice, so anything or nothing could be round the corner. I am certainly going to try to get on with the writing.
Finally Mel what drives you on? You are part of an elite group of voice teachers working in film, a writer, you have a heavy workload and you are active in the BVA, what personal challenges and goals remain?
I love to go on learning and questioning and I'm fighting a desire to do a PhD, which would be expensive and stop me writing another book! And I still have many questions to get answered. One's perception of the work changes constantly and one's own body is changing too, which throws up more questions!
I would love to revisit Central Africa and explore voice-work there. I am fascinated by vocal use in different parts of the world. When I was in Singapore, I found the vocal techniques of Chinese Opera fascinating - it had some echoes of that early 'Sinus-Tone' work. If I win the lottery I will go on a 'voice journey' of the world!
I also want to direct in theatre again and to raise awareness of the importance of voice in film. I might even dare to tread the boards again!