Customer comments on this selection.
 This book saved my acting!
I can't praise this book highly enough!
I'm a student at a conservatory actor training course in Australia and had struggled with my vocal training for the first year and a half, but after reading the reviews on Amazon I decided to buy this book and it has absolutely changed my acting.
Jones sets out the daily vocal workout (warm-up) in a logical, easy-to-follow way and, more importantly, explains exactly WHY each exercise is important and how it will directly affect the voice. He also has excellent exercises that help with release and the connection of thought to breath and emotion, in a way that is natural and which bypasses the 'head'.
While there are many other books on the market which cover similar ideas (Freeing the Natural Voice, The Right to Speak, Voice & the Actor), Jones' book worked for me because it is so simple and to the point.
I found that this, along with Alexander movement training, completely changed my voice and allowed me to access parts of my vocal range that I had never been able to before, as well as making me a much more open and emotionally connected actor.
If you're serious about your development as an actor and want an accessible and effective approach to voice training, then I'd highly recommend getting your hands on a copy of this book.
In vocal training in spanish works as well!!
As a vocal train. teacher in Mexico, I must say this an enlighting book!
Star Quotes
The information on the back cover of the book, especially the quotes, was great. I thought that it would help other readers to be able see it.
During my time as a student of Chuck Jones, I learned more about acting than during any other period of my training. I can't say enough positive things about him as both a teacher and a person.
Edie Falco
Chuck's work is an extraordinary gift. It connects the voice to the imagination and emotion every actor prays for - I am so grateful.
Jessica Hecht
Chuck Jones is a major American voice teacher whose work actively implements careers.
Michael Howard
A life saver. Chuck's exercises have not only greatly improved my breathing and vocal range, but have allowed me more freedom in my work. They have become an indispensable part of my daily ritual.
Carla Gugino
Chuck Jones is the most influential teacher I've ever had. He deepened and strengthened not only my voice but also my acting.
Francie Swift
Chuck Jones is a graduate of Cornell University and has taught voice at S.U.N.Y. Purchase, New York; California Institute of the Arts; Playwrights Horizons, New York University; University of California, Berkeley; Circle In The Square, New York University; Circle Repertory Company; The Working Theater (Kristin Linklater, Joseph Chaikin), Caymichael Patten Studio; and the Michael Howard Studios. He has fifteen years of professional acting credits on and off Broadway, in England at the Royal Court Theatre, South America, and in British and American television. In addition, he has been a vocal coach on many films and Broadway productions. Among the successful actors he has coached or taught are: Edie Falco, Keanu Reeves, William Hurt, Holly Hunter, Carla Gugino, Wesley Snipes, Jessica Hecht, Marisa Tomei, Parker Posie, Jennifer Jason Leigh, Steven Weber, Stanley Tucci, Francie Swift, Kathleen Chalfont, Ellen Barkin, and Jeff Daniels.
An essential book for serious actors
A very interesting book!The Chuck Jones' method is efficient, very effective, and clear. An expressive voice can be developed doing the exercises just 10 minutes a day. He has coached many actors including Edie Falco, Keanu Reeves, Jennifer Jason Leigh, William Hurt, Stanley Tucci, Jeff Daniels, Wesley Snipes, and Parker Posey.
A "must have" for every serious actor!
This small book, only 141 pages in length, offers a most refreshing, lively and accessible guide to practical voice training written for actors and voice students who strive for honest performances using a voice that responds naturally to their inner selves. Chuck Jones, a remarkable teacher, has pioneered his voice training practices through many years of acting and teaching experience, guiding innumerable voice students and performing arts professionals to integrate fully expressive voices into their work.
Jones' approach to vocal training is unique since he clearly and very convincingly focuses on the relationship between vocal training and acting, thereby supporting American actor training in which actors are encouraged to draw on their own emotional lives and resources. Jones explains that "....voice training does more than solve vocal problems: Voice training allows actors to extend their range, develop power, and create that mysterious quality known as presence....helps put actors in touch with their deepest emotional states and allows them to connect to their roles in a profound way....helps actors to develop the capacity to reveal the full range of their inner lives." (page 23)
In the first half of the book Jones examines fundamental acting issues that relate specifically to the vocal instrument such as, being heard, character choices, and vocal power. In the second half of the book, Jones introduces a very specific, logical sequence of exercises as part of a daily vocal workout that release, stretch, strengthen, increase the expressive range, resonance and flexibility of the vocal anatomy and physical instrument leading to a heightened physical and emotional awareness.
Jones brings the book to a close by defining how to connect the voice to the emotional life, breathing as part of acting, and finally, how to get used to the new sound that results from his vocal training practices; thus Jones addresses practically the full integration of the expressive voice into acting work based on an honest connection that includes the physiological, the physical and the emotional aspects of the actor's instrument eliminating the "mystery" from voice training.
I first met Chuck Jones about 15 years ago when I attended his voice class as a student and his work and who he is as a teacher changed my life and my work as an actress! He took the "mystery" out of voice production for me as an actress and he is my inspiration for becoming the voice teacher I am today.
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