Respiration and 'Get to know your voice' Portfolio

Respiration and ‘Get to know your voice.’

The basics of respiration are that it’s the act of breathing, inhaling Oxygen and exhaling Carbon dioxide or also known as inspiration and expiration. Breathing is the moving of the air into and out of the lungs which is also known as ventilation." The process by which oxygen is carried to body cells and carbon dioxide (C02) is removed is called respiration." The three ways this is done is Pulmonary ventilation, external respiration and the exchange of respiratory gases. (Baggaley,2001,16)
     I find this section of learning about the voice really interesting because it teaches me more about what I have; mild Pulmonary stenosis. Which is the tightening of a vessel/valve which means my heart has to pump harder to overcome the obstruction. So from this I know about Pulmonary ventilation which is the rate of air in and out of the heart. 

My respiration and heart condition has no major effect on my overall health but when I do catch a cough I know that I need to pay more attention to my breathing; I do Yoga exercises to open out my lungs to allow deeper breaths into my lungs. These exercises will also help my respiration by allowing more, deeper breaths into my lungs, which allows me to project my voice louder.

The respiratory system is made up of organs which are involved in breathing. The organs include the sinuses, throat, larynx, trachea, bronchial tube, lungs, nose and bronchioles. Without these breathing would become extremely difficult, and in later voice lessons we will come to learn how to look after our bodies. My drawing of the Trachea is very simple but it helps me to remember what it looks like, to me it looks like broccoli The trachea is known as the windpipe, which is connected to the Larynx and Pharynx. The trachea runs from your sinuses down to your lungs (as you can see in the diagram above.) 

Oxygen enters the body through the mouth and nose. It then passes through the throat (larynx, which is where speech sound is produced). Then to the Trachea, which as you can see in the diagram, is a tube that makes an entrance to the lungs. When it enters the chest cavity, the trachea splits in two, to the right and left lung. These two new tubes are called the Bronchus; which then form the bronchial tubes after dividing into smaller tubes. These small tubes go straight into the lungs and connect to tiny sacs called Alveoli. These air-filled sacs are surrounded by capillaries.

The oxygen that is inhaled through the nose, passes the alveoli and then diffuses through the capillaries into the arterial blood. Breathing through the nose is meant to increase the circulation of air around the body, which naturally, is better for you rather than breathing through your mouth. Also the hairs in your nostrils stop germs from entering your body, which is another benefit of breathing through your mouth. 'In through your nose and out through your mouth' is a common breathing pattern which allows your body to release more Co2. Fact: it is impossible to breath through your nose and breathe out of your mouth at the same time. Whilst the process of air travelling through your body continues, the waste blood from the veins (tubes that form part of the blood circulation process) releases its CO2 into the alveoli. The CO2 then goes through the same way out of the lungs when you exhale, usually through your nose. 

The lungs fill with air as you inhale, oxygen is vital for all the organs in your body to be able to function properly, and your lungs get rid of CO2. The lungs are made up of pink tissue. They take up the majority of the chest cavity.

The breathing process:

Air inhaled through the mouth or nose, the chest expands and the diaphragm (a sheet of muscles) contracts as well as the abdomen which expands outwardly.

Exhaling; the stomach contracts inwards (flat) the diaphragm relaxes (into an upside down rainbow shape) the chest contracts and the air is finally released through mouth or nose. The image to the right is a drawing I did in class to show me how the diaphram moves when we inhale and exhale. The diaphram is a sheet of muscles that contract and relax. 

The Intercostal muscles have three registers of voice, the three being high low and middle range. To reach the high range a human will need to inhale more breath, and to less breath for the low range. The intercostals act as an elastic band with muscle memory. For example if you were to stretch an elastic band, once released it will snap back into place. The intercostals will snap back into place (muscle memory) after inhaling and exhaling. We did an exercise for this; the high as a kite exercise. For this we had to say short phrases for each register of the voice. High being the head voice, middle being a normal voice and low being a chesty voice. 

Respiration is key for an actor because we have to deal with nerves, remembering lines, delivering them clearly and for all of this we need to have good breath control. Nerves are a key disruption in calm respiration (breath control) meaning it speeds up your breathing and heart rate increases. On stage, if nerves kick in your lines will be delivered considerably weaker if your respiration is poor. If this happens on stage, bend your knees slightly and put your tongue at the top of your mouth, this is a natural position for a human (almost like the Alexander technique stood up right) Remember to deliver your lines slowly so you don't run out of breath and learn lines with pauses for breath. 

‘Get to know your voice’
'Voice is a tool to the actor, and the holistic nature shouldn't be forgotten. The voice is communication method in performing' Sarah Harris.

In class, we were asked to fill out a Personal Voice assessment sheet. On this sheet we had to rank our voice (1 being disagree and 5 being agree) We ranked our voices on; voice production, articulation, pace, variety in tone and pitch and breath control. I discovered my weakness was good pace at a 2. The others rated the same at 3.

Continuing with the sheet,we then had to write down the problems with our voice my first one being to project my voice. Number two being to verify my tone and pitch; and thirdly to make sure all words are delivered clearly so good articulation.