1. Close your eyes.
2. Your feet are shoulder width apart. In your mind’s eye, see that your feet are
directly beneath your hip bones, and your hip bones are directly beneath your
shoulders.
3. Your weight is evenly distributed between your feet. Rock slightly forward
and backward and from side to side to test this.
4. Your knees are slightly bent.
5. Your pelvis is slightly tipped under.
6. Your spine is like a long vertical rope with knots (the vertebrae). It hangs
from the first vertebrae of your neck straight down to the last vertebrae above
your tailbone.
7. Your head balances on the top of your neck. In your mind’s eye your head is
suspended by a helium balloon, attached by a string to the place on the top of
your head where your hair swirls around.
8. Your shoulders are relaxed back and down. Roll them around in their joints
a few times backward to check this.
9. Your arms are loose at your sides.
10. Your hands are relaxed, and all your fingers are loose.
11. All the muscles in your face are relaxed. Your jaw is slack. Your mouth is
relaxed and open.
12. You are breathing through your mouth.
13. Your stomach is loose, fat and flabby. In your mind’s eye, see the air come in
cool over your tongue, go all the way down the inside of your torso into your fat,
flabby relaxed stomach and come back up and out warm as you exhale.
14. Take a deep, relaxing inhalation and let out a deep, relaxing exhalation
The Vocal Check
The vocal check gives you a beginning point in the vocal warm-up and physical relaxation. It’s a sentence that you say at the start and will repeat at the end.
A standard sentence for a vocal check is ―Good morning, ladies and gentlemen of the jury, my name is Tien Le and I will now present my case.
You can should vary the text of your vocal check from day to day.
Steps to the Vocal Check
1. Get into the basic stance, keeping your eyes closed.
2. Inhale, through your mouth into your fat, flabby, relaxed stomach.
3. Exhale through your mouth and as you do so, say your vocal check.
4. Make a mental note of how relaxed your voice sounded, where it was placed,
and how rich it was.
5. Slowly inhale and exhale.