, attempts to shed light on how to improve vocal awareness through the development of a deeper and more concretized contact between the voice and, what she calls, ‘emotional impulse’ that is not inhibited but, supported and shaped by the intellect. Her book is structured in such a way that the reader is invited to experiment with a number of different exercises that are designed, in part one; to free the voice from certain inhibiting factors that have accumulated overtime (mostly through habit), in part two, (here on working with a ‘liberated’ voice); to go through a developmental process which focuses on range and power (viz. the ‘resonating ladder’), in part three; to turn focus to the breathing apparatus and thereby develop an awareness and sensitivity to different ‘areas of breath’ in the body and, in part four; to bridge the connection of this work to text and acting. Through this approach, Linklater states that the general aim of the book is to “present a lucid view of the voice in the general context of human communication and to provide a series of exercises to free, develop and strengthen the voice – first as a human instrument, then as the human actor’s instrument” (Linklater, p 1). This essay will summarize some of the major points of the book, offer briefs descriptions of some of the exercises and determine whether this book could be useful to the aspiring actor who is interested in learning more about the craft of voice and speech.
Linklater claims that the particular approach of this book is something that has evolved over a number of years and is largely the result of the work of Iris Warren; a pioneer in the science of voice production because of his emphasis on turning the focus of voice work from external physiological knowledge to internal psychological understanding. Though heavily influenced by Warren, Linklater’s book also draws influence from certain movement techniques such as Tai...