Vocal interpretation of a character - AQAPitch, quality, resonance, tone and volume

Pitch

Pitch is how high or low the voice sounds, and is often determined by physiological factors such as height, weight and age. When people experience intense emotions, their pitch can significantly change. For example, if someone is excited, their pitch may become quite high. When someone barely changes their pitch, their voice is described as monotone.

Quality

Quality refers to the basic sound of the voice and is largely influenced by how sound moves through the vocal folds. A character might talk with a breathy vocal quality when more air is let through the vocal folds, or with a creaky quality if they reduce the amount of air. These changes in sound can tell the audience information about a character’s circumstances, such as age and health.

Resonance

Resonance refers to the placement of the voice and where the sound resonates, eg in the chest, throat or nose. Performers are often taught to resonate from their chest, as it produces a rich and clear sound, but they may choose to resonate sound in different areas, eg from their nose to produce a nasal sound. Resonance is often linked to accent - the Australian accent resonates strongly in the nose, for example.

Tone

Tone is the emotional sound of the voice, eg frightened, angry or joyful, and is very important in revealing the subtext of a line. For example, the line ‘I’m fine’ can be said with a cheerful or an anxious tone of voice, changing the subtext of the line and conveying to the audience a completely different meaning.

Volume

Volume refers to how loud or quiet the voice is. While performers will need to be loud enough to be heard by everyone in the audience, they can change their volume to express a character’s emotions. While it might be obvious to shout to show anger, exploring a different choice, eg reduced volume to show anger, could have an equally powerful effect on stage.