Voice and Speech Training in the New Millennium

July 21, 2011 - PRLog -- Voice and Speech Training in the New Millennium: Conversations with Master Teachers by Nancy Saklad


*Review copies available
*Author available for interview

The study of voice and speech has evolved a long way since Demosthenes became the greatest orator in ancient Greece by allegedly overcoming his speech impediment by putting stones in his mouth. The last hundred years have produced a wealth and diversity of approaches for studying speech. The interviews in this book represent a wide range of techniques and schools of thought, but they all contain a unified spirit and acknowledgement that voice work is fundamental to the acting training process and has the potential to resonate profoundly with the audience.
   Actors will read Voice and Speech Training in the New Millennium: Conversations with Master Teachers ($19.99, Applause Theatre & Cinema Books) and come away with tools for breathing, relaxing, and shifting body and voice. Today’s leading speech teachers, some of whom have inspired more than one generation of actors, teachers, and voice professionals, are magicians of the genuine sort who bring about essential transformation. Here, author Nancy Saklad has interviewed 24 of today’s leading vocal masters including Richard Armstrong, Robert Barton, Fran Bennett, Cicely Berry, David Carey, Louis Colaianni, Rocco Dal Vera, Catherine Fitzmaurice, Jan Gist, Andrea Haring, Nancy Houfek, Deb Kinghorn, Dudley Knight, Saul Kotzubei, Nancy Krebs, Gillian Lane-Plescia, Kristin Linklater, Natsuko Ohama, Bonnie Raphael, Patsy Rodenburg, Susan Sweeney, Philip Thompson, Andrew Wade, and Robert Neff Williams.

Nancy Saklad (Kingston, NY) teaches voice and speech and acting at the State University of New York at New Paltz. She is a professional freelance director and voice and speech coach.

June 2011   $19.99      Paperback   978-1-61774-058-9   300 pages   6˝ x 9˝
Applause Theatre & Cinema Books, an imprint of Hal Leonard Performing Arts Publishing Group


Advance Praise for
Voice and Speech Training in the New Millennium

“Nancy Saklad’s interviews open windows into the minds and souls of the most influential voice and speech trainers of our era.  Understanding these trainers’ passion for human expression will be immensely informative and inspirational to actors and other voice teachers, whether they are just beginning their career or are firmly established.   The multitude of pedagogical and practical ideas discussed by these trainers can serve as great springboards toward further investigating one’s own growth as an artist.”
-- Michael J. Barnes, Voice & Speech Specialist for Wayne State University, VASTA Board of Directors

“These marvelous interviews with many of the world’s foremost teachers and practitioners, explore the inseparable relationship between actor training and voice and speech training. This book is the most comprehensive examination of the methodology of master voice and speech teachers that is available and the probing, insightful questions serve to reveal both the person and their philosophy of training.”
-- Brant Pope, University of Texas at Austin Theatre and Dance Department Chair

“This is a wonderful amazingly comprehensive book. It made me wish I had one of these extraordinary teachers. Their varied but singular techniques have enriched our theatre profoundly.”
--Frances Sternhagen, actress

“Nancy Saklad has gathered in one text the wisdom of the wide breadth of approaches in our field of voice and speech training. As a teacher and as an actor, I am grateful for all the instruction and insight I have gathered from these individuals and incorporated into my own work.”
--Robert Ramirez, Professor of Voice and Speech at University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign