Featured

Voice Over: Cartoons & Videogames (Theresa Buchheister & Ryan Downey)

Presented by: Theresa Buchheister and Ryan William Downey –

Held online over Zoom:

Voice Over director Theresa Buchheister has directed and sound-engineered many cartoons and videogames, including Cartoon Network’s Pokémon XYZ, Hoopa and the Clash of Ages, Nickelodeon’s The Winx Club and Netflix’s World of Winx, Robocar Poli, Mily: Miss Questions, BoyGirlDogCatMouseCheese, and others that they cannot discuss because of NDAs! As a performer, Theresa has voiced cartoon characters on Pokémon, The Winx Club, Mily, and more. Voice actor Ryan William Downey has been heard on podcasts, audiobooks, in many plays and, most notably, on the Pokémon film and television series playing a variety of characters.

Online Teaching Statement from Theresa Buchheister and Ryan W. Downey: “The voice over landscape is always changing! While we are in a moment of great change, we can adapt, learn, and apply tried and true techniques to performance, professionalism, and pursuit. In our online workshops over Zoom, we will cover cover the essential basics, build on those basics with practices and techniques, work out our muscles on audition material, and delve into home studio set-ups. Voice over performance is unique and expansive. And more vital than ever.”

Over the course of this workshop, Theresa and Ryan will take you on a deep dive into the basic skills and valuable practices of cartoon and videogame voiceover performance. First, you will dip into the basics: common terms, valuable warm-ups and tricks, audition and performance techniques, differentiation from other areas of voice acting, what your voice brings to the table, and more. Then, you will put these into practice: character development, performing copy, and examining your versatility. You will be sent home with vocal homework and material to practice, and you will have the opportunity to perform an in-class expanded audition. You will present your copy, receive quick and specific direction, followed by notes and critique. If time allows, further topics will be explored just as text analysis and demo reels.

This workshop is open to those with VO experience looking to sharpen and expand their audition and performance skills, as well as to performers who are new to VO looking for an introduction to the craft.

Purchase with Voice Over: Introduction in Fall 2024 for $15 off!

Singing Voice 1

Singing and the ability to use the voice as an expressive instrument are an essential part of your skill set as an actor. Most actors will be called upon to sing at some point, regardless of whether your interests and talents run to musical theater. The study and practice of singing enhances your sense of musical form, pitch, rhythm, and language, and brings greater freedom, range and timbre to the speaking voice. Level 1 Singing is open to all — from total beginners to those who want to reinforce basic technique or strengthen your vocal instrument. The focus is on freeing, developing and strengthening the voice. Exercises emphasize relaxation and the most effective use of breath, an even use of the voice throughout the range, and awareness of how the entire body contributes to the production of sound. Level 1 will incorporate group and individual exercises, and work on songs of different genres. [Accompanist provided.]

When choosing a class, please refer to instructors’ teaching statements and bios, found on the faculty page, for greater detail about their approach to meeting the course goals. Every instructor brings their own methods and experience and teaching styles vary. You are encouraged to read about and audit the classes of each instructor to find the right fit for you:

SINGING 1 INSTRUCTORS
Martha Bernard | John Bowen

HB Studio offers both online classes and in-person classes at the Studio. Before your first class, please review the information outlined on the relevant page(s). Class titles below indicate which are running online vs. in person.

Most classes run for 10 weeks. Some classes are offered in two 5-week parts (Part A & Part B), and you can sign up for either part independently or register for both parts for $15 off. You can register for Part B without taking Part A:

Speaking Voice 1

IN-PERSON CLASSES meet 1 day/week for the full 10-week term.
ONLINE CLASSES meet 1 day/week and are offered in 5-week Parts. Sign up for either Part A or Part B independently (5 weeks each), or join both for the full 10-week term. You may join Part B without taking Part A.

This class employs the destructuring and restructuring processes of Fitzmaurice Voicework® devised by Catherine Fitzmaurice.

Training in voice work begins with the cultivation of deep physical awareness. Specific attention will be given to how the body—bones, muscles, breath, and nervous system – relates to healthy vocal production and vocal freedom. Examine how it feels to stand on your feet. Learn about how you live in your body, how you relate to your head and neck and shoulders. Discover how this affects your use of voice and influences healthy vocal spontaneity and expressiveness. Develop curiosity about these sensations and the circumstances and habits that affect them. Work through specific exercises to develop a Level 1 vocal and creative warm up sequence that will become your ongoing practice. Through your warm up become used to the process of checking in: recognizing and allowing the physical/emotional moment you are in and the circumstances that attend it, experiencing the moment, and working from it. Develop a relationship with the habitual patterns that influence how you engage with yourself–your skeletal and muscular structures, autonomic nervous system, your breath and your voice. Develop spontaneity, learning what it feels like to give in to a physical experience. With curiosity, explore and experience rigidity in the body through the release of tension, breathing, and spontaneous truthful sound. Learn the basic anatomy that supports breathing, sound making, and articulation in speech. Throughout Level 1 you are asked to discover your own process and be with others in theirs, so together the group develops a sense of what it means to be heard, seen and understood.

Be advised that this Level requires time to master, and most actors will need a two- or three- term investment at Level 1 to develop awareness and become confident in these practices. All else in voice and speech work will build on this foundation.

SPEAKING VOICE 1 INSTRUCTORS
Craig Dolezel | Theresa McElwee | Ilse Pfeifer

Required for class: Yoga Mat (you must bring your own for in-person classes)
Recommended for class: Zafu, Yoga Block