Meguro UNESCO Lecture Series “Voice Dojo – Japanese voice is in danger”
Sponsored by Meguro Board of Education / Organized by NPO Meguro UNESCO Association
Sept. 2 (Wed.) 10:00 - / Nakameguro Square / Approx. 50 attendees
Lecturer: Ms. Yoko Yamamura, Kanze School Noh performer
On a chilly and cloudy day for early September I headed for the lecture venue wondering about the unfamiliar words “voice dojo” and what “Japanese voice is in danger” meant.
The lecturer, a Noh performer, spoke in a voice loud enough to reach every corner of the room without a microphone.
When Ms Yamamura started a “voice dojo”, she assumed her students would be readers, theater people, and so on. However, many of her students are now ordinary people who have voice problems, since in modern Japanese society neighbor relations are weak and one can lead a social life, like shopping at a supermarket, without saying a word. Japanese people, whose way of moving their jaws is different from that of Westerners, can talk using only the tip of their mouths. So, if they aren’t breathing abdominally, they are unaware that they aren’t. Very often men talk, for example, in a forced low voice to emphasize their manliness, and women purr like a cat on purpose.
When you vocalize with abdominal breath support, however, your voice becomes a normal one. Then you can make yourself really understood. You need to vocalize with breath support in order to express yourself. When you greet, reply, say thank you, or even when you scold your child, your very normal voice makes your message get across. Even a pet dog did “wait” for the first time when his owner said “Wait!” with abdominal breath support, Ms. Yamamura reported.
We later practiced abdominal breathing, maintaining a correct posture under her direction. Ms. Yamamura demonstrated various different voices to show how the use of the breath makes a difference. In admiration I was convinced of the validity of her theory. Because of many concrete examples she cited and her humorous tone, the lecture was over before we knew it.
On the way home, I found myself in an unusually beautiful posture, with my back straight, hoping to take this occasion to master how to use my normal voice for better communication. It was certainly a very useful and instructive lecture.
-written by Atsuko Shimizu and translated by Michiko Miyamoto
