It takes a great deal of time and practice to learn ventriloquism. Only if you have the proper guidence you can eliminate the time you waste for learning the art from wrong misleading content over the web. And insted use the time to focus more on the practicing.
if you want to learn ventriloquism like a professional (Jeff Dunham, Poul Zerdin, Terry Fator, …) Then this professional ventriloquist online course is for you!
Remember to you practice hard and stay patient to trully master your skills.
As with any interest, having a mentor will greatly increase your learning curve versus learning on your own. Once the budding ventriloquist has developed and mastered the art of ventriloquism, the next step is to take these accomplishments forward for entertainment purposes.
This article will talk about the ins and outs of where you should begin and how to get started.
Where can You Start?
1. The Internet
This is probably the best free place to start when looking to learn from. There are forums, message boards, and websites dedicated to the performing arts. It is likely that you will find a few ventriloquists lurking there.
Instructions and techniques could be incorrect! Which will greatly increase your learning process.
A video tutorial/guide written by a professional ventriloquist is the second best tool in learning ventriloquism if you cannot find one in person.
2. Attend Shows
Go to any featured ventriloquist shows in your area. These guys know ventriloquism how it works from the bottom up. These are usually held in comedy clubs, but may also be in hospitals and schools.
After the show, many professional ventriloquists will hang around and speak with the audience. That is your chance to share your desire to learn ventriloquism, and see if he/she would be willing to help teach you the methods.
3. Hire a Ventriloquist
Maybe your child has an upcoming birthday or school party that you could hire a ventriloquist for. This would give you an even better chance to talk face-to-face with him/her, since you will need to be there to pay them for their services. You may try to strike up a conversation about your interest. See if he/she is interested in helping you get started with ventriloquism, how it works.
Tips For Your First Performance
In a ventriloquism performance, the acting and dialogue play an important part in entertaining the audience. They add to the illusion that the voice is coming from somewhere other than the ventriloquist. Here are some pointers of how to go about it.
1. Certain words and phrases can’t be said without moving the lips, and use of these sounds by the ventriloquist figure should be avoided for example the words containing “P‘s” or “B‘ s.”
2. When you speak in your natural voice, if you can, without sounding false or forced, employ the words or sounds that are impracticable in ventriloquism.
This will help to conceal the limitations of ventriloquism. Also, when speaking naturally exaggerate slightly the movement of the lips to help cover any slight movement of your lips when talking.
3. Your ventriloquist figure should have the punch line and amusing comments. The audience has come to see the “dummy” and not you. Its dialogue should be brief; you do not want to use three words when one will do the trick.
4. When speaking your mouth should be slightly open to allow sufficient volume to be heard. However, it should not be so full that your audience can see your tongue moving.
5. When speaking, you need to keep your face and lips as still as you can. As much as possible you want your expression to be natural when you are “listening” to your ventriloquist figure’s speaking.
6. Your expressions and attitude towards your figures and distant voices should be as though they are real to you. And always listen to your ventriloquist figure and voices as if it was the first time you had heard them. Act surprised, angry, concerned or happy in response to ventriloquist figures comments to show the full import of what has been said.
7. Your figures should be real characters. Crack jokes and reprimand them as if they were living and breathing. You are seeking to assist in creating the impression that the puppet is doing a prank or misbehaving.
For best effect the dialogue is written so that the dummy has the best lines and that the words and sounds that can’t be said. You do the remaining parts to distance yourself from the personality.
In summary, learning ventriloquism, how it works is a process. You just need to practice till you get it. But remember that the ventriloquist’s acting plays are major role maintaining the illusion that the dummy is real. By adding the areas of acting and dialogue to your ventriloquism skills, you will be able to give a compelling ventriloquism performance.
Top image author: Lisa Brawn, Source: link