Kristin’s Books

Kristin Linklater was one of the most recognised names in the field of voice production for actors having published two leading textbooks, Freeing the Natural Voice: Imagery and Art in the Practice of Voice and Language (1976); revised edition 2006) and Freeing Shakespeare’s Voice: The Actor’s Guide to Talking the Text (1992) which have sold over 200,000 copies and been translated into six languages.

As preparation for any voice training the direction and knowledge in these books is invaluable. Below are snippets from both books and links to buy on-line.

Freeing the Natural Voice: Imagery and Art in the Practice of Voice and Language(1976; revised edition 2006)

The classic voice-training for actors, teachers of voice and anyone interested in vocal expression - by a pre-eminent voice teacher, actor and director. Fully revised and expanded edition. Linklater’s approach is to liberate the voice you have rather than apply vocal techniques from the outside. Her basic assumption is that everyone possesses a voice capable of expressing whatever emotion, mood or thought he/she experiences.

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“a radical breakaway from the old formal methods... an invaluable new resource... essential”
Educational Theatre Journal

“the best and only work of its kind for vocal training”
Education Theatre News

“This book is a classic. Beyond the detailed technical expertise it contains, it resonates, in the ample sense of the word, with anyone slightly aware of the relation between mind and body. I only wish I would be disciplined enough to follow its teachings without fail. I know I would find and liberate whatever my natural voice is.”
Antonio Damasio
Director, Brain and Creativity Institute, University of Southern California, and author of Descartes' Error, Looking for Spinoza and The Feeling of What Happens.

Freeing the Natural Voice: Imagery and Art in the Practice of Voice and Language
Freeing Shakespeare’s Voice: The Actor’s Guide to Talking the Text(1992)

A practical approach to breaking through the barriers of restraint and incomprehension when faced with Shakespeare. Beginning by allowing an emotional rather than intellectual relationship to Elizabethan language, she analyses Shakespeare's strategies for creating character, story and meaning. Using copious examples from the plays, Linklater offers her readers the tools to increase understanding and make Shakespeare's words their own.

'Listening in to classical texts we can hear how free and wide-ranging the classical voice was... Well-nourished by a diet of songs, poems and stories still rooted in a thousand-year-old oral tradition'

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liberate whatever my natural voice is."
Antonio Damasio
Director, Brain and Creativity Institute, University of Southern California, and author of Descartes' Error, Looking for Spinoza and The Feeling of What Happens.

Freeing Shakespeare’s Voice: The Actor’s Guide to Talking the Text