Voice Box
- Jules Ritch
(Click on the image to view the video)
The legacy of Kristin Linklater
An Appeal to her friends, family and world-wide community
Since the sad news of Kristin’s death, we have been overwhelmed by the support and love you have shown her. We have been comforted and uplifted by the often passionate expressions of gratitude you have expressed towards her and her lifelong vision.
We are determined that her work – so valuable to so many people - should continue. But we need your help if it is to be carried on.
This year, the Coronavirus epidemic has meant that courses in Orkney have been cancelled, and the centre remains closed. But we believe that it can – and will – open again, to welcome students and teachers back to the place that Kristin herself created and which lies at the heart of everything she did.
To do that we must raise enough funds to keep it going through this year, to meet its running costs, clear off debts, and set it on a stable footing for the future.
Our £140,000 ($176,000) target
We have drawn up a two-phase business plan which has a target of £140,000 ($176,000.) If, with your help, we can reach that goal, then the Kristin Linklater Voice Centre (KLVC) has a future.
PHASE 1: THE BRIDGE FROM TODAY TO SPRING 2021
We transition KLVC to charitable status, whilst retaining the key personnel in Orkney who make it work, clearing debts accrued during the shut down, while simultaneously offering virtual coaching, generously donated by support from a number of Kristin’s finest teachers.
PHASE 2: THE RELAUNCH
We’re aiming for next Spring, and a dynamic rotating team of Linklater teachers continuing Kristin’s work. She herself was actively pursuing this transition at the time of her death, setting the Centre on a stable footing.
The initial total is enough, we believe, to save, and sustain KLVC over the next year. These funds will allow us to keep the lights on, reposition ourselves as a not-for-profit organisation, and breathe new life into the Centre in a post pandemic era. This was Kristin’s dearest wish – and we are determined to honor it. Additionally we will be establishing the Kristin Linklater Memorial Fund to improve fundamentally the access and diversity of the Centre. For KLVC to have a future it needs to increase radically BIPOC representation in both Linklater teaching ranks AND workshop participation.
Will you help us ensure that her legacy continues and flourishes in Orkney?
On Mom and Orkney, a message from Hamish Linklater
Mom’s sudden passing has been immeasurably hard, but it's been overwhelming to receive so many messages about the effect her work has had on people’s lives.
Mom was brought up in Orkney and often spoke about how important the islands' landscape was to her work. She encouraged workshop attendees to explore, and experience the cliff tops and rocky beaches, the ancient neolithic UNESCO world heritage sites, the howl of the North Sea, all helping participants understand the source and force behind what she was doing. (Mom's work sizzled with the elements of the landscape in which she was raised).
"My work is filled with images of nature, and I think that is due to the fact that I grew up surrounded by the ocean, birds in rocky cliffs, grassy hillsides, and the wind and the rain." Kristin Linklater
This was Mom’s home, but she also built her Centre here because it was the optimal, natural, and inspired location for her work to be best understood, integrated, and breathed. Mom’s great hope was to have her work continue in Orkney, and we would be so grateful if you would help us at this critical stage in our endeavor.
Hamish Linklater
DONATE NOW
- Jules Ritch
The Progression Ditty
Kristin performs a her 'Voice Ditty' of The Progression Ditty
(Audio - Voice only) Enjoy.
Please click on the image below
The Progression Ditty
Spine aligned Now I find My body-mind
A soundless sigh
Don't ask why
Then sign with sound
From the ground
Lips hum
Bones thrum
Shake them loose
Loosey-goose
Stretch and yawn
As if new-born
Shake the jaw -
Loose - it's the law!
Soft palate and tongue -
There are notes to be sung
Then - the resonators
Chest, mouth, teeth vibrators
Call out "Hey, bro!"
Swing a rainbow
The ribs get a stretch
(please don't kvetch!)
We visit the sinus
More or less - plus or minus
Then nasal and skull -
Range is not dull
Three octaves expression
Will make an impression
Lips and tongue start to play
Once again - a new day!
My voice is free!
Rejoice! It's Me!!
What's next?
Oh yes - the text.
Learn it by heart -
That's the start of the art
Ask why and who
6 questions will do
Where, how, when,
WHY, WHY - and then -
The 5 essential P's
I know about these
I am being
I am seeing
I'm transforming
Not performing
(Stanislavsky
Please don't laughski)
I will practise
And I'll act this
I'll say
And I'll pray
This litany each day
Know it
Don't show it
Don't spill it
You'll kill it
(While you're about it
You could, just once, shout it)
Then - contain it
Maintain it
Don't explain it
Believe it
And breathe it
Feel it
Reveal it.
I'll say
And pray
This prayer
Each day To crack this I must practise
Kristin Linklater
- Jules Ritch
Kristin stars in Sarah Archer's latest 'The Speaking Club' podcast.
Kristin in conversation with Sarah Archer on The Speaking Club - 116 'Setting your Authentic Voice free for Great Public Speaking',
Kristin starts with an explosive 'voice ditty', then Sarah opens up a wide discussion: mind, body and voice connections, the vertical experience of voice, mantras to conquer primal stage fright, voice quality tips, controversy - who was Shakespeare? - and 'aha' stories.
Sarah Archer runs 'The Speaking Club' podcast. A comedian, actress, speaker, writer, and coach, Sarah has performed comedy and acted all over the UK for nearly 18 years. She uses storytelling and humour to coach students on how to captivate audiences.
The Speaking Club - 116 'Setting your Authentic Voice free for Great Public Speaking'
By Sarah Archer Posted 30th April 2020
- Jules Ritch
Whilst in self-isolation Kristin performs her #AllTheWorld'sAStage (2020)
We hope you enjoy....
