Allison Tolman Quotes

Voices are always a challenge. I always have to work at each accent I do.

Work on the accent, it will enliven the whole.

In the end, to do a good accent, you just have to be a good listener.

It's tricky when you're doing a recording, because the only weapon you have is your voice and the delivery of that voice. You don't have a gesture or a facial expression, there are no costumes or set pieces. Everything needs to be present in the voice.

I don't think I'm a singer that likes to flex my vocals. I'll do some runs and a bunch of high notes, but that's it. I really pride myself and I really work on just trying to sing. Like emotions. Just using my voice, not doing anything extra.

Where I think the American actor is slightly at a disadvantage is in vocal technique. I don't think that words are their friend in the same way that English actors are used to using words: understanding about consonance and how to shade a vowel to show emotional color.

For any actor, voice is his strength.

There are some sounds that English singers find quite difficult to manipulate.

For me the voice is the most important, but making your singing believable makes a great performer.

People often ask me how I developed my vocal sound, and the answer usually disappoints them: 'It's just the way I sound when I sing.'

The human voice is the most perfect instrument of all.

We had a dialogue coach. She helped us with our T's.

Vocally, I have learned to find my strength, and my voice has developed a lot since 'Be Here.' I learned to sing with all of my body.

You know, your speaking voice comes back, but your singing voice you use in a different way.

I'm aware now over the last 5 or 10 years that when you do an accent, you really have to kind of get down to the nitty gritty and go into the phonetics of it, if necessary. Find out not just the sounds but the rhythms and the music - or lack thereof - in a particular accent.

When I sing full-on I use my whole body. I open my throat and let it fly out.

When you're insecure about your technique, you close yourself off. Your shoulders tighten. The first thing, you should open your body and sing. Be happy. Sing real vowels, real Italian vowels. When you're learning a good way to sing technically, you find it's very easy to sing well.

I thought everybody had falsetto. And since I wasn't a schooled singer who studied with anybody, I just thought anybody who had a voice could do anything they wanted with their voice.

Singing harmony is not the same as singing a part in a choral group, where you know you're going to have to hit this note and then that note. There are nuances that change every day. Maybe today you have a slight cold or voice fatigue, or you've done something and there's a slight difference in your breathing.

What you find with singers, no matter where they're from, if they have any kind of an accent, the accent tends to disappear when they sing.

You do have to be a bit careful with your voice. It is an instrument.

I bark my voice out through a closed throat, pretty much. It's more, perhaps, like a dog in some ways. It does have its limitations, but I'm learning different ways to keep it alive.

Speech lessons probably did more for my singing voice - they teach you breathing, resonance.

If you ask me about vocal technique, I don't know anything. I could never be a teacher. I just know what my teacher told me: 'Always sing with a full voice. When they tell you, less sound, more piano - no.'

Holding a note is a very difficult thing - you have to use your whole body to achieve a perfect pitch.