Actor Dennis Haysbert has made his career playing strong, intriguing characters. He starred as the President Of the United States on 24 and as the head of an elite military special ops unit on The Unit.
The 62-year old actor could have been an athlete but went into acting instead. One of his jobs as he was a struggling actor was as grocery clerk, where, yes, he did the in-store announcements.
MUST READ: Dennis Haysbert Was Not In Good Hands When He Was Born
“All my brothers have my father’s voice,” says Haysbert, who starred in the dark comedy, The Details. His acting experience in high school also helped hone his signature sound. “We had this 1,200-seat theater with a 50-foot stage and an orchestra pit, so I had to learn to project.”
From there, Haysbert had to make his voice be heard physically & figuratively, so he began to train his voice. How does someone train their voice? Here’s a the top three key steps:
1. Train your voice just like an athlete: Don’t overuse the voice, get plenty of rest, eat a balanced, healthy diet. Singers are like vocal gymnasts who traverse their artistic range with apparent ease and flexibility. Gymnasts are extremely disciplined people who spend hours perfecting their craft and are much more likely than the general public to sustain an injury. Professional singers carry some of these same risks and must maintain a disciplined practice schedule with intervals of rest and recovery to perform at an optimal level, regardless of genre.
2. Let your voice shine. Attempting to imitate someone else’s voice or singing style can require you to sing or do things outside of your comfortable physiologic range or current vocal skill level. This could result in vocal injury. Find someone’s voice–or better yet, a few people’s voice–you may like and…
… try to mimic them. Just use their voice as a stepping stone. Remember that if you are imitating someone who is already famous, their millions have been made. You want to be the next star that they hire, not just a copycat.
3. Pace yourself. When you are preparing for a show or audition season, you must pace yourself and your voice. You would not think of trying to get all of your exercise in at the gym by going one day a week for 5 hours. Rather, you should sing (and exercise) in smaller increments of time (30-45 minutes) each day, gradually building muscular skill and stamina. As you improve, you should be able to increase the amount of time as well as the difficulty of vocal skill.
Here’s a classic Dennis Haysbert spot:
https://youtu.be/6HNKqffU3Cc
And here’s another one for your enjoyment:
https://youtu.be/XHFQe7mTxqA
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