Become A Ventriloquist: How To Hobby Right
Practicing and training to become a ventriloquist can take hard work, time, and lots and lots of practice. Don’t get discouraged! In time this is a hobby that will give you immense pleasure, not to mention the pleasure you’ll be giving others!
When practicing to imitate a voice from afar, the student of ventriloquism should first call out ‘Hello’ in the natural voice, and try to imagine, when he repeats it ventriloquially, that the latter instead of requiring a separate attempt is merely the echo of an effect already finished.
This effect can be used with your ventriloquism dolls.
First, you must form a correct estimate of how such a voice would sound, and if you are not entirely clear in your own mind regarding this point, persuade a friend to actually carry on a conversation with you while shut up in another room.
Before speaking in the ventriloquial voice fill the lungs and keep the breath under good control. When the student has assured himself that he is successful in his imitation of the voice, let him approach a door and apparently try to open it. Finally by seemingly a greater effort you cause the door to fly back suddenly and at the same time give utterance to a loud “ha, ha, ha,” in the ventriloquial voice, as if some one were laughing at you in the room or hallway beyond.
Always bear in mind that the eye helps to deceive the ear, and make the action of pushing the door, etc., as natural as possible. As far as voice alone goes, there are ventriloquists who can manipulate ventriloquism perfectly, but who, on account of lack of necessary actions, do not succeed in impressing their hearers very strongly. As a rule, between a good actor who is a poor ventriloquist and a good ventriloquist who is a poor actor, the former will be more successful.
When training to become a ventriloquist there is no hard and fast rule about how often to practice. One month’s daily practice should be sufficient to enable the ventriloquist, by proper emphasis on a tone or syllable, to illustrate and bring out the salient points of any dialogues he may use, and to surprise and astonish those among his friends not familiar with the capabilities of the art, with the strange voices within him. The student ventriloquist will do well to study this area carefully. He will then be able to produce many astonishing effects from his ventriloquism dolls which will impress his audience.
