Janet Madelle Feindel, tenured faculty in acting voice and the Alexander Technique at Carnegie Mellon University's School of Drama, announces the release of her book THOUGHT PROPELS THE SOUND, a guide to voice and speech for theatre directors and other professionals interested in voice. THOUGHT PROPELS THE SOUND, published by Plural Publishing, is now available at various international bookstores.
"This book is both practical and insightful. It is practical in that it deals with all the technical aspects of voice and text work that the actor needs to discover and to use when rehearsing a play. It is insightful in that it clearly identifies the ways by which the director can help the actor free their imagination in order to illuminate the text as fully as possible," said Cicely Berry, officer of the Order of the British Empire and director of voice for the Royal Shakespeare Company, Stratford-upon-Avon, UK.
"Janet Feindel zeroes in on a vitally important and often overlooked area: How the director supports the actors' work on text and voice. Her new book THOUGHT PROPELS THE SOUND is a refreshing and illuminating guide for directors, artistic directors, actors and vocal coaches." Jeffrey Horowitz, Artistic Director, Theatre for a New Audience, New York City
Feindel has many years of experience training actors and musical theatre performers at Carnegie Mellon's School of Drama including Zach Quinto, Josh Gad, Megan Hilty, Van Hansis, Christopher Hoch and Cote de Pablo and coaching professionally for such theatre companies as Theatre for a New Audience, (where she coached alongside CicelyBerry the critically acclaimed MERCHANT OF VENICE, which played in NYC and the RSC Complete Works Festival, UK), Stratford Festival, Shaw Festival, Canadian Stage Company, Ark Theatre (LA), Pittsburgh Public Theatre and the Rep. She has coached Megan Follows, F. Murray Abraham, Ezra Knight, Martha Henry and Brian Bedford, among many others. Feindel is a master trainer in voice and speech and is certified in the work of professional trainers Kristin Linklater, Catherine Fitzmaurice and F. Matthias Alexander. The book presents Feindel's innovative approach to voice training, synthesizing traditional methods with her own approaches called "Vox Explora" and "Resonex."
"A basic understanding of voice and vocal health is essential for a director, just as an understanding of music is for a conductor or dance is for a choreographer. The book is also useful for actors, voice/speech and Alexander coaches, speech pathologists, politicians, public speakers and anyone interested in the human voice," Feindel said.
THOUGHT PROPELS THE SOUND provides holistic instruction on voice and speech production including anatomy, and discusses ways to integrate these principles into the rehearsal process and guide directors to work effectively with voice and speech and Alexander coaches. The book contains a section on vocal anatomy written by University of Pittsburgh speech pathologist Dr. Katherine Verdolini and post-doctoral student Aaron Ziegler.
Feindel, who teaches regularly in Germany, has served as an educator of the F.M. Alexander Technique at international venues, including the Care of the Professional Voice Symposium, Choice for Voice - sponsored by the British Voice Foundation - and The International Congress of the F. M. Alexander Technique. She is currently a visiting professor at the University of California, Los Angeles, acting as voice and speech UG curriculum consultant. She coached at the Birmingham Conservatory for Classical Theatre at Stratford Shakespeare Festival in Canada, where she received a Tyrone Guthrie Award for the book's initial research. Feindel holds a master's degree in fine arts from Carnegie Mellon's School of Drama.? Film/TV credits include QUEER AS FOLK, DREAM TEAM, STREET LEGAL and LOVE AND HATE.
