There are three things you ought to know if you want to be a ventriloquist.
Ventriloquism Tip Number One:
Your Lips Shouldn’t Move.
That’s not easy. There are a bunch of “ventriloquists” who believe it really doesn’t matter. It does. If you move your lips and don’t care, call yourself a puppeteer. Waylon Flowers was a puppeteer and his character Madam was world famous.
On the other side of the coin, are the “ventriloquists” who go to any extreme to keep from moving their lips. They clench their teeth and force their face into a contorted smile. That isn’t proper technique. It looks wrong and the audience notices it. No wonder some people think ventriloquism is cheesy.
You should always try for still lips and work on the technique every day.
Ventriloquism Tip Number Two: Your Puppet Needs To Come To Life.
Here, we actually start with ventriloquism tip number one. If your lips are moving when the puppet talks, the illusion is already shattered. When you do ventriloquism, the goal is for you to be natural, so the puppet seems to have a life of its own.
Does the puppet have a unique voice, pitch, tone and tempo? It must sound different, talk different, be different. Can the audience close their eyes and hear the difference? The bigger the difference, the better you become. Many students of ventriloquism focus on the lip control and neglect to make the character completely different. Train your voice to make a noticeable switch. If you aren’t sure, ask someone.
The puppet needs to stay alive every moment it is on stage. Does it stop, does it freeze, even for a moment while you are talking? If so, you need to practice.
Ventriloquism Tip Number Three: You’ve Got To Be Funny.
Today, more than at any other time, ventriloquists need to bring the funny. Audiences will judge your skills against those of other top ventriloquists. If you aren’t funny naturally, you’ve got a long road ahead of you. If you are funny, you need to fine tune and understand exactly what makes people laugh. That information has to be distilled into a finely crafted program that keeps audiences rolling in the aisles. Then, you will be a success.
The last ventriloquism tip I’d like to offer you is the opportunity to learn ventriloquism the proper way. My online ventriloquism course offers you five free lessons to get a taste for all you will be learning. These are building blocks for successful ventriloquism. If you want to be a good ventriloquist – this course is the best tip I can provide.
