How to Speak without moving your lips
Ventriloquism is an illusion to the ear, just like magic is to the eye. And, just like magic, it also uses mis-direction to make it more believable. How is this done?
1. Firstly, by
using a puppet to direct the viewer's eyes over to the false source of the
sound.
2. Making substitutions of 'difficult' sounds that confuse your brain to correct the mis-speaks.
In fact, you are 50% a ventriloquist already.
Just relax your jaw...relax...relax... OK now gently open your lips slightly.
Now in your normal voice say the vowels: A, E, I, O, U
Congratulations! You just spoke without moving your lips!
Right. Now with the same relaxed jaw, say the entire alphabet without moving your lips.
You probably said most of the letters fine -- except for a few! See, you're half-talented as a ventriloquist already.
Troublesome letters
The troublesome letters are :
B, F, M, P, Q, V and W
Here's the bad news. There is absolutely no way you can say those letters without moving your lips.
So how do the ventriloquists do it?
- By sound substitutions
- Fast rolling over of the troublesome letters so that your brain will fill in automatically the letter
- By being so funny that the humor distracts them from not noticing the letters were not really said.
Sound Substitutions
B is replaced with a "geh" sound at the back of the throat.
So the word "banjo" would be "gehn-jo" in sound.
Say this sentence without moving your lips using the substitution:
"I just love listening to banjo tunes."
This may sound obvious to you, but to an audience their minds are saying: "Duh, there is no such a word in the English language as a "gehn-jo" It sounds like banjo and so that's what I'm going to believe!!!"
Another help in fooling your audience is if the ventriloquist has PREVIOUSLY stated the word already.
Here is an example of a vent and puppet dialogue:
Vent: " Dueling Banjos is the coolest banjo song."
Puppet: "I just love listening to gehn-jo music too."
The ventriloquist has pre-set the brains of the audience to believe the sound substitution. Do you understand?
In the next article, we'll look at some other tricky letters and sounds.