by Mark Tuttle
Etched deep into my memory is the first day I watched a ventriloquist performance. I was 9 years old, and I was amazed by how the performer could sit there, without moving his lips and no expression on his face.. yet the dummy sitting on his knee was talking away, cracking joke after joke. After that performance, at a schoolmate’s birthday party, I knew that someday I would want to learn to be a ventriloquist.
My parents didn’t think I was too serious about it, but they got me my first ventriloquist doll that Christmas anyway. I practiced as much as I could for the next couple of years but I couldn’t get the hang of talking without moving my lips a little bit. I performed for my sister who would always shout, “Your mouth moved!” all the time. After some time, I became very frustrated and I just gave up.
Fourteen years later, I saw my next ventriloquist performance. It was ad a comedy club, with a very funny and vulgar dummy. It reminded me of how I used to sit in front of the mirror and my family on so many nights, trying to perfect my dream. That night, I decided I was going back to my dream, and this time I won’t give up.
I’m sure that many of you are in the same boat. You saw a performance and were immediately drawn to it. Don’t just dream about it! Why not get involved and learn how to be a ventriloquist? There are really a few things to learn, but you must be dedicated and disciplined about it.
Like any skill, you must practice and keep a schedule. Becoming a good ventriloquist will not occur overnight, so you have to be determined and keep at it until you have perfected it. Use the mirror, family or friends as your audience. Set up rehearsals, so that you can stay on top of your dialogues.
You have to learn how to pronounce certain words differently, and do it in such a way that it cannot be detected by your audience. This is because some letters cannot be pronounced without moving your mouth, so you have to find a substitute to that sound, which sounds similar, but can also be pronounced without moving your mouth, thus creating the illusion of ventriloquism.
Perfect the art of “throwing your voice” before moving on with incorporating the use of a puppet. Using a ventriloquist dummy takes some of your focus away from your voice distortion. After you have perfected the voice technique, then you can afford to lose some focus to handling the puppet. Trying to learn both simultaneously from the beginning might just leave you in frustration.