School Bell

One of the fine actor-people I had on yesterday's webcast was my pal Michael Bell, who has been a performer — on-camera and off — for more years than you'd think to look at him. He's also a very powerful activist for animals. Those of you who've followed the tales of feral cats in my backyard have seen me apply lots of sound advice I got from Michael.

As you may know, I'm on the warpath against Voice Teachers and Coaches who, I think, charge unsuspecting people a lot of money for lessons that are of little use. There are some very fine voice teachers out there but there are also some terrible ones and I keep coming across stories that go something like this…

Little Jimmy (or Susie) loved cartoons and thought maybe he/she could have a career doing voices for them. It sounded like the coolest, neatest, funnest job in the world…and already, they had it wrong. No one really does cartoon voices for a living. Not exclusively. Many of these dreamers may not be aware that the job they crave is Voiceover Actor — a person who does commercials, audio books, dubbing, looping, narration, walla, dozens of other jobs where one is heard but not seen…and, in some cases, cartoon voices.

The most famous voice actor of all time, Mel Blanc, once told me he didn't think he ever had a year when cartoons — the kind Little Jimmy (or Susie) wants to do — accounted for more than about 35% of his income. These days, there may be folks who exceed that but if you get a voiceover agent, that agent is going to try to sell you in all those areas and you're not going to say no.

So somehow, Little Jimmy (or Susie) connects with a Voice Coach. It might be because of a panel at a convention or some website that offers a free seminar or evaluation. No matter how promising or unpromising Little Jimmy (or Susie) is then, the Voice Coach says they're wonderful, that they have so much potential if they'll just get the right lessons and training which, of course, the Voice Coach offers.

And the next thing you know, someone — often, the parents of Little Jimmy (or Susie) — is shelling out thousands of dollars for lessons that, to put it bluntly, aren't worth the price tag. Because the Voice Coach, while they all boast oodles of credits for their own voice work — really only makes a living getting the Little Jimmies (of Susies) of the world to pay for costly lessons.

Again: There are great coaches out there…folks who really can help you on your way to a career if you have the talent. They can't get you a career if you don't and therein lies one of the important differences between the Good Vocal Coaches and the Bad Vocal Coaches. The Good Vocal Coaches will tell you that you don't have the talent and if so, they won't take your money. Or at least they won't take a lot of it. After an introductory course or two, they'll be honest with you.

Which brings us back to Michael Bell. I don't think he's teaching now but when he did, he was great. And he made this video and put it up on YouTube to share with the world because that's the kind of guy he is. It's almost an hour and a half and as I watched it, I thought, "There are Voice Coaches who'd charge a thousand dollars for advice that isn't half as good as this." A lot of what he imparts would also be valuable for an actor of any kind…one who wasn't only interested in voice work.

It's smart, sage teaching from someone who has more experience in the field than you will ever have and it's absolutely free. All it'll cost you is one hour, twenty-five minutes and six seconds of your undivided attention…