Yoga Stretches in a Voice Class?

There are a lot of faculty members at Westminster that have had some impact in my life in one way or another, but there is one who stands out. When the spring semester came around during my sophomore year I couldn’t believe I had to take a class taught by a theater professor. All I kept thinking was that I was going to have to get up in front of people and act, dance around, or pretty much just make a fool out of myself. Scott Mackenzie’s Voice and Diction class turned out to be one of the best classes that I have taken at Westminster. I mean I will admit that when he had us do stretches, or yoga type warm up’s, I was a little skeptical on how that would help me dictate better and help me to be a better broadcaster, but it did.

Dr. Mackenzie was not what I expected at all. He wasn’t out to embarrass people or make them feel uncomfortable. Instead, he wanted to help shape us to be great speakers, and for our “accents” to not hold us back from getting a job. We did have to do some odd warm-up’s like rubbing eachother’s backs, stretching our legs, or putting our hands on our partner’s diaphragm, let me tell you what this stuff helped. These exercises helped to open up and expand our diaphragm, and helped us to regulate our breathing. Breathing is very important to how we speak. Dr. Mackenzie made it a point that everyone, no matter what their speaking experience was, learn and demonstrate the importance of breathing and articulation.

Everything that I learned from him in his class will only help make me a better broadcaster. I mean some of my family members make it a point to tell me how much I articulate the ending’s on my words. I actually think they get annoyed by it, but its habit for me, and a good one if I must say. This is a class that I hope they never get rid of at Westminster, and I hope Dr. Mackenzie will continue to teach it for a long time. He knows so much, and is really concerned with what his students learn and how they retain that information. These are the kind of classes and professors that should be at every learning institution.