VENTRILOQUISM

The history, origins, and background information on what

ventriloquism is and how it works.

DEFINITION! Ventriloquism-An act of stagecraft in

which a person (a ventriloquist) manipulates his or her voice so that it appears that the voice is coming from elsewhere.

ORIGIN The origin of “Ventriloquism” comes

from the Latin root meaning “belly speaker”

In Greek, ventriloquism takes it’s root in the word “gastromancy”, meaning “the noises produced by the stomach being voices of the dead”

The ventriloquist or back then called “prophet” interpreted the sounds and was able to “speak to the dead”, as well as fortell the future.

Ventriloquism started before Christianity in Ancient times, led by spiritual “tricksters” who misled ignorant people into thinking that they were speaking to their Gods; for speaking to Gods was a ritual long ago, like prayer is to some people today.

In the middle ages, ventriloquism was thought to be similar to Witchcraft. However, around the 19th century, ventriloquism lost its “mystical trappings” and became a form of entertainment.

HISTORY! Just over 100 years

ago in China, Ventriloquists would make their voices heard in almost every art of sanctuaries and shrines, convincing passerbys that these places spoke & prophesized.

The practice of Necromancy, or divination (telling the future) was a death penalty around 1500 B.C.(Necromancy is a form of ventriloquism where they were believed to be able to tell the future)

Later on, in the reign of Agustus Caesar, Christianity formed. Ventriloquism & Divination were not tolerated, although the practice was still thriving. Many people who tried to earn money, as much as a shilling, would turn in dead bodies, proclaming that they were “witches”.

However, in the late 16th century, Ventriloquism finally became a form of entertainment in England.

Finally, in the late 18th century ventriloquism became a popular form of entertainment in most parts of the world.

At the turn of the 20th century many people still misunderstood ventriloquism as a supernatural gift, however, many performers had great success, like Harry Kennedy, Ed Reyan, and AO Duncan in the U.S.A.

VENTRILOQUISM: WHAT IS IT? There are 2 main forms of

ventriloquism:

Near Ventriloquism

-AND-

Distant Voice Ventriloquism.

NEAR VENTRILOQUISM Near Ventriloquism uses close distance

as related to the figure, puppet, or doll. Modern Example: Jeff Dunham (Achmed

the dead terrorist)

DISTANT VOICE VENTRILOQUISM Distant Voice ventriloquism uses voices

from afar, such as through a telephone, T.V., or somewhere out of the picture shown.

A Modern Example of Distant Voice Ventriloquism:

This example is in German, but it represents this type of ventriloquism well.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qFoVfQ1cJFI

HOW? Lip control is of course CRUCIAL for

ventriloquists. The letters B, P, F, M, and V are very

hard to control, sometimes causing ventriloquists to grow mustaches if needed.

NO, HOW?!?!? Well, I tried to watch SEVERAL videos to

learn how to be a ventriloquist, but it was very difficult!

If you must know, the sound is produced by the position of your tongue, so that it lets the sound pass through your nose rather than your mouth.

This goes the same for Distant ventriloquism, but they must “throw their voice” by filling their lungs with more air, exerting more pressure and changing the volume and sound of their voice!

MODERN DAY VENTRILOQUISM

Many people today enjoy ventriloquism, including children, teens, and adults!Jeff Dunham, a ventriloquist, even came to the U.S. Cellular Coliseum and was very popular!

Ventriloquism is used ALL OVER the world, and started way back before our time. I think it’s very cool and interesting that people can make sounds without moving their lips! You have to be very talented to perform this art, something I find amazing!

TO LEARN MORE…. To watch more ventriloquism, type in “Jeff Dunham” or “Ventriloquism” on YouTube, and you will find many results! To learn more, try some of these sites: en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ventriloquis or: www.essortment.com/all/

ventriloquismhi_rlty.htmwww.ventriloquistcentral.com If you want to learn how to be a

ventriloquist, try this site:www.ventriloquism101.com/