The Pitch Ladder

Say one sentence at the very bottom of your voice — a gravelly basement. Then climb, rung by rung, the same sentence a little higher each time, until you're up in a squeak, then come back down. Notice the two or three rungs where your voice cracks, tightens or hides: those are your edges. Most improvisers live on three notes and call it their voice. A character lives in pitch as much as in words — the timid one thin and high, the boss low and slow. Widening your range hands you a whole cast to draw on, and this ladder shows you exactly where the unused rungs are.