Give your puppet a strong separate identity from yours.
Ventriloquism is the art of manipulating your voice so it would appear that it is coming from another source, such as a puppet. Ventriloquizing is often described as the ability to throw your voice. The ventriloquist, however, is not changing the origin of his voice and making it go through the puppet. On the contrary, throwing your voice means changing it so the puppet does not sound like the ventriloquist's own voice. There are many ways to learn and practice ventriloquism, but according to Burgher's Entertainment, the main advice is to practice substituting letters as you talk and learning naturally manipulate the puppet.
Instructions
1. Purchase a puppet. Dummies can be made out of different materials, but classic ones are wooden. You can find them online sold by specialized stores at different price ranges.
2. Name your puppet and establish its personality traits. In order to make it seem real you will have to think about its main human characteristics, goals, dreams, perhaps its past and other traits that would help make it come alive before the audience.
3. Practice a different voice. The puppet's voice needs to be different compared to the ventriloquist's voice. Think of a type of voice that matches your puppet's personality. It could be higher or lower voice than yours, such as grave or raspy. It is up to you to decide, but make sure you practice it daily, so during a presentation, when you switch between your voice and your puppet's, the process will go naturally.
4. Practice moving your puppet naturally. It does not need to imitate your movements. For example, if you are looking one way, make your puppet look at the other direction. Practice in front of a mirror to study your own movements and how you manipulate your puppet. It should look natural, so your puppet will give the impression that it is independent from you.
5. Practice talking without moving your lips. The sounds you make, however, need to be made with your lips slightly separated. When you talk, certain labial sounds will invariably make your lips come together. In order to solve this, then, substitute these letters when you speak, and with practice the audience will not notice the sound differences. According to Burgher's Entertainment, for B, use the letter D. For F use TH (as in "thought"). For M use N. For P use T. For V use TH (as in "the"). And if you need to say W, pronounce it "duddleyou."
