 Hi, I'm David Gonzalez. In this short video series, I'm going to introduce you to the four main elements of storytelling. I think of them as four rivers, words or the text, movement, how the body shows the story, the voice that is the sound of the story, and the imagination. When these four rivers flow together, that's when a good story comes alive. In this episode, I'm going to talk about the voice. It is so important because the sound brings the feeling to the story. The voice is critical. I'm going to tell you the story of the lion and the mouse, an old Aesop's tale. I'm going to tell you a little part of it, and then I'll give you a couple of exercises that you can try as well. This part of the story begins towards the end when the mouse comes to rescue the lion. It sounds like somebody's in trouble. It sounds like the lion is crying. Hey, I bet I could help him. I know I could help him. In fact, I'm going to go right back there, and I'm going to ... Hey, wait a minute. If I go back there, I'm going to go right in here, here, here, here. Should I go, or should I stay? Okay, I'll go. And so the mouse tip tiptoed, he tip tiptoed, he tip tiptoed to the trapped lion. The lion didn't even know he was there, and the mouse picked up the net and started to chew on the net with a chica, chica, chica, chica, chica, chica, chica, until there was a hole in the net, and the lion's sharp claws found it. And he ripped the net off his body with a great, big roar. I am free, I am free. Wait a minute, who are you? Me. I, I, I, I, I, I, I. Wait a second, aren't you the mouse that woke me up this morning? I, I, I, I, I, sir. And that's a little part of the lion and the mouse. And you can hear three things, the voice of the mouse, the voice of the lion, and the voice of the narrator who is telling the story. And that is a big part of being a storyteller, to find character voices that are believable, different, and clear. And then to have your narrator voice, the part of you that is you telling the story. So here's a couple of things you can do. Have fun with your voice. Look in the mirror, make a funny face, and make a crazy sound to go with it. That's just fun, but it will free you up. Dare to be ridiculous. Another thing you can do is look at someone out in the street and pretend that you are their voice. Maybe it's an old person who, if you're young, that'll be a different thing. You can try to find the old person's voice. Or if you're an older person, imagine you see a little two-year-old try to speak like that child, and in that way you'll free your voice and make yourself available to tell better stories.