Getting the raspy voice

It was my acting class yesterday. The teacher could finally see the almost finished product. I say almost because I am not quite there, but I am very close. I am playing this very old man, dying and bitter and nasty, and I got the voice right. Not perfect yet, but right. Sure, my English is still flawed, but the raspy voice I have manages to hide them. My teacher was impressed when she heard the voice (and how nice does it feel to impress a pro!), she asked: "How did you get it?" I answered: "Peanut butter". Which is true: I have peanut butter toasts for dinner before class and it does irritate your throat a bit. When I was learning to sing, Claudiiine warned me against it before class. I wouldn't be able to sing after rehearsal, I felt like I had a cold.

I am half joking of course: getting a raspy voice is easy when you get in character. I once played in Rhinoceros by Ionesco and I had to turn into a rhino in the second act: I had to grow a raspy voice within the play (among other challenges). It left me exhausted, but it was great fun. I thought about it a lot when I got home yesterday, the throat on fire. It was painful, but I really enjoyed it.