Lynn GrasbergFull Voice Speaking

Full Voice Speaking:

How to Take Care of Your Voice and Use it More Expressively

By Lynn Grasberg

How you sound is as important as how you look.

However, most of us spend substantial time and attention on our dress for success and almost none on our voice to express. (Of course, WHAT you say is the most important factor, but if you deliver brilliant insights and observations in a tiny, harsh, monotonous or mumbling voice, how will people hear you?)

Professional actors and singers know a host of techniques for taking care of their voices and bringing out the most meaning in their words. If you are a "long-distance talker", these practices can improve your voice AND make it last to the end of the day with some left to spare for the evening. Bottom line: your speech will be more resonant and persuasive.

The Care and Feeding of the Voice

Hydrate.

This means drink a lot of water! Keep it with you all the time. Fluids with caffeine, sugar or alcohol don't count -- they dehydrate you and you have to drink MORE water. Don't "clear your throat". Coughing is an irritant that diminishes the sound of your voice and can even lead to vocal nodes (making you sound like Rod Stewart). Instead, train yourself to swallow and sip water.

Move your body.

Speaking is a physical act. Full-voiced speaking requires your whole body. You have to warm up your muscles like you would for skiing, running, dancing or any other sport.

To start warming up you body for a better sounding voice:

Ease tense shoulders. Tighten them and raise them to your ears. Hold, hold, hold as long as you can, then release.

Loosen up your back and get your breath moving. Stand with feet apart as wide as your shoulders. Keeping your feet planted, rotate your body, allowing your arms to swing freely around you and "fwap" you on the back.

Breathe. Your breath IS your voice. Breathe from the belly to support a mature, authoritative voice. When you inhale, expand like a balloon. When you exhale, let it all out. If you're nervous, deep breathing will calm you. If you're tired, it will energize you.

Yawn. The muscles in your throat, face, chest and shoulders relax with deep yawning. This is nature's best warm-up for speaking or singing. You may have to "fake it 'til you make it", i.e. act as if you're going to yawn and you will.

Relax and stimulate your face. This makes you look, feel AND sound better. Massage the forehead, temples, bones of the eye sockets, jaw hinge, jawline, cheeks, and under the chin. While you're at it, do your ears and the back of the neck. Ahhhhh.

Hum. Once you are relaxed, you need to "place" your voice for best projection. Smile slightly and hummmmm into your cheeks. After this, when you open your mouth to speak, you may notice an immediate increase in volume and vocal richness.

Articulate. Now that you have warmed up and placed your voice, move your articulators (lips, teeth and tongue) so people can under-stand what you're saying. This is the antidote to mumbling. The basic principle is to open and MOVE your mouth.

Tongue twisters are an excellent way to work out your arti-culators. Say each one slowly, then faster and faster as you repeat it:

--Rubber baby buggy bumpers.

--Unique New York.

--Red leather, yellow leather.

--The lips, the teeth, the tip of the tongue.

Breaking out of the Monotone Zone

Ever find your audience nodding off when you speak? You can wake everyone up if you "pivot" your voice by changing any one of the five musical qualities of speech: Pitch, Volume, Tone, Tempo and Timing (P-V-T-T-T). Use these qualities like spices to add zest to your spoken words.

Pitch. When we speak, we're really singing in a narrow range. Your voice is more interesting if you use more of that range. To explore pitch, try a glissando -- that's Italian for sliding your voice up and down, like a siren. Then try emphasizing a word or phrase of your speech by raising or lowering your pitch.

Volume. Contrast is what catches the attention of the humans in your audience. Mono-volume is just as boring as monotone. To emphasize a word, try saying it very softly (even whispering) -- or loudly.

Tone. Listen to any good storyteller and you will hear her create interest (and characters) by varying her tone. For emphasis, try on different qualities of voice: nasal, smooth, bright, mellow, booming, flowing, clipped, etc.

Tempo. Again, variety is what keeps your audience's attention. Constant speed will wear your audience out but adding it now and again will keep them awake. Slowing WAY down (for a short time) can capture them too but don't do it so long that it's a lullaby.

Timing. Add pauses before and/or after key points to let them sink in. Experiment with delaying a word to add "punch". Your audience hears echoes of your words in the silence, and also has time to hear them-selves in the pauses.

Your voice is an important part of your professional image.

Remember:

Warm it up so it's pleasant to use and a joy to hear.
Use it expressively to hold your audience's attention with confidence and power.