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If you rely on your voice for your profession, you are a
professional voice user. This can include singers, actors,
teachers, salesmen, clergymen, air traffic controllers,
lawyers, doctors, or anyone else who uses his or her voice
in the work setting. No matter whether you rely on your voice for
work, or just in social settings, having proper vocal technique is
essential to communicating. Some people's vocal quality does not
reflect their personality or their intended messages. They may come
across as whiny or aggressive without intending to. They may be
excessively nasal, breathy, or hoarse. Their voices can become
easily fatigued and strained. They may not be able to project their
voices to a group when giving a speech.
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Improve
voice projection and endurance.
Eliminate
vocal strain, fatigue, hoarseness, and nasality.
Make your
voice reflect your personality.
Learn
correct voice production technique.
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Laryngeal
Posture
Learn about
position of the larynx (the voice box) - to keep it in a low
position as you lift the velum (soft palate) and lower the
tongue.
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Resonance
Learn to
use the resonators with an open mouth posture. In this way,
you will avoid excessive or insufficient
nasality. |
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Intonation
Learn to
use intonational variety when you speak. Many people
have a rather flat, monotonous sound. They need to use more
"ups and downs" in their tones.
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Rate and
Rhythm
Learn how to
control the rate and rhythm of your speech.
Speech that is too fast is difficult to understand. Speech
that is too slow can be tedious. Also, it is important to
attend to the smoothness of the flow, not to be overly choppy
and disconnected.
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Volume
Learn to
project your voice with adequate loudness without straining.
Change vocal loudness according to your environment and
social setting.
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Pitch
Learn to vary the pitch
of your voice according the meaning of the message. Some
people do not vary their pitch with enough intonational
differences and come across as monotonous, which can be boring to
listen to.
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Singers
Being a trained singer
(lyric soprano), as well as a speech-language pathologist, I have
worked with singers who have had some difficulty with their vocal
performance. A trained singer may have good technique when
singing, but may not necessarily when speaking. For example,
he or she may be excessively nasal. Some singers who have
not had adequate training may have vocal problems such as strain
and breathiness even when speaking because of poor
singing technique. For example, they may have been
singing with a larynx in high position instead of low, and not
have been using sufficient
support. | |
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