Which Word Best Describes Your Speaking Voice?
Can you pick one word from the following list that describes your voice?
High-pitched, whiny, nasal, hoarse, throaty, gravelly, scratchy, whispery, soft, loud, strident, shrill, thick, thin, young-sounding, old-sounding, muddy, chirpy, raspy, tight, mumbling, wispy.
If just one of those words is descriptive of how you sound, you might want to consider voice training because the words that describe a good speaking voice are not found in that list.
Those words would be warm, rich, deep, resonant.
Imagine walking into a room and commanding the attention of the group just by the sound of your speaking voice. George Clooney can do it and so too can Elizabeth Hurley.
Unfortunately most people cannot do that. Not because they don't possess the instrument, but because they don't know how to use it properly. Those who have had good training learn how to power their sound by means of their chest cavity. Once that happens, they will feel the vibrations in their mid-chest region when they speak.
Your first step, then, should you wish to pursue voice training is to do your research and find someone who will teach how to use your chest as your primary sounding board. That should be your number one priority.
Stay away from those who want to give you various different exercises to fix whatever adjective describes your voice. Aside from mumbling, lockjaw and excessive nasality, the rest of those other descriptive 'qualities' will be gone once you place your voice properly. If you are hoarse or have a scratchy voice, for example, you may be suffering from vocal abuse. Allow your chest to power your voice and you will be eliminating the wear and tear on your vocal cords; thus, vocal abuse will be no more. If you are soft-spoken, on the other hand, once you place your voice in your chest, your volume will automatically increase.
Your second step is to make your 'real' voice a habit. When I was in graduate school, one of my professors showed me my 'real' speaking voice and I consistently working at using that lower, richer sound. After graduate school, my voice got me the jobs I wanted because I sounded mature - not too old, not too young.
Improving the sound of your speaking voice is a wonderful means of increasing your self-esteem. You will most definitely sound better; you will probably look better; and there is no doubt that you will feel better about yourself!
Related Tags: resonant, voice training, vocal abuse, misuse of voice, voice improvement, soft-spoken, hoarse, gravelly, voice improvement dvd, voice training software
The Voice Lady Nancy Daniels is a voice specialist and president of Voice Dynamic. Offering voice and public speaking workshops throughout the US and Canada, Daniels launched Voicing It! in April of 2006, the only video training course on voice improvement. You can watch a clip from her DVDs on her website and ‘before' & ‘after' takes of her clients, as well as gain valuable information about voice improvement and what it can do for you both personally and professionally at: http://www.voicedynamic.com
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