Welcome to my new series “Learning to Love Your Voice” In this series, we’ll explore the transformative power of vocal improvement and its profound impact on aligning style and expression with one’s true persona. More importantly, we’ll strengthen our relationship with our voice and learn to love it’s uniqueness and potential.
The purpose of this series is to empower individuals to become more aware of and refine their unique voice. I believe that one’s voice is not only a tool for communication but also a reflection of the innermost self. By setting aside time and awareness for the voice, you will learn to unlock its potential and express yourself with authenticity, confidence, and clarity. Your voice is an influential tool, so take the reigns and direct it as you wish.
Importance of Vocal Improvement
Vocal improvement is not merely about perfecting speech patterns or achieving a desired tone. It is about embracing your voice as a powerful instrument for self-expression and connection. Your voice is intricately tied to your identity, shaping how you are perceived by others and how you navigate the world around you.
Aligning Style and Expression with True Persona and Power
In a world where image and perception dominate and open doors, your voice serves as a conduit for your thoughts, emotions, and beliefs, allowing you to communicate with sincerity and resonance. By learning how to use your voice to project the energy that will benefit you most in a variety of situations, you can improve ANY area of your life. Whether you need to develop a more self assured and stable tone for the professional sphere or a more calming and vulnerable cadence for intimate relationships, your voice allows you to influence the situation. As you learn to speak with healthy support and sustainable placement, you will be able to speak clearly and authentically, unhindered by technicalities or lack of practice.
The journey begins with self awareness.
Importance of Self-Awareness in Vocal Improvement
Self-awareness is the key to unlocking your vocal potential. By cultivating a deeper understanding of your voice, you can identify areas for improvement and leverage your strengths to communicate more effectively. By becoming more aware of the nuances of your voice, you can appreciate its beauty as it develops with more intention and practice.
This begins with a clear intention to love your voice. No one has a bad voice- perhaps some have developed bad vocal techniques like unsupported breathing, overly exaggerated nasality, or excessive vocal fry, but those can be corrected. Correcting a voice is really taking away the hindrances that hide the true voice. Every true voice has a unique beauty to it.
Make a promise to be gentle with yourself. Your relationship with your voice is like any relationship-it thrives with love and care and suffers with neglect, rejection, and negativity.
Give yourself time and space to listen to your voice. If being within earshot of others is too intimidating, try to find somewhere or sometime where you can speak freely without fear of being overheard. You can even shut yourself in a closet full of heavy clothes to muffle the sound if you are feeling extra conscious. Just know that you do need to be able to project your voice freely to make progress. Whispering or restraining your voice all throughout this journey won’t lead to overall improvement.
Listen to Your Voice for the First Time
Pretend you are hearing your voice for the first time. Be curious and non-judgmental.
EXERCISE:
You can record yourself for playback if desired, but if this is too intimidating, save that for future sessions. I recommend keeping a journal of all observations.
Take a few deep belly breaths and put one hand over your heart and one hand over your belly.
With your mouth closed, hum a single note for 3-5 seconds. Repeat 3 times. This is meant to wake up your voice. Feel where the voice vibrates within your chest and see if you can modulate the vibration to make it stronger or softer. You can now let your hands rest comfortably at your sides.
Now slowly recite the vowels (A, E, I, O, U). Then recite them backwards (U, O, I, E, A). Go forwards and backwards 3-5 times slowly (1 second each). Then recite 3-5 times quickly (as fast as you can). This is waking up your mouth.
Now say hello 3-5 times and listen to your voice. What are the first words that come to mind? What color or texture can you attribute to it?
Now smile and say hello 3-5 times. Notice how the smile affects the tone of your voice and the pronunciation of the word “hello.” Note any differences in feel or texture (does it sound brighter, more smooth, more raspy, more heavy?)
Now say hello again but try to move your mouth as little as possible. Note the changes.
Now tense your tongue (if this is hard, try placing the tip of your tongue on the roof of your mouth and pressing up). Say hello and notice any tension in the rest of your face and neck.
Now pout your lips forward as much as you can and say hello 3-5 times. Notice how the sound changes.
Finally, say hello 3-5 times in your normal manner.
That’s it.
Exercise Breakdown
The exercise is meant to show you how small changes in the face can affect the sound of your voice. This should give you a wider understanding of how much control you have over your voice and speech. Ultimately, this should give you a feeling of being less “at the mercy” of your voice and less limited to one way of speaking.
In the next installment, we’ll get into more technical aspects.
Until then, hello again and again and again.