Vocal Flex & Emotional Depth

Having a flexible voice that responds dynamically to the stories you tell will infuse every talk you give with more interest.  But for many guides and other professional speakers, your voice is an under-utilized superpower waiting to take flight! Ok - I’m mixing metaphors. But if you take the time to actually train your voice, it’s like hitting the gym before running a marathon. Your voice will be more limber, more responsive, and better able to go the extra vocal mile with ease.

I often tell my students to look for a Voice for Actors class at their local community college. You Tube is another good bet but you don’t get the personal support of a live class.

Tired of looking at screens and no handy class? Here are three things you can do to start training your voice to be more emotionally responsive when you present.

• Practice reading aloud. When you do, really play with the tools of pitch, rhythm, and pronunciation. Get crazy. This exercise is about pushing limits, so that you increase your range.

• Create a really great celebrity impression. Doing so will help you do all of the same vocal stretching because you will have to notice how the celebrity pronounces words, paces themselves, and pitches their voice.

• Create character voices for your current commentary and talks. If you are telling a story with characters in them, give each person a slightly different voice.