3 Ways to improve your Sound

I was yesterday asked, "What can I do to improve my voice and speech in time for my presentation next week?" I have three suggestions. You can decide which exercise to go for depending on which aspect you want to improve. If in doubt, practise all three.

You absolutely should start with the breathing and vocalising as described in Warm up your Voice: Part 1 and Part 2 .  You can then add one or more of the following exercises:

• Is your voice weak, soft, breathy or tending to fade before your thought is completely voiced? You need to co-ordinate thinking, breathing and speaking by practising this counting exercise:
  
  Imagine yourself simply and calmly saying the word ONE, then inhale and speak “ONE”
  Imagine yourself saying the words, then inhale, speak “ONE TWO” on one breath
  Imagine, inhale, speak “ONE TWO THREE” on one breath
  Continue adding the word for one more number at a time. Practise once or twice a day until you are comfortable speaking each of the numbers from one to ten calmly and clearly on one breath. If it helps you, you can choose an object in the space about two metres away from you and project your words to this object.

• Is your articulation of consonant sounds slow or imprecise?  You need to practise these sentences to reduce mumbling and gain crisp articulation.  Allow your lips, teeth and tongue to move freely to form the sounds, keep your jaw relaxed.  Don’t strain or shout, the pace is steady and careful. These sentences have proved to be really helpful for improving confidence and competence in articulating English if that is what you need.
  
  Pass the pens and pencils please
  
  A packet of mixed biscuits
  
  Packing prickly pickles poses problems
  
  She sells sea shells on the sea shore
  
  Six times six is thirty six
  
  Bring me some coffee in a proper copper coffee pot
  
  What a lot of little bottles
  
  Quick! Quick! Quick! Bring the twins a drink!
  
  Red leather [lorry] [lolly], yellow leather [lorry] [lolly]
  
  Fred refused to view his defeat as final
  
  Leave the lazy lion alone
  
  The pilot landed the plane safely

• Are you unused to hearing and feeling your own voice as you speak? Simply practise humming, "HUMMMMMMM". With a relaxed throat and shoulders, and without strain, try humming more softly, more loudly by using more volume of air, sending your sound further, then nearer, humming at a higher pitch, at a lower pitch. In other words, playing with your sound. This will also help you sound more audible, expressive and interesting.

Good luck with your next presentation or speech

Andrea

To make an appointment for voice coaching or to book a workshop please go to my website

Be more coherent using Linking Words and Phrases

Along with confidence and credibility, coherence is a quality the audience looks for in a speaker and in their presentation.  The Concise Oxford dictionary says that the adjective "coherent" describing a speech means that it is "logical and consistent; easily followed". Language provides us with many devices we can use to show how our ideas are connected so that our thinking is easily followed.  In my experience, however, these devices are not always readily available to us when we are speaking our second or third language.

During the past couple of weeks I've been working with a client who, like most English speakers, did not have English as his mother tongue.  We had noted that his presentations sometimes lacked coherence even though his thinking was logical and were working together to improve this. I was reminded of how valuable it is to show how ideas are connected, in other words to show our thinking.

My client achieved great results simply by using linking words and phrases to show how his ideas were connected and point to his thinking.  At once his seemingly disconnected and random points hung together like beads on a thread.  The flow of his speaking became easier as well and he was able to speak more comfortably without referring to his notes as often as he had been.

Whether or not you are a first language English speaker you might find it helpful to use more of these words and phrases to connect your ideas and show the logical structure of your presentation. Of course, you can use them in your writing too.

Beware! Using a few linking words here and there is not a magic cure-all for poor thinking, inadequate research and lack of planning and certainly won't make a brilliant presentation out of a few random bullet points.  However, especially if English is not your first choice of language to speak in then these words and phrases may be helpful to you.

SOME EXAMPLES OF LINKING PHRASES AND WORDS

To extend the idea: further; furthermore; in addition; as well as this; firstly . . . secondly

To state the idea again in another way:  that is; in other words

To show contrast in ideas or to note exceptions: however; on the other hand; nevertheless; unless; either . . . or; neither . . . nor

To explain a cause or reason: because; for this reason; owing to; for this/ these reason/s

To show results: as a result; for this/these reason/s; consequently

To introduce an illustration: for example; for instance; this can be seen in; as shown in; as shown by

To introduce a similar idea: this is similar to; similarly; in the same way; also; not only . . .  but also

To reach a conclusion: therefore; thus; finally; in conclusion; to summarise; to sum up; from this we may conclude that ...

To join one section to the next: "Having covered ... I'm now moving on to discuss ..."; "This brings me to ..."; "That brings us to ..."

If you'd like more clarity on using words to show logical thinking you might like to browse this article.

Warm Up your Voice Part 2: Voice and Body

This is part two of the second of my Top Ten Public Speaking Basics


Again I should say that in my experience it is preferable to work with a qualified voice teacher if you want to develop the full potential of your voice.  The purpose of this article is not to give some "quick-fix" voice exercises to try once on your own to little effect, but rather to offer some guidance on warming up your voice in preparation for your next presentation or speech.

If you haven't already done so you can start with Warm Up your Voice Part 1: Breathing


After the breathing warm-up ...


Warm up your body

• free shoulders with gentle shrugs up to ears and then relax
• clench hands into fists, relax and gently shake out
• gently shake out each leg and then your arms
• give yourself a good upward stretch, arms above head, relax

Improve your posture
Have feet about hip-distance apart, distribute weight evenly over ball and heel of each foot.  If you are comfortable doing so, you can try going down onto your haunches, resting there for a moment and then rising smoothly upwards into standing without altering the distribution of weight on your feet.  This can give a good sense of rootedness through the feet into the floor.

Now lightly smooth down your lower back and buttocks with your hands, this allows you to slightly tuck in your pelvis without tensing your buttocks.

Now you can gently, lightly lengthen your spine upwards as it rises from your tail bone up through to your neck. Keep shoulders relaxed and falling away from your ears; chest relaxed, softened and open. 

If you were now to look at your self sideways in a full-length mirror you'd see your shoulder in line with your hip and your hip in line with the middle of your foot.


Face and jaw

• stretch mouth open as wide as you can, hold for count of five, release. Repeat.

• make exaggerated chewing movements using your whole mouth, tongue, lips as if chewing the biggest wad of gum ever!

Voice

• yawn
• voice on one breath, taken without strain: 'AH'
• voice on one breath, taken without strain: 'HUMMMMMMM'
• repeat on one breath, as above: 'LA LA LA LA LA'
• repeat on one breath, as above: 'ME MAH MAY MORE, ME MAH MAY MORE'
• say 'Bring me some coffee in a proper copper coffee pot'
• say 'She sells sea shell on the sea shore'
• say 'A packet of mixed biscuits'
• say 'Quick, quick, quick! Bring the twins a drink!'

Back to breathing

• Breathe out fully without force

• Wait till you feel the need to inhale, as your ribs spring apart inhale through your nose

• As you inhale allow your back to relax, note how your lower ribs float apart as your diaphragm contracts and moves downwards. Pay particular attention to the swing of the back ribs as you relax your back.

• As exhalation happens, let the air move out of your mouth, note how your ribcage moves simultaneously downwards and inwards and how your abdominal muscles slightly engage as the last of the air moves out of your body

• Continue breathing easily and comfortably in this way for five breaths.

You are now warmed up and READY TO GO!!!

Good luck with your presentation. 

Warm Up your Voice Part 1: Breathing

This is part one of the second of my Top Ten Public Speaking Basics

In my experience it is preferable to work with a qualified voice teacher if you want to develop the full potential of your voice.  So the purpose of this article is not to give some "quick-fix" voice exercises to try once on your own to little effect, but rather to offer some guidance on warming up your voice in preparation for your next presentation or speech.

All credit and honour is given to the brilliant voice coach Stewart Pearce whose teaching in his book "The Alchemy of Voice" (Hodder & Stoughton, 2005) has profoundly influenced my teaching in the past few years.