Session 3: Vocal Modulation and Variety, Audience-Centered Speaking

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1 Session 3: Vocal Modulation and Variety, Audience-Centered Speaking 20:00 Warm-up activity 5:00 Check-in and follow-up from last session. Explain optional use of Evaluating Your Body s Spoken Image form. Topic: Voice modulation and vocal variety Mind, body, and voice are partners. Voice is the medium. Voice is your greatest tool as a speaker. Not just in public speaking either - a good, controlled voice is an asset in every contact with others. It s a tool for success in work and in your social life. Voice modulation and vocal variety isn t about making your voice pretty. It s about taking care of the listener and making your message more effective. Just like our bodies project our emotions if we re not aware of what they re doing, so our voice reveals our inner state. Some of us are uncomfortable with that, maybe particularly at work. So we flatten our voice in the same way we might make our face impassive. The problem is that our audience and that might be an audience of one can t absorb much of what we re saying when there s no variation in our voice. Think of listening to someone with a monotonous voice. You can t hold onto the ideas as well. We might hold other unconscious voice habits as well such as saying like or um a lot. I was thinking about voice tone and the tones some people seem to use a lot. Have you ever met someone who, in normal conversation about most anything, sounds to you like she s ticked off? Or like she s lecturing you? Or like life is a hugely heavy burden? We probably recognize other people who sound like this sometimes. I wonder if we recognize ourselves. After thinking about these other people who annoy me with the - in my perception - condescending tone, I realized that at times I fall into the lecturing trap. Which traps do you fall into? I wasn t sure of the psychology of these speech patterns and I was curious, so I dug into it a little. With the caveat that I m no psychologist, what I read suggested that: When we sound angry, we might really be feeling fear, powerlessness or of less value When we sound condescending or superior, we might really be feeling inferiority,

2 When we sound lecture-y, we might really be feeling incompetent When we sound as if life is such a burden, we might be feeling unnoticed or not valued. So it s good to learn to hear ourselves, become aware when we re falling into these patterns, and change our speech so we re not unconsciously repelling people. So here s what we re going for in our voice: Pleasant Conveying a sense of warmth Natural Reflecting sincerity and your true personality Dynamic Giving an impression of force and strength (irrespective of volume) Expressive Portraying various shades of meaning and never sounding monotone Easily heard Proper volume and clear articulation To change our speech, it helps to know how speech is created. There are three main parts of voice production. The power source, the vibrator, and the resonator. The power source: lungs and diaphragm. The power for our voice comes from air that we exhale. When we inhale, the diaphragm lowers and the rib cage expands, drawing air into the lungs. As we exhale, the process reverses. Air exits the lungs, creating an airstream in the trachea. This airstream provides the energy for the vocal folds in the larynx to produce sound. The stronger the airstream, the stronger the voice. The vibrator: larynx. The larynx sits on top of the windpipe, or trachea. It contains two folds known as vocal cords that open during breathing and close during swallowing and voice production.

3 When we produce voice, the airstream passes between the two vocal folds that have come together. These folds are soft. They re set into vibration by the passing airstream. They vibrate very fast -from 100 to 1000 times per second, depending on the pitch of the sound we make. Let s watch this in action. - :34 to 1:13 The resonator: throat, nose, mouth, and sinuses. When something resonates--like an echo within a long tunnel-- the sound goes back and forth, prolonging the sound, sometimes even strengthening a particular tone. By themselves, the vocal folds produce a noise that sounds like simple buzzing. It s like a trumpet. We blow into it and the mouthpiece buzzes. If we had nothing beyond the mouthpiece, that would be the sound we create. But there are more parts to a trumpet that allow the sound to resonate beyond what the mouthpiece does. Human resonation is increasing or modifying sound by the throat, nose and mouth. As the sounds waves bounce around these structures, they re reinforced and amplified. My voice sounds different from s voice. Our vocal fold vibrations probably create similar buzzing sounds, but the shape of our individual resonator systems throat, nose, etc. are different. So the sound we produce is different. Primary cause of negative voice quality is tension. When some of us get nervous, our chest and throat tighten up like the neck of a balloon. (demo) This impedes airflow and results in a flat voice. To improve, we must become aware of stress, muscle tension, and relaxation. Most important relax your throat while you speak. How can we do that and remember what we re saying? Write it on your notes. Have it in front of you when you practice. Think about friendliness, confidence, and a desire to communicate and your mind may help your throat to relax. To a certain extent, we can also change the size, shape and surface tension of structures in our resonator tracks. For example, we may also use, partly use or close off the nasal cavity. That s beyond our scope here, so you can pursue it on your own if you re interested in how. Presentations

4 Topic: Evaluating our voices When we evaluate our voices, we look at four categories. 1. Volume: Whisper some people speak so softly they can barely be heard. Some people speak in a booming voice that is too loud in some situations. We want to be aware of our normal speaking volume and vary it to add emphasis and dramatic impact. Play Vocal Variety audio clip - beginning to 4:06 Projecting: Projecting is supporting voice with air from diaphragm. In normal talking we might use air from the top of the lungs, but to project we must use air from the diaphragm. 2. Pitch: Become aware of how you use your voice in different situations: talking to a baby, talking to a friend, talking to a difficult customer, talking to your boss. Consider what you are doing with your voice. Think about how you re moving your mouth. How you re using your lips. Play Vocal Variety audio clip 4:07-7:03 Additional information: When we give information, our voice becomes more monotonous. Emotions and vocal colorings we express with our voice can arouse similar emotions in others. (Ex: someone who speaks calmly to someone who is hurt). Consider inflection and meaning by emphasizing a different word each time you say this sentence: I was born in South Dakota. 3. Tempo (speech rate and pauses): Tempo closely associated with personality, and how you live your life. Slow speaker = people struggle to pay attention; gives us time to daydream. Fast speaker = listeners become frustrated and stop paying attention. Play Vocal Variety audio clip 7:03-11:37 How to learn volume, pitch, and tempo skills: 1. Play an audiobook, trail the speaker s voice by saying whatever the speaker says in the way s/he says it like yoga for your voice.

5 2. Read to kids - focus on one modality of voice at a time. Focus on volume for a couple of minute. Then focus on pauses. 3. Read love poetry. 4. Articulation pronunciation and enunciation Pronunciation: correct sounds in the sequence of a word. Easier to show mispronunciation: jist instead of just gunna instead of going to Enunciation: fullness and clarity of speech sounds. Say the following aloud, being very careful to say each syllable very clearly and precisely: feb - you - air - eee. Now do the same for this: feb - rue - air - eee. Your enunciation was good with both, though your pronunciation was only correct for the second Assignment for next time: Why are public libraries important? 2:00 3:00 minutes