| u hear yourself on your voicemail are you | | | | sore in that region.] |
| shocked? Disgusted? Embarrassed? Unfortunately, | | | | When I work with my clients, I show them how |
| what you hear on your answering machine is the | | | | to find their optimum speaking voice. The pitch |
| truth. It is the sound by which everyone | | | | (highness or lowness of sound) of the voice will |
| recognizes you. It is your vocal image. | | | | drop to some degree in most cases. It may be |
| 37% of the image we project is the sound of the | | | | several steps — it may be a mere half |
| speaking voice. 55% is our physical image and a | | | | step. But that change makes all the difference in |
| mere 8% our content. Now, let me ask you. | | | | how good the voice really is. |
| What does your vocal image say about you? | | | | One of the most astounding voice changes I have |
| We have 5 cavities in the body in which the voice | | | | ever encountered was Craig, a young man who |
| should vibrate or resonate when we speak: the | | | | wanted to become a policeman. After his second |
| voice box, the throat, the mouth, the nose, and | | | | class, Craig’s father told him it was the |
| the chest. Since the majority of the population | | | | best investment he had made. If you would like |
| does not breathe with the support of the | | | | to see a before’ & after’ |
| diaphragm, so too, most people are not able to | | | | video clip of Craig, visit my website and watch |
| utilize that fantastic chest cavity. James Earl Jones | | | | this young man in the upper left-hand corner. |
| is using it and so is Cher. Do they have something | | | | When I was in graduate school, my music |
| special? No. Because they breathe with support, | | | | professor told me that the pitch of my speaking |
| their chest is their major amplifier, their major | | | | voice was too high. She played a note on the |
| sounding board which is why their voices sound so | | | | piano, telling me that that was where my habitual |
| good. | | | | voice was. Then she went down about 4 steps |
| Look at it this way. The power of your voice can | | | | lower and told me that that note was where my |
| only start at your breath placement. If you are a | | | | optimum voice was. Again, I’m talking |
| shallow breather, in which you are utilizing only the | | | | about my speaking voice — not my singing |
| upper portion of the chest for respiration, then | | | | voice! That day changed my life because I |
| your voice is being powered from the throat up. | | | | discovered a voice that sounded more mature, a |
| If, on the other hand, you are breathing with the | | | | voice that was richer, deeper, resonant. In a |
| support of your diaphragm, then the power of | | | | word, warm. Diane Sawyer has it; George |
| the voice begins with that huge cavity known as | | | | Clooney has it. Melanie Griffith, on the other hand, |
| the chest. Look at the size of the other 4 cavities | | | | doesn’t. |
| and contrast them to the size of the chest | | | | After graduate school, my voice got me my jobs |
| cavity. | | | | in New York City because I sounded more |
| [By the way, if you don’t know where | | | | mature than I was
I sounded like I knew what |
| your diaphragm is, place your hands under your | | | | I was talking about. And it can happen to you too. |
| rib cage and cough. Did you feel that muscle | | | | There are a lot of fantastic voices out there but |
| kick out’? That is your diaphragm. You | | | | you will never know how good your |
| may remember that muscle if you ever attended | | | | real’ voice is until you learn to breathe |
| a funny movie, laughed for 2 hours and felt sore | | | | with support, find your optimum pitch, and let |
| afterwards or perhaps you’ve had a cold | | | | your chest do the talking. |
| with a hacking cough and noticed that you were | | | | |