How is your voice performing up this October/spacer? Is your voice sounding sunny and approachable or are you feeling a bit jaded and wishing you sounded more inspiring?

Like garden flowers, your voice needs looking after in order for it to reach its full potential. It’s easy to take our voice for granted and assume it will just get on with the task of performance and sound great. However, that is not the case.

To develop a great voice, you need to give it a little daily love and attention. Warming up your voice each morning, stretching your body, yawning and relaxing your muscles will all help.

If you go straight into leading a meeting or making an important presentation to a group without any preparation, your voice will not perform at its best.

Help your voice perform well.

Your vocal folds are situated in your larynx and come to life as you begin to speak. They are a complex blend of muscle and cartilage which stretch and swivel to create the sound of your voice. They work in harmony with your diaphragm which provides your vocal folds with the energy – air – to power your voice. Lots of air blasting through your vocal folds without preparation can cause problems.

Here are some great ways to prepare your voice before you do a presentation:

1. Have a good full body stretch. Lift your arms up, breathe in and slowly lower your arms while breathing out.
2. Repeat the above exercise and this time after you’ve breathed in, yawn out, long and musically, letting your voice travel up and down as many notes as you like.
3. Breathe in again, lift your shoulders towards your ears yawning with your voice, stretch your arms out and forwards then up, letting them gently come to rest by your sides.
4. Breathe in, feeling your lungs expand and your ribs lift, then hum out smoothly at a comfortable volume, with your mouth closed and your teeth unclenched.
5. Repeat the gentle humming, this time starting on a low note, moving up to a higher note, then down to a lower note again.

Repeat this set of voice warm up exercises at least five times daily. Try to do your voice warm ups when you have five minutes to yourself, perhaps when you are getting ready for work in the morning.

Allowing yourself some time each day to warm up your voice will help your voice respond to your thoughts more generously. Your vocal folds will become more responsive and your vocal quality improved.

However, too much talking without sufficient water will create dryness and lead to a loss of vocal power.

Just like the sunflower, your voice needs a good regular supply of fresh water to help it thrive. Drinking water during the day, especially sipping water during a presentation, will help to lubricate your vocal folds. When your voice is well hydrated, it will perform better for you.

Warm ups, preparation and water can all bring some sunshine to your voice.

For more information about how to care for your voice or for information about voice coaching, please get in touch with Voice Synergy for a free consultation.