Most of us aren’t happy with some aspect of ourselves, but given a bit of effort, many things can be changed. We can get fitter by increasing our time spent exercising, we can get a better job and earn more money by enrolling for extra skills training, we can change the way we look by investing in a new haircut, getting (or removing) spectacles or changing what style of clothes we wear.
In other words, by allocating time and effort, we can achieve things to make us feel better about ourselves.
Now, what about changing your voice? Many people get in touch to say they don’t like how their voice sounds. I have emails from professional people who want to change or lose their accent. Some people think their accent holds them back professionally because they have a regional or foreign accent. Fortunately, at Voice Synergy, we can help you to improve the way you speak and change your voice.
What do you need to do to change the way you sound?
Just like the things listed at the top of this article, in order to make a difference, you need to invest some time and effort into the process of changing your voice.
The way you speak has been learned over many years and change takes time.
What is involved in changing the way you speak? There are so many elements to speaking well – changing the way you speak is not just ‘speaking posh’! The following are important aspects to getting a better sounding voice:
- The way you breathe makes a difference to how you sound
- Your posture makes a big impact on the quality of your voice
- Waking up your vocal folds in your larynx before you launch into a big speech will help with resonance and how your voice carries
- Using the muscles in your tongue, lips and soft palate in the proper way will give your speech clarity
- Your positive attitude to the conversation or presentation will augment your impact.
It is possible to look online and research the above list and there will be plenty of videos uploaded; some by experts but also many by so-called ‘experts’. If you are intending to invest time and money into speech and voice training, make absolutely sure you are being taught by a professionally trained and qualified speech and voice coach who will teach you well.
Bad habits are easy to acquire but very difficult to get rid of. Changing the way your voice sounds is all about changing your old habits and learning new ways of speaking and it’s essential that those new habits are the right ones.
This week I have been working with a client who speaks English as a second language and we focussed on the pronunciation of the ‘R’ sound. This lady kindly told her sons about the solution she had found with me, as they were both struggling to pronounce ‘R’ correctly, too. They instantly ‘got it’ and said, ‘Tell your voice teacher she is the best!’ It is really gratifying to enable my clients and their families to speak so that they can settle into more ‘Englishness’ and feel like they ‘belong’. Too many people suffer from a sense of being outsiders, just because their accent doesn’t sound right to others.
If you, your family or your work colleagues would like help with speech, accent or voice, please get in touch. I will be pleased to help.
Debbie Chatting (MA Voice Studies, Royal Central School of Speech and Drama)