Voice Synergy News
-
Struggling with your English accent?
During a visit to France a few years back, we attended a Medieval banquet and tournament, organised and hosted by the Vendeens. As we filed through to the banqueting hall, we were given blue cardboard crowns and shown to our seats at a large scrubbed table laid with tin plates and pewter mugs filled to…
-
The conference call – use your voice effectively
How can you lead a conference call effectively? Why do people stay silent during a conference call? Why do some people talk too much, or dominate, during a conference call? Some clients of Voice Synergy have recently been asking how to get the best out of a…
-
World Voice Day – Tuesday 16 April 2019 – “Be kind with your voice”
World Voice Day is annual event, designed to raise awareness of the importance of the human voice and to be alert to voice problems. The power of your voice comes from the air you inhale. The diaphragm drops and the air pours into your lungs; this air can be used to activate your voice in…
-
Perfecting new skills
How can we speak more clearly? How quickly can you pick up a new skill? Have you ever tried juggling? Juggling demands a series of highly complex coordinated muscle movements to be carried out within a short space of time. A new skill, like speaking more clearly, takes three important stages to master. A new…
-
Why Can’t Our Children Talk?
A recent news feature on BBC Radio 4, ‘Why Can’t Our Children Talk?’ highlighted the importance of children making conversation from a very early age to help with their speech development. Specialists say that unless children are engaged in talking from infancy, they will not learn to speak properly and will never catch up on…
-
King’s English
How to speak “properly” in the 1920s! The BBC’s ‘Back in Time for School’ television programme (Thursdays, BBC One 8.00 pm) is showing how children’s education in the 1900s varied so much from today’s classroom experience, almost 100 years later. This week’s episode (available from 8pm on 10 January) shines a light on the 1920s…
-
The Edinburgh Fringe 2018 – accents and dialects
A few years ago I attended the Edinburgh Fringe for the first time, as one of our children was playing the flute in an orchestra. It was a hot, sunny day and the streets were lined with performance supporters handing out promotional leaflets to passers-by. Being a novice Fringe-goer, we took everything offered, then retired…
-
Is the Bristol accent gert lush?
It has been used for centuries to evoke the sound of rural England and simple country folk. From Hobbits to Hagrid, if you want to portray rustic simplicity it seems the best way to do it is to affect a West Country accent. Over recent years it has become the accent of choice for comedy…
-
How good are your customer facing staff?
Are they your weakest link? Ring, ring…. Ring, ring…. Ring, ring…. “Good morning, you’re through to Acme Applied Applications, how can I help you?” So far, so good. But although the receptionist is saying what s/he is thinking, what YOU hear is: “…. morning, you’re through to A’mee-‘plied-‘cations… how ‘ann-ee-‘elp you?” Oh dear. ARE you…
-
Top tips for good speech habits
Some of the professional people who come to me for help with changing the way they speak sometimes struggle in the beginning. The reason for this is that for years we have all spoken on autopilot and developed sometimes poor speech habits. We don’t really pay much attention to how we actually speak or what…