A few days ago, I went with my son on a hawk walk in the autumn-tinged fields surrounding Bath. He’s always been keen on wildlife and nature and this experience of flying a Harris Hawk, in conjunction with the West of England Falconry, was my birthday gift for him.

Donning the leather gauntlet on his left hand for protection and a cap on his head, also to protect against the sharp hunting talons, my son was prepared. Travis, the hawk, was perched on his trainer’s arm, wearing his hood, to keep him calm as we walked across the dewy grass.

The hawk has been trained using positive behavioural reinforcement. His hood was introduced kindly, he was fed morsels of meat to associate the hood use and human interaction generally, with his own calm and positive reaction. He knows that he will be rewarded with favourite food, raw chicken, when he comes flying to the gauntleted hand.

Travis flew off into the trees and paused a while before silently swooping down and gliding with perfect accuracy to my son’s gauntlet and gobbled up the hidden meat. That finished, he fluttered up and perched on my son’s head, using him as a look-out post, before relaunching himself and flying back to the nearby copse.

In former times, this symbiotic behaviour was developed to encourage the hawk to hunt down and retrieve prey, such as rabbits, for its human partner.

All this gave me a scenario to consider. How do we adapt our behaviour as humans to train and be trained? It all begins when we are children, when we modify our behaviour to suit our parents, carers, teachers and so on. We respond with acceptable behaviour in response to certain triggers. But, as adults, we choose to be ‘trained’ in order to develop our skills as we understand the benefits of having a trained voice, for example, or undergo accent coaching.

The coach has a huge responsibility – and it is a privilege – to pass on his or her skills in the most effective way to our clients. Voice training includes learning and being able to perform specific exercises in order to reach a specific ‘goal’ – i.e. a trained voice. Voice coaching offers a range of options to develop and broaden the positive effects of voice use and still includes the need to learn and repeat exercises. There is overlap in these two terms, voice training and voice coaching, both should result in a more empowered and intentional use of the voice.

It takes time to unlearn poor vocal habits. Poor vocal habits can include using ‘filler’ words, such as ‘um, er, so, sort of, like’ and so on. Poor vocal habits can also include speaking too quickly, or speaking too quietly. Working with a voice coach, you will come to notice first, what you are doing, that you want to stop doing; second, that you need to stop this action (inhibit); third, learn to speak without using filler words / speak more slowly / speak with more power and allow your voice to project.

Instead of being fed morsels of raw meat as rewards for your new, positive voice habits, your voice coach will tell you that you are doing well. You will be told that they hear a difference and you will soon learn to notice your own positive voice habit changes which helps in positive reinforcement.

Voice training, or voice coaching can be a joyful skill from which to benefit. Noticing your new vocal skills and how they make a difference to your interaction with others, for example, is a powerful driver to keep you practising your voice exercises. Having the support of a voice trainer or a voice coach alongside you, acts as positive behavioural reinforcement, which could be a bit like getting a bit of raw chicken when you’re a hawk, flying to a gloved hand.

For more information about voice and accent coaching, or for an informal chat, please get in touch.