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 your larynx to produce sound. The stronger the airstream, the stronger the voice.
Your voice box, or larynx, uses the outgoing air from your lungs to power the vocal folds, or vocal chords. This creates the sound of your voice, augmented by the resonance of your chest, throat and nose, then it is in the mouth where these sounds are shaped. Your articulators, which include your tongue, lips, teeth and soft palate move and interrupt the flow of your voice to make sense of the sound.
World Voice Day plays an important role in helping people to take care of their voice.
There are many factors which can cause voice problems, including smoking, excessive alcohol consumption, jobs which involve many hours of talking (such as teaching, advocacy, lecturing and acting) and the environment in which you work. Those things which easily come to mind may be a noisy environment, where your voice has to compete with other sounds, such as a classroom or factory or where there may be poor air quality or poor acoustics.
Many people suffer from a husky voice or lose their voice altogether because of the demands made upon it at work.
The treatment of a hoarse or husky voice depends on what has caused the problem, but if in doubt, it is worthwhile consulting a medical professional in case there is a serious underlying problem.
Often, however, the voice will return to its usual capabilities if it is rested. F W Alexander (1869 – 1955), developed the unique “Alexander Technique” after finding that his exhausted voice returned to normal after two weeks’ rest, but it repeatedly stopped working after short periods of performing Shakespeare’s texts on stage. Unwilling to give up his career as an actor, as his doctor suggested, Alexander devoted several years to analysing his body posture and its relationship to his voice and learned that good posture is essential to a healthy voice. His work continues today in many drama schools and conservatoires and is invaluable in maintaining a free and healthy voice.
Top tips to be kind to your voice:
- Have plenty of fresh, cool (not icy) water to hand to sip during your speeches
- Avoid smoking (even passive smoking)
- Avoid drinking alcohol within hours of speaking professionally
- Avoid dairy products (cheese, chocolate, milky drinks) before your speech or broadcast
- Relax your body before standing up at the podium or on stage
- Change the vocal variety of your speech patterns to avoid constant “projection”.
How to warm up your voice
Warm up #1 – Breath relaxation
This releases the tension that is often associated in the breathing mechanism that can interfere with effective voice production.
Take a normal breath and then exhale. Make sure your shoulders are low (not hunched up towards your ears!) and that they and your chest are relaxed. Repeat many times, visualising your breath to drop into the lowest part of your lungs. You can try making a ‘s’ sound as you exhale, while placing one hand on your abdomen to remind you to take the breath in deeply and exhale gently and fully.
Warm up #2 – Jaw Release
This reduces the tension in your mouth and jaw area. Use the tips of your fingers to gently massage each side of your face below the cheek bones, where the jaw sits. Allow your jaw to gently open and drop away from your face, using the heels of each hand to stroke down, massaging the facial muscles. Allow your jaw to passively open as you move the hands down the face. Repeat several times.
Warm up # 3 – Lip trills
Release lip tension and connect your breathing with your speaking. This exercise also releases tension in your vocal folds. Place your lips loosely together then release the air in a steady stream to create a “brrrrrr” trill sound. Hold the sound steady and keep the air moving past the lips. As well as performing this exercise on just one note, you can try moving your voice gently up and down the scales. Avoid pushing your voice beyond what is comfortable.
Warm up #4 – Humming
This helps to give your vocal folds a stretch. Start in a low pitch and gently glide up the scale on ‘mmmmm’. Relax your shoulders, relax your jaw allowing your lips to be held gently together. Avoid pushing beyond your range but do increase your range gently each time you do the scales. Repeat this humming as your voice goes down the scales. Repeat this exercise, using the ‘ee’ of the word ‘me’.
Warm up #5 – Sirens / Kazoo buzz
This vocal warm up improves the resonant focus of the sounds and continues work with maximum stretch of the vocal folds. Pretend you are sucking in spaghetti and inhale. Next, keeping your lips in the same position, exhale while making the ‘woo’ sound. Stop each time when you naturally lose pressure and avoid pushing air out. Repeat 2 or 3 times on different notes.
Finally, after performing your voice warm up exercises, cool down by gently humming. Feel a tickling vibration in the lips and nose as you gently hum up and down a small scale a few times. Relax and enjoy your next speech.
Be kind to your voice and for more information on how to use your voice most effectively, get in touch.