Session 3: Vocal Modulation and Variety, Audience-Centered Speaking
20:00 Warm-up activity
5:00 Check-in and follow-up from last session. Explain optional use of
“Evaluating Your Body’s Spoken Image” form.
Topic: Voice modulation and vocal variety
Mind, body, and voice are partners. Voice is the medium. Voice is your greatest tool as a
speaker. Not just in public speaking either - a good, controlled voice is an asset in every
contact with others. It’s a tool for success in work and in your social life.
Voice modulation and vocal variety isn’t about making your voice pretty. It’s about
taking care of the listener and making your message more effective.
Just like our bodies project our emotions if we’re not aware of what they’re doing, so
our voice reveals our inner state. Some of us are uncomfortable with that, maybe
particularly at work.
So we flatten our voice – in the same way we might make our face impassive.
The problem is that our audience – and that might be an audience of one – can’t absorb
much of what we’re saying when there’s no variation in our voice. Think of listening to
someone with a monotonous voice. You can’t hold onto the ideas as well.
We might hold other unconscious voice habits as well – such as saying “like” or “um” a
lot.
I was thinking about voice tone and the tones some people seem to use a lot. Have you
ever met someone who, in normal conversation about most anything, sounds to you
like she’s ticked off? Or like she’s lecturing you? Or like life is a hugely heavy burden?
We probably recognize other people who sound like this sometimes. I wonder if we
recognize ourselves. After thinking about these other people who annoy me with the in my perception - condescending tone, I realized that at times I fall into the lecturing
trap. Which traps do you fall into?
I wasn’t sure of the psychology of these speech patterns and I was curious, so I dug into
it a little. With the caveat that I’m no psychologist, what I read suggested that:
When we sound angry, we might really be feeling fear, powerlessness or of less value
When we sound condescending or superior, we might really be feeling inferiority,
When we sound lecture-y, we might really be feeling incompetent
When we sound as if life is such a burden, we might be feeling unnoticed or not valued.
So it’s good to learn to hear ourselves, become aware when we’re falling into these
patterns, and change our speech so we’re not unconsciously repelling people.
So here’s what we’re going for in our voice:
Pleasant
Conveying a sense of warmth
Natural
Reflecting sincerity and your true personality
Dynamic
Giving an impression of force and strength (irrespective of volume)
Expressive
Portraying various shades of meaning and never sounding monotone
Easily heard
Proper volume and clear articulation
To change our speech, it helps to know how speech is created.
There are three main parts of voice production. The power source, the vibrator, and the
resonator.
The power source: lungs and diaphragm. The power for our voice comes from air that
we exhale. When we inhale, the diaphragm lowers and the rib cage expands, drawing air
into the lungs.
As we exhale, the process reverses. Air exits the lungs, creating an airstream in the
trachea.
This airstream provides the energy for the vocal folds in the larynx to produce sound.
The stronger the airstream, the stronger the voice.
The vibrator: larynx. The larynx sits on top of the windpipe, or trachea. It contains two
folds known as vocal cords that open during breathing and close during swallowing and
voice production.
When we produce voice, the airstream passes between the two vocal folds that have
come together.
These folds are soft. They’re set into vibration by the passing airstream. They vibrate
very fast -from 100 to 1000 times per second, depending on the pitch of the sound we
make. Let’s watch this in action.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=y2okeYVclQo - :34 to 1:13
The resonator: throat, nose, mouth, and sinuses. When something resonates--like an
echo within a long tunnel-- the sound goes back and forth, prolonging the sound,
sometimes even strengthening a particular tone.
By themselves, the vocal folds produce a noise that sounds like simple buzzing.
It’s like a trumpet. We blow into it and the mouthpiece buzzes. If we had nothing
beyond the mouthpiece, that would be the sound we create. But there are more parts to
a trumpet that allow the sound to resonate beyond what the mouthpiece does.
Human resonation is increasing or modifying sound by the throat, nose and mouth. As
the sounds waves bounce around these structures, they’re reinforced and amplified. My
voice sounds different from ________’s voice. Our vocal fold vibrations probably create
similar buzzing sounds, but the shape of our individual resonator systems – throat, nose,
etc. are different. So the sound we produce is different.
Primary cause of negative voice quality is tension. When some of us get nervous, our
chest and throat tighten up like the neck of a balloon. (demo)
This impedes airflow and results in a flat voice. To improve, we must become aware of
stress, muscle tension, and relaxation. Most important – relax your throat while you
speak. How can we do that and remember what we’re saying? Write it on your notes.
Have it in front of you when you practice. Think about friendliness, confidence, and a
desire to communicate and your mind may help your throat to relax.
To a certain extent, we can also change the size, shape and surface tension of structures
in our resonator tracks. For example, we may also use, partly use or close off the nasal
cavity. That’s beyond our scope here, so you can pursue it on your own if you’re
interested in how.
Presentations
Topic: Evaluating our voices
When we evaluate our voices, we look at four categories.
1.
Volume: Whisper – some people speak so softly they can barely be heard. Some
people speak in a booming voice that is too loud in some situations. We want to be
aware of our normal speaking volume and vary it to add emphasis and dramatic
impact.
Play Vocal Variety audio clip - beginning to 4:06
Projecting: Projecting is supporting voice with air from diaphragm. In normal talking we
might use air from the top of the lungs, but to project we must use air from the
diaphragm.
2.
Pitch: Become aware of how you use your voice in different situations: talking to
a baby, talking to a friend, talking to a difficult customer, talking to your boss. Consider
what you are doing with your voice. Think about how you’re moving your mouth. How
you’re using your lips.
Play Vocal Variety audio clip 4:07-7:03
Additional information:
When we give information, our voice becomes more monotonous.
Emotions and vocal colorings we express with our voice can arouse similar emotions in
others. (Ex: someone who speaks calmly to someone who is hurt).
Consider inflection and meaning by emphasizing a different word each time you say this
sentence: I was born in South Dakota.
3.
Tempo (speech rate and pauses):
Tempo – closely associated with personality, and how you live your life.
Slow speaker = people struggle to pay attention; gives us time to daydream.
Fast speaker = listeners become frustrated and stop paying attention.
Play Vocal Variety audio clip 7:03-11:37
How to learn volume, pitch, and tempo skills:
1. Play an audiobook, trail the speaker’s voice by saying whatever the speaker says
in the way s/he says it – like yoga for your voice.
2. Read to kids - focus on one modality of voice at a time. Focus on volume for a
couple of minute. Then focus on pauses.
3. Read love poetry.
4.
Articulation – pronunciation and enunciation
Pronunciation: correct sounds in the sequence of a word. Easier to show
mispronunciation: “jist” instead of “just” “gunna” instead of “going to”
Enunciation: fullness and clarity of speech sounds.
Say the following aloud, being very careful to say each syllable very clearly and
precisely: feb - you - air - eee.
Now do the same for this: feb - rue - air - eee.
Your enunciation was good with both, though your pronunciation was only correct for
the second
Assignment for next time:
Why are public libraries important?
2:00 – 3:00 minutes