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| Category: Body/Mind/Spirit Work |
Date published: March 8, 2005 |
Speaking with your Voice of Choice
by Dianne Legro
 (Speech and Presentation Coach & President of Speaking Success, Inc.)
I am a voice specialist. I am a voice specialist because I believe the world needs to hear from all of us. Due to stage fright and confidence issues- some of us are not getting our message heard!
I just professionally audited an acting class in Los Angeles by a colleague who is one of the world's most famous acting teachers. His clients win Academy Awards. Today he was teaching a class of future stars in the making. The students were exciting actors with top notch talents and abilities, they chose challenging material, and had given lots of committed thought to their acting intentions and character development.
Why did he berate so many of them? What made him so frustrated that he threatened to throw one actor out of his classes forever? What part of their preparation had they overlooked?
Their voices. He knew what these actors could be, and that their voices would be forever holding them back from their success. The fact of that drove him wild.
In turn, the actors I saw had harrowing problems with projection, sentence followthrough, voices that were caught in their throats and strangling their expressiveness, squeaky tones, poor enunciation, lack of vocal depth and `presence'...the list goes on.
I understood his frustration, and was keenly aware of the very dire urge I had to speak up and tell them simple things like, "You need to breathe right now! You are not breathing at all!" I am a voice specialist. I am a voice specialist because I believe the world needs to hear from all of us. It hurts me when people are not heard. The voice is the instrument by which you express yourself in the world, and especially for a career on the stage or in any public life you must practice it like an instrument. Dedicated practice also leads you to your personal power and discernment.
For example, when I first began learning Alexander Technique training years ago, I noticed that it changed me in unexpected ways. I found that when I dropped my speaking voice down into my body where my deepest core feelings were, I needed to speak less often. When I did speak my words were economical and carried quiet strength. People noticed it and heard me in a new way. This same effect happens with all my students who use this process. Mature musicians also do this as their career extends into senior years. Notice that they DO less and GIVE more. Each note has their personal authenticity. They are simply playing or singing their truth for us and we love them for it. Think Rosemary Clooney, Tony Bennett, Paul Robeson, and you know what I mean.
I just attended a board meeting as a consultant to the client's creative process and watched an important idea and proposal get summarily dismissed because the man speaking had a hesitant insecure voice and poor eye contact. His body language also did not support trust in him or his idea. He was not heard and he did not know the reason why. This happens to too many people and has maybe already happened to you. Great salespeople combat this because they know that would-be customers decide in the first ten seconds of your pitch whether they will do business with you based on the sound of your voice. Using your voice of choice is important. In many professions, using the true sound that carries the vibration of who you are as you speak can bring the world to your door.
Here are some universal problems actors and other professionals share:
* Stage fright! Research on fear shows us that the number one fear of 99% of people is speaking in public. It is greater than the fear of death!
* Authenticity and believe-ability.
* Shallow breath and poor projection
* Memory lapses
* Weak body language.
* Emotional separation from the audience.
* Poor tone and pitch variation
* Awkward jokes and off timing of punch lines ? Many nervous gestures
* Tight throat, dry mouth, racing pulse, racing heart
Here are some suggestions to make you a more comfortable and successful speaker or performer:
1. Take slow deep abdominal breaths. Imagine the air actually entering your body right behind your navel and filling the bottom of your lungs gently and comfortingly with air. You can repeat a phrase while you do this, such as "I breathe in peace, I breath out fear." Or "I breath in comfort, I breathe out worry." Exhale slowly. This will slow you down and increase oxygen to your brain for mental clarity. Train yourself by doing this every day. It will become a habit of excellence, and will improve your presence, focus and concentration.
2. Train yourself to be with one person at a time in your audience for the length of a complete thought. Let your eyes be soft and make contact with them naturally like you would with a friend while you are speaking to them. You will find that most people will return the friendly exchange and it will become a comfort to you.
3. A great performance is the art of tension and release. If you become flustered, just stop. Silence is OK. It is a dramatic color great actors and speakers ALWAYS USE. Don't be afraid to stop, take a breath, re-focus and begin again with your next thought. The power of silence is intriguing, and once you discover how it focuses your audience, you will choose to use it intentionally in your work!
4. There are many subtleties to your use of vocal volume. Study the shadings of volume between loud and soft that you naturally speak with every day. Study the types of laughter you have in a day and the many qualities each one has. Learn to tap into what you sound like naturally and use that as your foundation to become personal with your audience. The way you smile and laugh with an infant is different that the way you laugh at your boss's joke. Take notice of the times when you are comfortable in your own skin and reproduce them inside yourself wherever possible. It works!
5. Soften your knees and feel the floor underneath you. Because of tension, so many speakers brace against the floor with rigid legs, which only causes more tension. Bracing yourself against the floor (or against life) does not make you strong, it makes you weaker and less resilient. Remember the old saying about the tree that bends in the wind? Softening your knees also brings your body over your center of gravity. Being over your center of gravity sends the message that you are connected with your subject, your mission, that you are capable and trustworthy. Indeed in conveying these things they return to nourish you again as you speak making you stronger and more confident. It becomes a self fulfilling prophecy.
6. Warm up! Yes, stretch and yawn and bend from the waist to the front, back and sides. Breathe deep and roll your shoulders in big circles. Stretching releases the mind's "hold" on your body and you will feel more relaxed and resourceful.
7. Warm up! Your voice is your instrument. You need to do exercises to warm it up. The stadium doesn't pay to watch athletes do sit -ups, but the player won't hit a homerun for the audience if he hasn't done his workout. Try these.
8. Before you speak, hum to yourself backstage for several minutes. Open your teeth about an inch and close your lips in front of your open teeth. Then begin to hum. You may notice a buzzing feeling in your nose and on your teeth. This is GOOD. Your are finding your places of resonance. Speaking into this same area on a good strong breath will make your voice more resonant and colorful.
9. Time-tested tongue twisters help you with diction. These really work. Repeat as perfectly as you can "Red Leather Yellow Leather", now speed it up until your speed and accuracy increases. Try the same with "Good blood, bad blood".
10. Enjoy yourself as much as you can. People really want to feel like you want to be with them. A lot of public speaking success is simply that people feel welcome to be with you, bumps, warts and all. Sometimes you are the most endearing when you least know it. The things that make us all human and connected are the things that are our imperfections. Smile and accept yourself as you are right now. If you can feel that you are enough as you are, then you give us permission accept ourselves. And we love you for it!
11. Find a mentor. And get some good coaching to be your best.
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For the past 18 years Dianne has worked with Fortune 500 Companies, like Starbucks and GE, and top government agencies to optimize leadership & communication skills. As a veteran Broadway stage performer, Dianne knows how mastering public speaking can catapult your career, and her expert coaching makes your process a fun, meaningful exploration into your best self. Dianne provides keynote speeches, group workshops, and sees clients one-on-one in the Los Angeles area or on the phone.
For more information on Dianne, contact her at:
Email: Dianne@diannelegro.com Web: www.diannelegro.com
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