Voice Exercise

This is a short follow up to yesterday's post regarding Set Your Voice Free: How to Get the Singing or Speaking Voice You Want by Roger Love. I neglected to say that the book does include sections on how to care for your voice and exercises specifically for speaking. It was written for both singers and speakers. He has several other books out and one is specifically for the speaking voice. I went with Set Your Voice Free because of a recommendation. I am pleased with the results I got and may check out his other book for speakers. (Anybody out there a little wiser in the ways of the voice have any recommendations. Maybe my music teacher friends....Steve?....Chuck?)

One fun exercise I might recommend from the book for those presenters who speak in a monotone voice with no inflection or passion. The author suggests you write your lecture out and then sing it. Not to the kids but in the privacy of your own home, while hiding in the basement if you want. (Note...Roger Love doesn't actually say to hide in the basement, that's my own spin on places to practice.) It helps build some different phrasings and inflection that will then be reflected when speaking the lecture. I've had young teachers ask me for advice on this in the past and I was at a loss as to what to tell them. Now I'll suggest they sing their lecture to the melody of "Happy Birthday" or "Old Macdonald" or possibly Madonnas, "Like a Virgin". Or maybe I'll just suggest the book.

[Image: "Sing"; Flickr: Uploaded on April 6, 2008 by ktylerconk: http://www.flickr.com/photos/ktylerconk/2394470300/]

Strengthening my voice

I get hoarse or loose my voice every year during the first two weeks of school. I believe this is related to not talking near as much during the summer as I do when teaching. I read something a few months back about professional speakers needing to take care of their voice as much as a professional singer. I thought, well I may not be a Anthony Robbins or Conan Obrien or Larry the Cable Guy, but I sure do use my voice professionally. Every day.

I decided to do a little research into the whole thing and found several referrals to a book called, Set Your Voice Free: How to Get the Singing or Speaking Voice You Want by Roger Love. I figured what's the worst that could happen....?

• I'm out a few bucks and I still get a sore, tender throat at the beginning of the school year.
• I still get hoarse but I am able to sing like a nightengale.
• I strengthen my voice and I am able to project out into the classroom with such amazing clarity that people travel from other countries to hear me recite this years bus schedule.
  
• My teacher friends laugh and point at me and won't let me sit with them during lunch.

I was willing to take the risk. So, I bought the book and read it. Unhappily, I discovered the voice exercises I needed to do were singing exercises. Even if you just want to improve your speaking voice, the author still asks you to do the singing activities. Interesting but I wasn't sure I was ready to sit in my office singing scales while my wife, the neighbors and the dogs listened from the sidelines. I'm shy!

I eventually put the exercises onto my iPod and practiced them in my truck. I can work through the basic scale exercises in the time it takes me to drive to my gym. Other than the occasional odd look from folks sitting next to me at a stop light, it was easy to do while I drove. I did this roughly 3-5 times a week for most of the summer.

Did it help?

After two weeks of classroom instruction, I would say yes. My speaking voice seems stronger and my voice felt a little tired just one afternoon out of ten days, but never sore or hoarse. I have also noticed some improvement in my singing voice. I can recommend the book and the exercises as being helpful to me.

My training for speaking in the classroom consisted of "Don't mumble and face the children." Considering that presentation is such a large part of our job, might it not make sense for teacher's in training to get some help with their speaking voice? If I had, maybe I wouldn't have suffered through a quarter century of the September Sore Throat Syndrome.

[Image: "Day8-A little Froggy": Flickr: Uploaded on January 8, 2008by John Carleton: http://www.flickr.com/photos/johncarleton/2178902878/]