Voice Beautification

I've been advocating Voice Coaching for years. Anybody, from a salesperson, to a trainer, to a bank teller can benefit from developing a more pleasing voice. Whether you like it or not, others judge you by the volume, tone and quality of your voice. Here's an exerpt from an article by Jennifer Saranow in the Wall Street Journal that confirms the growing trend in Voice Beautification for the common man!

"Speech therapy used to be for stutterers, lispers and other people with medically diagnosed language problems. But in a culture increasingly devoted to personal trainers, self-help books and cosmetic surgery, a new outlet for self-betterment is emerging: the personal voice trainer.

People have been wincing when they hear themselves speak since the dawn of the recording. Common complaints run the familiar litany of too high-pitched, too monotone, too nasal, too much like the opposite sex. For women, they often include: too shrill, too "valley girl," or too faint. For men, familiar grievances are too gravely or too weak.

Voice experts say that many voice "problems" are caused by unbalanced talking, or using too much of one part of the voice. (The components of the voice include breathing, vocal chord vibration and the sound of the voice as it resonates out of the mouth, nose and throat.) For example, hypernasality results from letting sound resonate too much through the nose. A gravely or harsh tone comes from excessive tension in the throat area.

The voice "is very similar conceptually to a person’s knee," says Joseph Stemple, a speech pathologist at the Blame Block Institute for Vocal Analysis and Rehabilitation in Dayton, Ohio, and author of a well-known voice pathology textbook. "It can become strained and weakened and unbalanced and you can do direct exercise to enhance it."

The key behind most voice exercise programs is teaching patients to find their "true" sound when emphasis isn’t on one part of the voice over others. Patients learn to breathe from their stomach and let the voice carry more fully out of their mouth. They learn to feel whether they are exerting their mouth, nose or throat too much when talking. They use relaxing exercises to relieve tension that may be putting emphasis too much on one area.

Patients say that the end result is a better voice and more- effortless talking -- but getting there takes a lot of work. Learning to talk with a "true" voice can mean anything from figuring out how to hold your tongue while speaking to breathing differently -- movements that feel weird and unnatural at first. It takes extensive practice to turn such changes into habit.

"The results are largely dependent on the amount of energy that they are willing to put into their practice," says Kate DeVore, a speech pathologist from Chicago, who estimates that personal training of normal voices now accounts for about half of her practice."

If you want to change your voice, look for my 'JOYFUL SINGING SERIES" coming soon! Based on my SEVEN PRINCIPLES FOR AN INTEGRATED VOICE, this series will give you the secrets of VOCAL MASTERY! Sign up for my monthly Voicegram to get updates on this fantastic product!