Vocal Variety

Say What?

How something is said can sometimes be more important than what is said. One way to enhance how something is said is by saying it with vocal variety. Vocal variety includes volume, quality, tone or pitch, rate or speed, and pauses.

• Volume: Adds emotion; loud for excitement, quiet for intimacy. Volume is the control for audibility of sound. Speak loud enough so everyone in audience hears you. The voice has five volume settings: 1=whisper, 2=soft, 3=conversational, 4=loud, 5=yell. 3 is normal. 1 and 5 should be used, at most, on 1 - 5 words. 2 and 4 are used for variety and emphasis.
• Quality: Adds interest. It is a clearness that distinguishes different voices. Clearly pronounce all words. Focus the voice in the facial mask, blending the oral and nasal resonators. To find the facial mask, start by just humming ("mmmmmmmmmm"). Then alternatively hum and speak until you get used to what the voice feels like. Then drop the hum.
• Tone/Pitch: Adds color and feeling. Reinforces or emphasizes the words to convey different meanings. Highness or lowness of vocal sound creates different meanings such as tiredness, sarcasm, assertiveness, fear, slowness or excitement.
• Rate/Speed: Adds energy. Fast means action, slow for contrast. Normal speaking rate is 125 - 160 words per minute. The inexperienced and the under-prepared speak faster, the audience eventually tires. Words/thoughts need to linger for the listeners.
• Pauses: Adds emphasis. Use before a word to draw attention. Use after a word to let the thought process for the listener. Pauses need to be planned, and practiced. Goes especially well for humor punch lines. Also use for suspense.

Just as exercise and practicing a skill can develop and improve any skill, w can develop our best speaking voice. Unappealing voices are the result of many years of bad speaking habits. Improving the voice involves the breath, relaxed vocal cords and word articulation. To practice, read passages aloud. Dramatic pieces are especially good for this practice. Add different emotions during the reading. Record it and/or have someone else listen and later give feedback.

Audience Communication

Good vocal variety adds interest, power and energy to presentations. Audiences do not like voices that are monotonous, harsh or tiresome sounding. Research at UCLA showed that three things influence audiences:

• Spoken Words……..7%
• Voice Sound……….38%
• Body Language…….55%

That means that the voice and gestures must match the spoken words. Audiences can tell if the presenter is holding back his/her abilities.

Here is an experiment to try in private. Say something while staying stiff and without passion. Then say the same thing with passion and allowing gestures to happen naturally. Feel the difference? If you can tell it, the audience can too.

A Conversation

When speaking to an audience, it is a conversation. The audience members may not be speaking directly to you. However, they are responding. They respond with that little voice in their head. They respond emotionally (including interest or lackadaisicalness). A presentation is an event that is seen, heard and felt. The voice brings the presentation to the feeling level, the level that audience members decide whether they care about the message.

Three Vocal Skills

Three presentation skills to hone are clear pronunciation, voice quality and use of emotion. Saying something in a friendly, clear and concise manner goes a long way towards the listeners hearing, and understanding, the message.

Clear Pronunciation:

Crisp enunciation of each word in a speech adds to the overall effect the listening experience of the audience. Proper articulation also allows the voice to be projected further. Here are some things to improve pronunciation:

1. Sound out every part of every word, all day long
2. Identify words you often mispronounce and practice them often
3. Complete each sentence before starting the next one
4. Practice speed reading from some written passage (an article, a speech or a book). Each time it is read, try to say it faster than before. Listen carefully to assure every word is being correctly pronounced. Note that the facial and mouth muscles are working harder the faster the reading goes. Then go back to a normal reading rate. Note how much easier now the pronunciation is.

Strong Voice Quality:

Like many muscles in the body, the voice must be exercised to strengthen it and tone it. Vocal exercises increase the quality and tone of the voice. Here are three ways to improve voice quality.

1. Read poems aloud and record them. Listen to the recording, looking for ways to improve the reading. Then reread and rerecord the poem with the planned changes.
2. Join a singing group such as a choir. The regular singing practice will make the vocal muscles stronger, enriching the tone of the voice.
3. Breathe naturally, using the muscles of the diaphragm instead of the muscles of the shoulders or chest. This breathing will improve the resonance of the voice.

Use Emotion:

To prove to yourself the power of speaking with emotion, record yourself reading a favorite poem or speech. For the first reading, speak only in monotone. For the second reading, read with passion and feeling. That "feeling" drives the mind and body to express each word with quality. Notice the vocal variety used in the second reading.

To develop the skill of using emotion in presentations, read children's stories aloud to children. If there are no little children in the household, volunteer to read at a library or school. While reading to the children, throw yourself into the characters and action of the story. The youthful listeners will love it and you get to practice vocal variety.

Speaking Tips:

• Just before being introduced, focus on a positive thought. That will give you positive energy.
• Warm the voice before speaking by speaking aloud. This builds a connection between the voice and the energy.
• Drink water just before speaking. If the presentation will be a long one, have water available from the speaking lectern,
• Learn to use the voice as an instrument,
• Talk to yourself (well, maybe only when you are alone) to keep the voice, body and mind in physical sync.
• Experiment each day with vocal variety during everyday conversations.
• Get used to how the voice feels rather than how it sounds.
• Realize that audiences differentiate professional speakers from non-professional speakers by the length and variety of their pauses.
• Almost never speak for more than two minutes in a monotone voice else the audience will start to get bored, and tune out.
• Listen to the national news anchors or the Weather Channel on-camera meteorologists. They are excellent examples of effective voice usage.

Additional resources:

• "Your Speaking Voice" (catalog number 199) from Toastmasters International
• http://www.freeweddingspeech.com/the_basics_of_public_speaking.php
• http://www.myvoicespeakssuccess.com