Your Voice as Your Instrument

(from Talk It Out: Mastering Critical Discourse)

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Consider and compare these messages. Speak each aloud to hear the difference:

Angela says to her spouse, “I’m fine. I totally agree.”

• In an even tone at average volume.
• In a raised tone with a squeaky, high-pitched tone. Stress the word totally.
• In a barely audible volume, with a sigh at the end.
• In a raised voice with a deep tone and slow syllable-by-syllable rate.

Notice in Angela’s first expression, she means she agrees. In the second, the sound of her voice expresses hysteria — and that her words of agreement are just words: She is not fine and does not agree no matter what her verbal message provides. In her third vocalization, she is defeated and giving up. In the fourth, she is so angry she is about to explode.

Now try this one. Same thing. Speak each example aloud to hear the difference:

Tito tells his staff: “We are doing well.”

• In a loud, high-pitched scream, stressing the word well.
• In average volume, raising his tone on the word well.
• In a quiet snarl, stressing the word well.
• In an even tone except for a louder stress and volume on the word we.

Tito is obviously angry in the first example: He is upset or afraid? We cannot know without context and reading his expressions and body language — but he is not happy. In the second expression, the rising tone at the end of his sentence sounds like he is asking a question. Even if he meant to reassure his staff, it sounds like he is unsure. In the third, he is sarcastic and in the fourth, he is implying someone else is not doing well.

What you are hearing is the power of vocal control. Paralanguage is the nonverbal aspect of vocal messages: the sound, rate, pitch, and volume of one’s voice. We rarely realize how powerful our voice is as a tool. Voice can convey emotion — and invoke emotion. It rarely matters what you say — it’s how you say it!

The six universal emotions — and other emotions like interest, boredom, contentment, triumph, or surprise — have definitive paralanguage characteristics. Think about it: You can listen to another person and know what emotion he or she is expressing. The words are often secondary to the nonverbal aspects of the person’s voice.

For those practicing public speaking, controlling and mastering one’s voice is vital to becoming persuasive and to connecting with one’s audience. For the rest of us, mastering one’s voice is a key aspect of proper encoding. Using the voice is critical to being understood and to communicating with accuracy.

Breathe, Stupid!

If you want to make an impact as a speaker, even in casual conversation, I cannot stress enough the importance of breath control! Without air, you have no voice. The voice is the sound produced by forcing exhaled air through the larynx. Therefore, controlling the breath is vital to using your voice and the range of its capabilities.

Learning to use your voice properly requires mastering diaphragmatic breathing. Diaphragmatic breathing is efficient breathing through the use of your diaphragm — the muscle at the base of your lungs. Many people do not use the diaphragm and breathe shallowly, only using the top of the lungs. By learning to breathe using the diaphragm, you can use the entire capacity of the lungs — and you can use the diaphragm to control the release of breath.

First, locate the diaphragm. Use the diagram to help you do so. Once you locate the muscle, you may need additional exercises to strengthen it (long misuse or underutilization can lead to atrophy or weakness).

1. Lie down in a relaxed position on a flat surface with your knees bent and head supported. (You can also perform this exercise sitting in a chair — but beginners find reclining a better position to identify the diaphragm.) Place one hand on your upper chest (near the clavicle) and another hand just below your rib cage.

2. Breathe slowly and deeply through your nose so that you see and feel your stomach expanding and pushing against your hand. The hand on your upper chest should remain as still as possible.

3. Tighten your stomach muscles, letting them fall inward as you exhale through pursed lips. The hand on your upper chest should remain as still as possible.

4. Practice five to ten minutes four times each day.

Second, improve your posture. If you are collapsed when you sit or stand — or you slump over — you are not allowing your lungs the full space they need to fill completely. You are also not helping any of your internal organs or your spine. By improving your posture, you strengthen your muscles and provide the lungs with their full expansion.

1. Stand with your feet shoulder width apart, distributing your weight evenly between your legs.

2. Raise our arms over your head as you take a deep (diaphragmatic) breath.

3. As you exhale, slowly lower your arms keep your ribcage still (don’t collapse).

4. Make sure your shoulders are back — not hunched up behind your ears.

Third, practice breath control. You will want to read this entire piece aloud, keeping your pace (rate) smooth. Make sure your words are decipherable — don’t stutter or mumble. Articulate each word. And…do it with one breath.

I know you just frowned. Like, no way. But I am telling you: This was a required assignment for my voice course and once I mastered it, I mastered my breath. Keep practicing by taking all the breaths you need until you can read it perfectly, calmly, and articulate each word with one breath.

Modern Major General (Gilbert & Sullivan’s Pirates of Penzance)

I am the very model of a modern Major-General,
I’ve information vegetable, animal, and mineral,
I know the kings of England, and I quote the fights historical
From Marathon to Waterloo, in order categorical;[b]
I’m very well acquainted, too, with matters mathematical,
I understand equations, both the simple and quadratical,
About binomial theorem I’m teeming with a lot o’ news,
With many cheerful facts about the square of the hypotenuse.

Vocal Aspects

As a percussion instrument like a piano, you can alter the volume, rate, pitch and pause of your voice. Each alteration alters your song — your meaning.

Amplitude (volume):

Altered by the amount of air passing through your larynx, volume is the easiest vocal aspect to master. Used with precision, volume can communicate intensity and anger, seriousness or gentleness. If you are too soft-spoken in a particular context, others will perceive you as insecure, weak, or dispassionate. You may sound defeated or sad. And you certainly will not inspire trust! In other contexts, a listener will interpret a loud message as dictatorial, aggressive, or angry. If you are too loud, listeners will distrust or fear you.

Alteration of volume can be a very effective use of your voice. Lowering volume after speaking at an average level can pull in your audience to listen more closely and see the quiet portion as important. Increasing volume after speaking at an average level can add stress, power, and gravity to a term or sentence.

To practice volume, locate a space where you can scream without inviting law enforcement to check your well-being! Start with whispering so only you can hear yourself. Then, aim your voice to project one or two feet away. Then, ten feet away. Try to include a partner so you can both appreciate how alteration to the amount of air through your larynx produces levels of volume. Keep practicing until you can instinctively produce the softest to the loudest volume.

Rate:

Rate is the speed at which you are delivering verbal communication. Like the use of volume, rate communicates emotion (pathos) and credibility (ethos).

Average speakers use about 120–160 words per minute. People who speak at the fast range of average (150, 160 words per minute) are considered more persuasive, more intelligent, and more objective (rational, logical). In fact, slower speech indicates cognitive load — the person must think harder so the speech rate slows or the speech includes a response lag. That lag could be just someone trying to think clearly, but it could be confusion, a lack of familiarity with the material, an attempt to lie.

The perception of what is too fast or too slow is cultural or regional. Politicians have long understood that rate and tone should change depending on where you are speaking in the country. In the south, speak too quickly and people will not trust you; in the north, speak too slowly and people will think you lack intelligence. This reality is a challenge for the travelling salesperson who must adjust his or her rate depending on where he or she is selling. Theorists have found that we match the other person’s tone or rate to achieve compliance. Apparently, the receiver feels understood. This could be another reason politicians are so careful with their rate of speech.

Rate conveys feeling. Faster speech communicates urgency, passion, and excitement — and is more convincing (pathos). Slower speech indicates gravity, or significance. The best speaking rate is one that varies to communicate the intended emotion. You may be speaking at your normal rate, but speed up when you get to a passionate point in your message.

Practice rate by reading any text aloud. Record yourself and listen to the recording. Notice what emotion your rate elicits.

Pause:

Pause is the most forgotten of vocal aspects and is intimately entwined with fear of public speaking. To pause is to seem lost — or open to criticism. Get over it. Pause is so powerful that it must be in your tool kit! You can practice by reading any text aloud.

Use pause:

1. To indicate punctuation. At the end of a paragraph or complete thought — often before a transition to your next point. To communicate the full stop at the end of a sentence; brief stop at commas or semicolons.
2. When first being introduced. A brief pause and scan of the audience communicates control and authority. You are okay with being at that lectern!
3. When you have told an effective joke, give people time to laugh.
4. After stating something profound.
5. After a rhetorical question. Give the audience a chance to process the question — but not enough of a chance to respond.
6. To change direction in a speech. A spontaneous pause is when the speaker seems to reconsider his or her thoughts and going in a new direction. These pauses are planned and far from spontaneous.
7. To increase audience anticipation. When making a powerful statement, pause to allow the audience to wait, consider or anticipate your next words.

Pitch (inflection):

Pitch is the rate of vibration through the vocal folds within the larynx. Tone is effectuated when we modulate the pitch of our voice. For example, if you are getting excited, the tone of your voice will change to a high pitch: “I can’t believe it! I am so honored!!” If you are angry, your voice will lower in pitch: “Are you serious? You’d better not be serious.”

We also use pitch to communicate questions or declarations: We raise our pitch at the end of a question while leaving the pitch level at the end of a statement. (Try this if you do not believe it.) The unnatural raising of pitch at the end of every sentence is called uptalk or valley speak — named for a Generation X habit of saying every sentence with a lilt at the end: “Like, totally!” I discussed this vocal crisis in a recent article.

Pitch expresses excitement or seriousness. Pitch can express fear (high pitch) or sad (low pitch). Lower pitch is associated with strength, confidence, and leadership ability. Higher pitch is associated with passivity, immaturity, weakness, or hysteria.

Some speakers suffer from a monotone pitch: unchanging; without expressiveness. A monotone speaker (often reading from a manuscript) sounds robotic and inhuman. Pathos or passion is lost. No emotion is transmitted or expressed. The speaker sounds bored or apathetic. Obviously, persuasion is impossible using a monotone pitch. You can hear an example, in a brilliant performance by Ben Stein in Ferris Bueller’s Day Off.

You can master pitch only after mastering your breath. Take any text and alter the tone of your voice, using high, medium, and low pitch. Record yourself to hear the emotional impact of the pitch alteration.

Putting It Together

Consider practicing with your pet. My son and daugher-in-law are training their puppy, Mossy — and my daughter-in-law keeps suggesting my son use a softer tone and a lower volume to sound less dictatorial. A lower pitched (but not baritone) tone and average volume will communicate confidence and dominance to the puppy. His barking commands at the puppy is only intimiating her! Likewise, if a directive is too quiet or too high-pitched, he will sound excited, submissive, and scared. Not someone the puppy will trust!

Once you have trained your puppy, try your new voice on friends, family, and customers. You’ll be surprised at the power you wield!