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The Human Voice: A Powerful Instrument

Jul 5, 2024

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The Human Voice: A Powerful Instrument

Introduction

  • The human voice is an incredibly powerful instrument
    • Can start a war or say "I love you"
    • Many people feel unheard when they speak
  • How to speak powerfully and effect change?

Seven Deadly Sins of Speaking

  1. Gossip
    • Speaking ill of someone who isn’t present
    • Breeds mistrust
  2. Judging
    • People avoid listening when they feel judged
  3. Negativity
    • Hard to listen to someone who is always negative
    • Personal anecdote: Speaker's mother was very negative in last years
  4. Complaining
    • A form of negativity
    • Described as viral misery
  5. Excuses
    • Avoiding responsibility
    • Hard to listen to excuse-makers
  6. Exaggeration/Embroidery
    • Demeans language
    • Leads to lying
  7. Dogmatism
    • Conflation of facts with opinions

HAIL: Powerful Foundations of Speaking

  • HAIL: Acronym for effective speaking
    • H: Honesty
      • Be truthful, straight, and clear
    • A: Authenticity
      • Be yourself, stand in your own truth
    • I: Integrity
      • Do what you say, be trustworthy
    • L: Love
      • Wish people well, temper honesty with kindness

The Vocal Toolbox

  • We have a great vocal toolbox, rarely used effectively
  • Register
    • Different vocal registers (e.g., nose, throat, chest) convey different weights
  • Timbre
    • Quality of voice: rich, smooth, warm
    • Can be trained with breathing, posture, exercises
  • Prosody
    • Musicality of speech: intonation patterns
    • Avoid monotone and repetitive prosody
  • Pace
    • Speed of speaking can convey excitement or importance
    • Silence can also be powerful
  • Pitch
    • Variations in pitch change the meaning
  • Volume
    • Use variations to highlight points, avoid constant loudness
    • Avoid “sodcasting” – imposing your sound on others

The Importance of Warming Up

  • Warm up your voice before important talks
    • Warm-up exercises
      1. Deep breath and sigh out
      2. Lip trills: Ba, Ba, Ba
      3. Lip buzz: Brrr
      4. Tongue exercises: La, La, La
      5. Rolling R’s
      6. Siren: High “we”, low “aw”

Conclusion

  • Importance of consciously creating and consuming sound
  • Aim to improve communication environments for better understanding
  • The world can be more beautiful and understanding with conscious sound creation

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