The first thing is your rate of speech. A lot of people put no thought behind their rate of speech. But if, again, for those listening to this, if I get stuck in a consistent rate of speech now and I stick to this rate of speech and I don't vary from this rate of speech, what happens to you as a listener?
Yeah, it starts to get boring, right? So we have to modulate it. We have to vary our rate of speech. And if I sometimes go quickly and when I'm going quickly, it shows passion. But then when I slow down, Kerwin.
I'm saying nothing important here, but it seems so profound. Nothing important has been said, yet it seems profound, right? So right of speech, it's its own beast.
The second thing is volume. Volume shows confidence, authority, that you believe in what you're saying. So if I switch off my volume, let's say I speak like this now, and I come in, but I'm truly an expert in what I'm talking about. It doesn't seem like I believe in what I'm saying. Doesn't seem like I'm confident in what I'm saying.
It's a shame. Most people speak at a volume that is a bit too quiet. And then when you tell them a rating from 1 to 10, they usually speak at about a 3. You tell them to speak at a 5, they go, oh, I think I'm being too loud.
Each year I coach three CEOs. Right now I'm coaching the CEO of Orange Theory Fitness, Dave Long. Massive shout out to Dave.
Awesome human being. But he speaks at a level 3 volume. I tell him to speak at a level 5, what we're doing now, and he goes, oh, Vin, I think I'm being too loud. Okay, Dave, that's crazy. You're not.
You're losing out on a huge amount of authority, charisma, energy, confidence and authority because you don't speak at a level five. Volume. Third one is pitch.
Pitch is fascinating because for the listeners who are listening right now, think to a book you've read. Maybe you can even think to a book you've read, Kerwin. A book you've read more than 10 times. Have you got one that you've read a lot? Yes.
Maybe not 10 times. But let's say you have. No, I've got like many. You've got one? Yeah.
If I asked you to recite for me a page in that book word for word, could you do it? No. Good. Otherwise, you'd be a freak. Now, let me ask you another question.
Is there a song that you sing quite often that you enjoy? Ooh. There's a song that my son loves to play.
Right. Over and over again. Yeah.
Right, but if I asked you to recite for me word for word that song, could you recite the song? Oh, there's not one song in the world that I know the lyrics to. Oh, okay, so you're a terrible example for this.
But for the listeners, you totally ruined my example. Thank you, Kerwin. But for the listeners, surely you can think of a song that you love, right?
Yeah. And generally most people can recite to you. Well, actually I can think of one song that I actually know the words of.
Okay. You Never Close Your Eyes Anymore, the Top Gun. Top Gun, right, right, right.
Yeah, of course. Yeah. Now, why can't, okay, so a song has roughly 280 words.
Right. A page in a book has roughly 280 words. Yeah, right.
Why can you recite a song yet not a page in the book? That's so interesting. Music has melody.
So if you speak with more melody, what you say becomes more memorable. What you say becomes more memorable. Whereas most people use two notes when they speak.
Whereas I use the philosophy and I use the mindset of each person, every one of you that's listening to this right now, you've got a piano of 88 keys. right? And most people speak with a couple of keys. And I remember my first singing teacher, when I met her, and I didn't do this to become a singer, I did this to become a more effective communicator. When I walked into a room, I remember this, she didn't even look at me, and she'd play one key over and over and over again, for three minutes, it was like something out of The Exorcist.
And they should stop and she'd go, how do you feel young man? I'd say, I don't know, this is kind of scary, awkward, nothing. And then she played this beautiful song called Romance.
Three minutes. And then she turned around and she goes, how do you feel young man? I said, actually quite sad, to be honest.
That was quite a sad song. She goes, Vin, most people go through life speaking like this. One key.
I'll teach you how to speak like this. Wow. Melody.
So melody, right? So again, melody, third foundation. Because here's the thing, let me give you this example too.
You could hear a piano song and feel sad. You could hear a piano song and feel happy. You could hear a piano song and feel inspired.
You could hear a piano song and feel scared. There's no words. How do you know how to feel?
So there's a backing track underneath every voice. There's a backing track under every voice. When people say, oh, when this person walks into the room, lifts the energy of the room, what is that? That's the backing track of their voice.
There's people who walk into a room and you feel incredibly heavy. Like I come in and I talk, oh, Kerwin, it's Monday. Can't believe it's five days till Friday.
And there's a backing track behind that. So melody, that's melody, that's pitch. The fourth one is tonality.
And tonality is the emotion that lives underneath your words. Without realizing, and this is where the world of theater and the world of singing come together, but body language, your face is the remote control for the emotion that lives underneath your words. And most people without knowing are walking around with what is otherwise known as a resting bitch face. And if you've got a resting bitch face, you've got a bitch tone.
So if you just slightly smile, it brings more melody into your voice because a smile controls the emotion underneath your words. And again, if I make a disgusted face for no reason, I'm not talking about anything disgusted, but I sound disgusted. The six core human emotions, you've got happy, sad, disgust, fearful, angry, and surprise.
You've got to be able to show those six tonalities at least if you want to be an effective communicator. Most people don't. Most men don't.
Most men, neutral face. And as a result, neutral tone. Most people are afraid of a monotone voice. Yet do not know that a monotone voice comes from a monotone body. And your face is a part of your body.
So this is a huge one in my classes when I teach. Just to get men and women in the corporate world who are so stoic in their facial expressions, just to break out of their mold and show me some emotion, damn it. And when they do, they come alive and authenticity is now radiating through them.
So that's the big one. And the fifth one. is pausing. Just this.
And for the listeners who listen to this, just as we pause, it's so powerful. It gives them time to comprehend what we're saying. It gives us as communicators time to listen and to process.
And these are important foundations when you're playing your instrument. And if you listen back to this. Podcast or any great speaker. These are the five things they're modulating and any speaker who you deem to not be a great communicator, they're just not modulating one of these things and They've stuck if they get stuck in a default volume Stuck in the default rate stuck in a default pitch stuck in the default tonality You modulate these five things you master these five things now you play beautifully with your instrument.
Yeah, it's just these five things made that you've nailed it There you have it, guys. Thanks for tuning in to Unstoppable with me, your host, Kerwin Ray. And please do not forget to subscribe to our YouTube channel where you get to see all of these interviews in the flesh. Share this podcast with your friends. I would love to hear what you guys think.
Thanks for joining us.