05/08/2018

Our Most Common Vocal Sins and What to Do About Them

Here are five of the worst sins and how to remedy them

I wish I could say that the 21^st Century, while giving rise to technological wonders, artisan coffee and Uber, has also seen the dawn of a new age of public speaking and the voice. Sadly, that’s not the case, and voices are getting worse. Mobile phones, headsets and open cube-style offices have corrupted our ability to speak. Following are five of the worst sins I’m seeing committed more and more often, and how to remedy them.

Dropping the voice. When we are sharing spaces, while traveling, while working or while the baby’s asleep, our conversations take on the unmistakable aura of a mob boss issuing his orders sotto voce to his lieutenants so that the FBI can’t quite hear. As a result, we drop the volume toward the end of the thought or phrase, assuming the listener will fill in the rest. And, in a conversation, he or she might well be able to do so. But, in giving a speech, you cannot assume that the audience knows what you are going to say before you say it. So, you need to maintain volume at the end of your sentence. Indeed, because people tend to remember the last thing they’ve heard, you might want that to be loud and clear. Punch the ending, an old stage director liked to tell me. It’s very good advice still.

Swallowing the voice. Lower voices sound more authoritative to us – that’s hard wiring. And so men especially tend to engage in a race to the bottom end of their vocal range in order to out-authority the others in the room. Once your voice gets down to its bottom, the only way to force it lower is to push it to the back of the throat. The result sounds like a cross between Darth Vader and gargling. One of the reasons why the French language sounds so musical and attractive to the rest of us is that it is spoken at the front of your throat – indeed, at the front of the lips. That keeps it harmonically tuneful and bright. The alternative for all too many people seems to be the verbal equivalent of dropping rocks on a washboard. Bring your voice forward, out of the back of your throat.

Please select this link to read the complete article on Public Words.