When I first started my business many years ago, someone commented that voice training was the icing on the cake. Obviously this woman had missed the basis of my presentation because good voice training is the cake. Everything and anything else is the icing. And, I told her so. I likened this concept to the fact that we don't teach our 2-year-olds to shoot the puck until they can successfully stand up on skates – yes, in Canada and the northern parts of the US, we have our kids on the ice when they are toddlers!
If you are searching for the correct technique to improve the sound of your speaking voice, I want you to begin with a different approach. Instead of seeking someone or something to help you improve the voice you have, why not discover the voice you don't know you have?
Those of us who truly understand the fundamentals of good voice training will first teach you how to breathe with the support of your diaphragm because your real voice – the one you don't know is in there – will be powered by your chest cavity. And, in order for that to happen, you must be breathing with that support. Anything else is a waste of your time and your money.
Did you ever wonder why Sean Connery, Cher, George Clooney, Julia Ormond, James Earl Jones, or Diane Sawyer sound so good? Is it because they happened to be blessed with a great vocal instrument? No. It is because they are not speaking with their ‘habitual' voice, they are speaking with their ‘real' voice. And, those two voices are two entirely different animals!
You have a rich, resonant voice inside of you that is deeper in pitch and warm like a blanket around your shoulders. And, once you call upon it, it will vibrate in your mid-torso or mid-breastbone area. However, it will only happen when you power your voice by means of the largest of your resonators, your chest cavity.
You have 5 resonating cavities responsible for the production of voiced sound. They include your voice box, throat, mouth, nose and chest. Because the majority of the population are renowned for being lazy or shallow breathers, in which they are using only the upper portion of their lungs for respiration, they are unable to make use of that 5th resonator, by far the largest of the 5 cavities, to power and amplify the voice. Thus your habitual voice is being powered primarily by your throat and voice box. It is only when you can make use of your chest cavity and find the optimum pitch of your speaking voice that you will discover your resonant voice.
Anyone can teach you to speak with expression; unfortunately, most do not know how to show you how to find your real voice. Speaking with expression is a must for a dynamic delivery but it is the icing on the cake. Finding your real voice is the cake. It is the fundamental. There are a lot of great voices like that Vin Diesel and Kathleen Turner. And, you may have one of them. Learn to breathe first and discover just how great your voice is.
