An invaluable tool to help you create a good clear speaking ( or singing) voice is proper breathing and here's a little exercise to help you develop that. The benefits to proper breath control or enormous as it helps you not only to develop a good clear voice but also helps you to relax and create a feeling of well-being.
It is done very easily once you have corrected your posture to a natural position. All you have to do is draw in air through your nose to a count of three.
Suspend this breath in the back of your throat, purse your lips to the relaxed count of five. Listen to the escaping air and try to keep t he flow even to that count of three to five. Whatever feels comfortable.
Some persons use their vocal sounds to create varied sounds as they exhale in this way such as a: "S" "Z" or a rolled "R" or "V" sounds. Others humm as they practice this controlled exhaling. It's all up to what you find easiest.
The length of both your inhaling and exhaling to gradually be extended as you gain more confident and practice. Just don't force yourself beyond what you feel comfortable.
This basic type of breathing practice is exactly quite easy to do and can be done in a variety of situations throughout the day such as when you are walking down the run -- or even when waiting for that traffic light to turn green as you drive to or from work.
Wednesday, August 29, 2012
Monday, August 27, 2012
Don't Get Stuck in A learning Rut
If you're at all like me and many others it's very easy to get stuck in a learning rut when trying to start something new -- whether it is learning to swing or to give that powerful presentation.
You know what a rut is? According to master marketing guru sand copy writing veteran it is, "an open grave with no cover."
And that could be true -- eventually if you want to succeed at your plans to become a successful speech writer or presenter you have to climb out of that rut or just reading or learning about it and put what you have learned into practice.
That is the best way to put the finishing touches on what you have learned about making presentations.
Don't be like the business hopeful Bly tells about who studied everything she could about starting a business of her own -- for five years, but never actually put anything she learned into practice during that time. Unwittingly she was digging that open rut or grave of learning, and learning, and learning, but never climbing out of that rut and applying anything she learned.
She did escape through Bly's urging, but for a while she was a lot like another person I knew who read, and read, and read, and read some more about photography techniques and even carried a camera around in a professional camera bag. But he rarely pulled that camera out and actually practiced.
To this day is far from the skilled photographer he dreams to be. He doesn't practice diligently enough. He does buy a lot of photography magazines though.
You know what a rut is? According to master marketing guru sand copy writing veteran it is, "an open grave with no cover."
And that could be true -- eventually if you want to succeed at your plans to become a successful speech writer or presenter you have to climb out of that rut or just reading or learning about it and put what you have learned into practice.
That is the best way to put the finishing touches on what you have learned about making presentations.
Don't be like the business hopeful Bly tells about who studied everything she could about starting a business of her own -- for five years, but never actually put anything she learned into practice during that time. Unwittingly she was digging that open rut or grave of learning, and learning, and learning, but never climbing out of that rut and applying anything she learned.
She did escape through Bly's urging, but for a while she was a lot like another person I knew who read, and read, and read, and read some more about photography techniques and even carried a camera around in a professional camera bag. But he rarely pulled that camera out and actually practiced.
To this day is far from the skilled photographer he dreams to be. He doesn't practice diligently enough. He does buy a lot of photography magazines though.
Wednesday, August 22, 2012
Have Someone Listen
When reading aloud its so easy to fall into the habit skipping words, drop word endings, pronounce a word incorrectly, change word order, or get sloppy with proper pausing so gradually that you don't even notice yourself.
You can avoid this in two ways: record how your voice sounds on a tape or digital recorder -- not just for content or sound of your voice but also the above faults or have somebody else who can offer constructive criticism of your reading work with you on your continual voice improvement sessions.
In addition to the possible faults mentioned at the start have them coach you on proper pausing and changes in inflection and tone and even pace when you encounter not only periods and commas but also colons and semi colons and other punctuation marks.
This critic could be either a professional voice coach or even a friend or family member who is proficient in English (or whatever language you speak) and good oral reading.
Listen to their honest criticism --even if it stings a bit -- and then practice any weak points again and again until you eliminate any faults -- just as a musician would.
Really working at this will help you to make continuous improvement in your reading and speaking voice.
You can avoid this in two ways: record how your voice sounds on a tape or digital recorder -- not just for content or sound of your voice but also the above faults or have somebody else who can offer constructive criticism of your reading work with you on your continual voice improvement sessions.
In addition to the possible faults mentioned at the start have them coach you on proper pausing and changes in inflection and tone and even pace when you encounter not only periods and commas but also colons and semi colons and other punctuation marks.
This critic could be either a professional voice coach or even a friend or family member who is proficient in English (or whatever language you speak) and good oral reading.
Listen to their honest criticism --even if it stings a bit -- and then practice any weak points again and again until you eliminate any faults -- just as a musician would.
Really working at this will help you to make continuous improvement in your reading and speaking voice.
Thursday, August 9, 2012
Timing and .... is Everything
As Jack Valenti, former president of the Motion Picture Association of America, and speech writer for President Lyndon Johnson, once said, with humor "timing is everything."
And you can see how that is true with this example where a speaker was reminding his audience about the destruction results of seeking revenge when wronged by somebody else.
He started off with the the explanation that during the course of, I usually run into a number of people I consider to be real twits because of thoughtless ( sometimes intentionally) sarcastic or provoking remarks. And no doubt I have offended an equal number of persons by my own failings many times. About the only way I could avoid this failing completely would be to sleep all day -- And then I snore."
No it is not the kind of stuff that resulted in howling laughter -- but with good pausing and a self-deprecating tone of voice it did bring a few smiles and chuckles and create anticipation for the rest of his presentation.
Another important thing to keep in mind with humor is that it should be relevant to the rest of your material. And in this case the speaker when on to discuss the self-destructive nature of seeking revenge against somebody because they have wronged you.
He continued on following these introductory remarks with the illustration of two brothers who although living in the same house for over 40 years refused to speak to each and how one brother was completely devastated when the other brother died unexpectedly -- and how this brother sobbed, " I loved my brother.... I ...I just thought he should have spoken to me first."
And you can see how that is true with this example where a speaker was reminding his audience about the destruction results of seeking revenge when wronged by somebody else.
He started off with the the explanation that during the course of, I usually run into a number of people I consider to be real twits because of thoughtless ( sometimes intentionally) sarcastic or provoking remarks. And no doubt I have offended an equal number of persons by my own failings many times. About the only way I could avoid this failing completely would be to sleep all day -- And then I snore."
No it is not the kind of stuff that resulted in howling laughter -- but with good pausing and a self-deprecating tone of voice it did bring a few smiles and chuckles and create anticipation for the rest of his presentation.
Another important thing to keep in mind with humor is that it should be relevant to the rest of your material. And in this case the speaker when on to discuss the self-destructive nature of seeking revenge against somebody because they have wronged you.
He continued on following these introductory remarks with the illustration of two brothers who although living in the same house for over 40 years refused to speak to each and how one brother was completely devastated when the other brother died unexpectedly -- and how this brother sobbed, " I loved my brother.... I ...I just thought he should have spoken to me first."
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