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This page contains the information handed out during the CPD workshop on supporting your voice and the PowerPoint slides used during this session are also attached.
Increasing awareness:
- Hone your awareness of your body, breathing, and voice. Pay attention to any areas of tension or any bad habits that you noticed today, recognizing when they occur and what effects they have
- Keep an eye out for tension when you start speaking, when you breathe, or anywhere in your body because it is probably not helping your voice
- Consider videotaping yourself or watching yourself in a mirror to get a different perspective on what you do with your body while you are speaking. Do you suddenly change your posture when you start speaking? Or move your head forward or up? Do you speak with the same relaxation with which you sigh?
- You might start a journal to record your observations of when you find yourself stressed, when your tension is worst, and what experiments work and don’t work to address these issues
- Consider asking yourself some of these body check-in questions:
Rehearse healthy practices
- Warm up before you have to speak:
- Try to cough and clear your throat as little as possible, as this can cause damage to the vocal chords over time
Learn more:
o Local teachers:
- A few resources in the library to start you out:
Berry, C. (1973). Voice and the actor. London: Harrap
- This book is very focused on actors’ use of voice, but has some good exercises for relaxation and breathing.
Hahner, J., Sokoloff, M.A., & Salisch, S. L. (1993). Speaking clearly: improving voice and diction (4th edn.). New York: McGraw-Hill.
- Written by speech language pathologists, some of this book is concerned with very technical exercises on the production of different sounds and diction. Chapters 7 and 8 are particularly helpful, with exercises to address breathing, loudness, nasality, and improving vocal expressiveness. Appendices address nerves when speaking and common substitutions in diction for those who speak English as a second language.
Linklater, K. (2006). Freeing the natural voice. London: Nick Hern.
- This is a very detailed book that is formatted as a series of workouts for your body and voice. Linklater provides some excellent exercises to build your awareness and ability to release a free, natural sound.
McCallion, M. (1988). The voice book. London: Faber and Faber.
- Based on Alexander Technique, this book has plenty of exercises to address the body, breathing, tuning, and diction (including detailed notes related to accents and paragraphs that can be used for practicing various sounds).
| Attachment | Size |
|---|---|
| [Doc 283] Voice Workshop - Beyond pain, strain and monotony A. Hui.pptx | 183.76 KB |