Kate’sVoice

Today, many people got up at the crack of dawn to keep up with the pace of the holidays.  Though I love to get up early, I have never understood the thrill of standing in line at WalMart to buy the latest toys or to save a few bucks.  In fact, I don’t recall a holiday season where I have ever really saved anything.  Have you?  Isn’t that when you spend everything?!

But this posting is not about keeping up with the pace of the holidays; it’s about being aware of the pace of your speaking, which is the second aspect of speech I want to discuss in this series.

Pace is the speed of your speech.  A fast-paced sound indicates confidence and aggression as well as energy.  Pick up your pace when you want to assert yourself.  Slow down when you want to be sure that you are understood, but make sure that you don’t sound lethargic.  Conversely, there is such a thing as speaking too quickly. A great speaker varies the pace of their presentation.

Suggestion:

To become more aware of the pace of your speaking, or any other important aspect of your voice so you can improve, record your self.  Most people don’t like the sound of their voice on a recording, but you can get over that if you listen often enough. Try it, and let me know what you discover.

I sincerely hope you holiday shoppers have found some great bargains and that you can relax and enjoy the rest of the season!  And please let the rest of us know if it was worth it!

OK.  This can be a lot of fun.  Have you ever been around an acotr or a singer who uses tongue twisters when they warm up?  Well, I have.  In fact, I’ve done that myself.  It’s true that one can seem a bit odd when practicing in this way, but there is actually good reason to do it.  It helps create more clarity.

Clarity is one of five aspects of voice that I am going to discuss over the next couple of weeks.  The other four are pace, pitch, cadence and volume.  The reason to become aware of them is because, as I’ve said before, your voice gives wordless clues about who you are and if you want to have more vocal impact, you need to be aware of what your voice is saying about you beyond your spoken message.

So we’ll start with clarity:  Clarity of sound is created by the effective use of articulation mechanisms, mainly your lips and tongue.  If your speech is not clear, neither is your message.  Use tongue twisters to achieve greater clarity.  Here are some to try:

• Unique New York
• Three free throws
• Brad’s big black bath brush broke
• The myth of Miss Muffet

Maybe you know of some others that you would recommend.  If so, please write a comment to let us know.

It’s been a crazy week as our household had to evacuate during the Southern California fires last weekend.  We were spared the worst of it and are just getting things back to normal.  I’ll be posting again in a day or so.  Thank you for all of your kind words and support.

Vocal image is the synthesis of rhythm, pitch, tone, volume and the inflection of a voice.  Your vocal image sends a message separate from your words.  We all saw this in the campaigns this year whether we were aware of it or not.  The vocal image of the candidates had the power to contribute to or detract from their credibility.  Vocal image makes wordless statements about  character,emotional state, economic status, education, age gender and lots more.  If we define vocal image as “the overall picture that people get of you from the sound of your voice,” then what pictures were painted of the potential President?  What did we expect of each because of the vocal image they created?

In an article in the Cristian Science Monitor from July,  Ariel Sabar said this about the vocal images of the two final candidates for president:”McCain is the blunt-spoken platoon leader, briefing soldiers for battle.  Senator Obama is the evangelist,    calling out from the hilltop.  McCain levels.  Obama transcends.  McCain is straight talk,  Obama great talk.”

As much as the two men represent different ideas and ideals, they also create two very different images of a leader through their vocal images.  My sincere hope today is that our President-elect is a great leader, that he takes us all to new heights of glory as a nation and as a planet, that together we transcend these difficult times, and that his great talk will be much more than just talk!

The best way to use your voice this week is to vote.  Do it!