Kate'sVoice

Not too long ago, someone called me asking for help with his voice.  He wanted to sound like Rod Stewart.  Without batting an eye, I said, “You don’t need a lesson.  Just yell a lot, smoke a couple packs a day and don’t get any sleep.”  He thanked me and hung up.  How about that?  I actually like Rod Stewart, but I wouldn’t want to sound like him, and I don’t usually coach people to ruin their voices.  However, I believe that a person has the right to sound the way they want to sound.  So, with that in mind, here is a list of ten things you can do to ruin your voice, or make it sound like someone who has ruined their voice, however you see it. (By the way, if you DON’T want to ruin your voice, take this as a list of things NOT to do!)

1. Smoke. Smoking does terrible things to your voice and your body.  It’s certain that it will make your voice less flexible, dry and crackly, lower than it used to be, and may even cause laryngeal cancer, in which case your voice will be eliminated.  Perfect!
2. Scream. My kids used to assure me that there were secrets that their favorite “Screamo” artists used to keep their voices completely healthy in spite of screaming every night on stage.  If you know any of these secrets, please let me know, because screaming is still high on my list of guaranteed voice wreckers.
3. Avoid drinking water. Since water is the lubrication for your vocal folds, without it you will need to clear your throat all the time, which will irritate the cords and make them more likely to become red and puffy, which may eventually lead to nodules or other permanent damage.
4. Pitch your voice as low as you can get it and force the sound out.  To help you with this, there are several websites that promote a sexy low voice, so you can even get some help from someone who is not a vocal practitioner
5. Get help with your voice from someone who is not a vocal practitioner.
6. And if you use one of those on-line solutions, ignore the notice that says you may hurt yourself doing this!
7. Push that sound out until it hurts. Don’t take breaks when your voice starts to feel tired. Instead, push it to the limit and then more.  As we say in the voice world, “no pain, no strain.”
8. Eat a big meal just before going to sleep. Acid reflux is one of the best ways to destroy an otherwise healthy voice, and if you do this night after night,  you may even develop esophageal cancer.
9. Attend parties and try to speak over all the noise.  You cannot produce a sound you cannot hear, so you are sure to strain your voice trying to speak loud enough to hear yourself.
10. The next time you get laryngitis, go to the doctor and get some steroids.  Then continue to speak as though there were nothing wrong.  In fact go out and sing karaoke, and impress all your friends with your low sexy sound.  A few days of this, and you may ruin your voice for a good several months, or even permanently!!

If you have more suggestions, I’d love to hear them.  What’s going on with your voice?

My intention in offering a few free voice training sessions is to help spread the love (L.O.V.E.) this week.  As Anne Karpf says, “The sound of the human voice has an unrivaled capacity to flood the listener psychologically.”  This is from The Human Voice: How This Extraordinary Instrument Reveals Essential Clues About Who We Are (My second favorite book on vocal image…mine being the first, of course Can You Hear Me Now?)  However, I have observed that many people do not know exactly what they are flooding their listeners with, and that can be especially sticky when you are dealing with a lover or spouse.  Therefore, I am offering a free 30-minute session for the first 8 people who contact me this week.

Here’s what you’ll get:

• A 30-minute session on the phone with me.  I will listen to your voice, and evaluate how you use it, based on vocal image, vocal health, and considering any specific vocal issues you may be experiencing.  I’ll also make recommendations for ways to improve or expand your voice.  This is a $100 value.

Although I’m offering this as a Valentine special, the offer is also open to those who  want help with their voices for public speaking, teaching, training, work or singing, or if you just want to create a better voice.  So if you have been looking to get some voice help and haven’t known where to start or if you have been thinking about contacting me, this is your chance.

Here’s what you need to do to take advantage of this offer.  Fill out the contact form here, or call me at 714-777-9231.  I will  set up sessions with the first 8 people who respond to this post.  Please do not leave a comment here (I can’t believe I’m saying that!!!!) unless you have difficulty reaching me the other two ways.

I look forward to hearing from you and working together!  Everyone deserves to create the voice they want, and it will be a lot of fun to see what we can do with this!

Investing in Your Vocal Image: A Tale of Two Strategies

Recently, a female executive, we’ll call her Joann, came to me, complaining that too often at the end of a long day she left the office with a hoarse voice and a feeling of utter exhaustion. All she wanted to do was to go home, curl up with a good book and tune everyone nearby out.

Joann admitted that things at work were more stressful than usual. While she was intensely focused on trying to secure additional funding for her growing company, her voice giving out at the end of the day was a new and troublesome problem.

Strategy 1: Getting back in shape

We spent some time getting her voice back in shape by raising her pitch to a more natural level and developing some resonance so that she didn’t need to work so hard at being heard. She was surprised at how easy it was to lift the strain from her voice, even though it took a bit of time to become comfortable speaking in this new way, especially on the phone.

Now, let me say Joann is gregarious by nature. She loves to spin a good story and she always has plenty of color and detail to make any subject she talks about come to life. She is also clear, compelling and strong. She uses humor well and can really draw people into a conversation: All ingredients of a great public speaker. (For more information on presentations skills for executives , please read this recent post from Kathy Reiffenstein on  Professionally Speaking.) I suspected, however, that her vocal choices might be getting in the way of her efforts to raise money for her company.

Strategy 2:  Presenting a deal-maker voice

Taking a chance, I asked whether she was having success with her funding efforts, particularly with her presentations. Joann confessed that although she was not scaring potential investors off, she wasn’t closing any deals either. I asked her if she would make her presentation to me. Just as I presumed, her content was clear and compelling, but her vocal image, specifically the cadence of her voice, was not aligned with her message or intent.

One of the things that makes Joanne sound so friendly is a habitual upward pitch, or open cadence, at the end of her sentences that invites people into the conversation. The problem is she uses this cadence even when she is making a declaration. The upward cadence causes her to seem indecisive and, even worse, wishy-washy. Not exactly the impression you want to give a potential investor. *

She was game to try a different approach since she was determined to get support for her company.  We worked on her cadence and other aspects of her vocal image. Within a short time she began to see a difference. She landed the investments she needed, and she started to go home feeling fulfilled rather than exhausted.

Summary

Today, people see Joanne as both authoritative and open. She makes conscious vocal choices to close a deal or make a friend—two situations which require two different vocal strategies.

P.S. I feel great to have been able to help Joanne learn to manage her vocal image in support of her social life as well as her work. I love my job!

*The Harvard Law School Program on Negotiation posts a daily blog that will be of  great interest to executives, and includes information on communication styles and gender differences in the workplace and as individuals,  as well as conflict resolution.  Its authors are some of the foremost authorities on negotiating today.

Just as your physical appearance, your voice can represent you either effectively or ineffectively. The question is, how do you make the switch from creating your voice through reaction and imitation to creating your voice through thoughtful application of knowledge? The answer is: you start by listening objectively. Here are 10 ways to become more aware of what you have created so you can start to make changes:

1. Sing often, even if you don’t feel that you have a good voice. The act of singing will strengthen your vocal muscles.
2. Give talks. Join a public speaking class or club.  Toastmasters is such a place, of course.  Volunteer to be an advocate for your business or church.
3. Respond to what you hear. Express your thoughts when there is an opportunity. Jump in when you have a chance to share your perspective.
4. Practice saying hello to people in different ways. Try “Good morning,” “Hi, there,” “Hello. How are you today?” Pay attention to the different responses you get from others.
5. Practice a talk you are preparing using many different inflections and pitch variations in your delivery. Listen to yourself as you do this and then try something else.
6. Listen to yourself as you speak and analyze what you are doing. Record yourself talking to someone else or while speaking extemporaneously on a topic. Then listen to the recording and analyze how it sounds and what impression the delivery gives you.
7. Listen to the voices of others to compare your voice with theirs. Do you speak higher or lower? What expressions do others use that you don’t?
8. Work with a voice professional. If you want to improve or heal your voice, it’s always helpful to work with a vocal professional. Be sure that you feel comfortable with them and that they have solid credentials as a technician. Degrees in speech therapy or applied voice are such credentials.
9. Imitate your favorite actor, singer, politician, teacher, etc. Try to determine if your voice feels different from your normal vocal delivery and if so how.
10. Keep a voice journal daily.  Of course, I love Moleskines for this.  But you can use any journal (or my book   Write down your observations on how you use your voice.  This will help develop awareness. Awareness, in turn, will help you make changes that can last a lifetime. Without awareness, you will probably continue to make the same choices that you do today.

I am proud to see my blog on 6-Minutes’ Definitive List of public speaking blogs, and I am also proud to be addressing the use and care of one of the most important assets to a speaker (or anyone, for that matter!), the human voice.  So, I’m starting the New Year off with a bit of a rant about the importance of training your voice.

Many CEO’s, public statesmen, and great conversationalists have learned the value of training their voices.  When it comes to public speaking, having the latest technology is not a good substitute for a poor voice.  I know many people will tell you that, but here is my take on it: People are always more interesting to other people than  slides.  Along these lines, I love the post by Olivia Mitchell that tells you how to use the beam of your projector like a spotlight…well that’s not exactly what she said, but as an actor, I’ve always believed that was a much over-looked opportunity! Anyway, Mitchell is someone who gives great advice on the appropriate use of technology in your talks, while also talking about finding your strengths as a speaker with human skills such as eye contact and gesturing.

Yet even with all the human elements of eye contact and gestures,  there really is a direct correlation between “voice” and being a speaker.   Since people come to “hear” you, they expect to hear something they want to listen to. I know that I am a voice teacher, but  your voice is your most valuable asset and the way it sounds may be much more important than you think. In fact,  the remarkable Julian Treasure affirms this when he says, “The human voice is the most powerful sound on the planet.”   To find out why, I encourage you to visit his website, Sound Business.

How studying voice will improve your impact as a speaker

The truth is that you are already making an impact on others with your voice, but the impact you are making with your voice may not be the one you want to make.  In order to create the sound you want, and make sure it is a healthy sound that will optimize your most valuable asset, you must

1. be aware of how you sound and what you like and don’t like about your voice
2. become aware of the sound you are creating and the effect it has on others
3. know how to make a sound that brings out the best in your voice, but also one that won’t hurt you

To accomplish this, you have to listen to yourself and others, but you really need someone else to listen to you and give you feedback, too, and preferably someone who knows what they are doing.

Aligning your voice with your intentions
One of my clients, who is a Fortune 100 CEO, was finding himself hoarse at the end of the day even on days when he was presenting at a conference.   He talked all day long and  found that when he got home, he had to stay quiet in order to save his voice for his work.  This then took a toll on his communication with his wife and kids.  In addition, he started to have difficulty being understood when he got up in front of people, and his publicist started complaining that his image wasn’t as strong as it used to be.  His voice problems were effecting his personal life as well as his business communicatiion by the time he started working with me.  We made some changes that helped tremendously, but the truth is that he could have avoided those issues altogether if he had had training earlier.

You can choose to have your voice more fully support your sense of who you are and what you want to do with your life, and you can have a healthy, vibrant sound. It doesn’t have to cost a fortune.  It doesn’t have to take years to accomplish.  But think of it this way.  Your voice is part of your body and it is the only one you get.  If you depend on it in your job, it’s a good idea to understand it and take care of it so that you don’t abuse it or even lose it.

It’s like having a great tool in your tool kit and the more you know about it the better you can utilize its strengths.  People who train their voices  have learn that aligning their sound and vocal image with their sense of purpose and intention often results in impact beyond their expectations.