Kate's Voice

The thermometer is pushing three digits and the idea of warming up anything is probably just not on your mind.  However, if you have to give a talk, you need to warm up your voice before you practice, and definitely before you go on stage or on camera.  The question is, what do you do to warm up a voice?  Vocal warm ups are a three step process.

1)    Get the vocal muscles warm by increasing blood flow and oxygen.

a.   Breathe deeply.  Expand the lower abdomen as you inhale and contract it to exhale. Make this kind of breathing part of your presentation as well. Practice with this audio file:  06-how-to-breathe;
b.    Align your body and awaken your support system. Stand tall, with your shoulders back and your chest high.  Stretch and walk as you breathe deeply.  A series of body warm ups will help here.
c.   Make funny sounds. You can’t exercise your voice without making sound, and the sounds are usually just as funny to the ear as my push ups are to the eye!  Nevertheless, get your voice going with  “mmmmmmmm,”  “zzzzzzzzzzzz,” “ney ney ney,” “mum mum mum,” and “nu me nu me nu me.”  Repeat several times.  Feel your face and nasal passages vibrate and buzz with those sounds.  Sigh a few times out loud sarting higher and higher each time.  Use your full range.

2) Get your brain working with your voice

a.    Use tongue twisters. Make a list of words that are difficult for you to say and practice saying them together in sentences.  Or use traditional tongue twisters from this list.
b.   Use mask resonance to speak through key points of your talk.  Mask resonance can be found by saying, “Mm-hmm.”  Feel the buzzy sensation in the front of the face.  Now practice speaking your outline aloud and emphasize the m’s and n’s as you do.  Example:  MMMMy nnnnnammmme is Kate.” For more practice, listen to this audio file08 Learning to Identify Mask Resonance and 09 Learning to Use Mask Resonance

c.   Speak your personal intention aloud. Everyone needs a personal intention as a speaker or presenter.  Perhaps yours is to inspire and uplift others.  Perhaps yours is to entertain, or create a safe place for others to express who they are.  Or maybe it’s to motivate people to buy your widgets so you can send your kids to college.  Whatever it is, write it down and then speak it out loud several times before moving on to the third step of warm ups.
3)    Align your voice with your content and your intention

a.   Speak your intention for the talk aloud. In step 2, you spoke aloud your personal intention as a speaker.  Here you will say your intention for this particular talk.  Perhaps your intention is to sell your widget to this particular customer.  Perhaps your intention for the talk is to provide the background for a project kick-off or it’s to introduce another speaker.  Whatever it is, say it out loud several times.   You can find more on intention here.
b.   Break down your talk into segments and create a new vocal color for each section. Let’s say the first section is the introduction, the second is the history of the situation, and the third is the challenge that has to be overcome.  Try a new “role” for each section by evoking pathos, so that you don’t sound the same all the time.  In this case, the first role may be light and friendly, the second, educational, and the third a bit more dramatic.
c.    Practice the conclusion aloud. Create a good closing and practice it as much as the opening.

Other suggestions for practice now that you’re warm:
Find a good place
If you are practicing at home or in the office, you will need to find a place that is resonant.  You want the sound to reverberate a bit because otherwise you will overuse your voice without even knowing it.  The shower is a great place to practice (and everyone knows we all sound better there anyway!), as are areas that have a hard surface and no curtains or carpeting. If all of your rooms are carpeted and draped, try finding a corner wall space that has no curtains on it.

Set aside time for your voice
It takes a good thirty minutes to warm up most voices.  Set that time aside before you go on.  In addition, spend as much time off stage practicing as you are going to spend on stage presenting.  That means, if your talk is an hour long, you need to practice an hour a day for a week or two before presenting. If you regularly give presentations that are four or more hours long, as trainers do, you need to make sure you keep your voice healthy with a daily work out, but you also need to make sure you get some vocal rest in between presentations.

Other resources for vocal warm ups:

Quick and Easy Vocal Warmups

The Voice and Swallowing Institute Vocal Warmups

Five Stealth Ways to Find Time to Practice from the Eloquent Woman blog

How do you get your voice back when it’s been awhile since you’ve used it?  If you haven’t been “on” for awhile, you may find yourself at a loss for voice, let alone words.  Never fear, however.  Here are some simple steps you can take to revive your voice, perhaps getting it in better shape than ever.

1. Renew your sense of purpose.  You’ve got an opportunity to start fresh, not just pick up where you left off.  Use that opportunity to get centered on your purpose for using your voice publicly.  When your intention is clear, your voice will follow that path.  Here is a related post on intention.
The Power of Intention:  The secrets your voice reveals

2.Reacquaint yourself with your voice.  How does it feel?  Familiar?  Different from what you remember?  If you’ve never used vocal warm-ups, this is a great time to start. If you have used them before, pull them out, dust them off and start making those funny sounds again.  Connect with a voice trainer  For starters, here are some related posts with vocal exercises:
Creating a buzz
How Now Brown Cow
Breathing Lessons

3.Reinvigorate your voice/body connection.  Your voice is part of your body.  When your body is in shape, your voice will respond better.  Get some exercise that stretches you to breathe more deeply.  And while you are at it, build breathing into your presentation. Here’s a related post:
Pause: Create a Powerful Presence through Silence

4.Reconnect by practicing out loud.  You can’t just think about your voice and expect it to be there.  Spend time each day going over your presentation out loud.  Find a place to practice where you can speak at full volume.  This will also help you evaluate and memorize your presentation.  This post on The Eloquent Woman tells you why and gives some great tips for how to do this.
Boost your memory by talking out loud

5.Refine your vocal image by making sure that it aligns with your intention and your content.  Re-imagine how you want others to perceive of you and make sure your sound reflects that. Use color words, cadence, pace and pitch.  Here are some related posts.

Fine Tune Your Vocal Image Through Ear-Training
Investing in Your Vocal Image

How do you regenerate your voice after a vacation or when you haven’t used it in public for awhile?  Share your ideas, tips and concerns.

For more ideas on getting back in the limelight after a hiatus, this post is part of a blog carnival hosted by The Eloquent Woman.  Follow this link to take a look at the wide array of advice from the experts!