Believing in Your Voice

How many times have you heard people say after they have listened to themselves on tape, “That doesn’t sound like me!” or “I sound terrible.” Yes, we do sound different on tape, but I feel that once you get acquainted with your voice and the rich sounds that it makes, you’ll feel comfortable with who you are. According to Albert J. Vasile and Harold K. Mintz, “The only way to get comfortable with your voice is to hear yourself over and over, and to really tune into the pitch, rate, rhythm, volume, fluency, and enunciation.” ¹

Let’s work on our voice. When a voice is friendly and enthusiastic, it creates an atmosphere of positive energy and captures the audience’s attention. Using this method of conversational speaking is more pleasant to the audience than using a monotone and boring voice. I strongly recommend that when giving a speech, you plan on being authentic and sincere.

Let’s work on our volume. Embrace the attitude that your message is very important. I recommend that you speak out and speak up. People often use volume as a control mechanism. If presenters talk very softly, they know intuitively that the audience will need to strain to hear them speak. If presenters broadcast in a loud fashion, they are dominating all of the space and sounds of their environment.

Let’s work on breathing. In his book Your Sacred Self, Dr. Wayne W. Dyer recommends practicing your breathing with the following exercise:

Use your breath as a means to keep your mind from chattering away ceaselessly . . . Breathe in deeply, excluding any thoughts as you concentrate on the in-breath. Then exhale slowly and fully with the same concentration. ²

Breathing is very important because breathing creates the power of sound. Sometimes you hear presenters who take several breaths in midsentence, and you feel that they’ll need a tank of oxygen any minute. Learn to breathe deeply and fill your lungs with air as quickly as possible. This exercise is healthful!

Let’s work on articulation and diction. The following suggestions are from Albert J. Vasile and Harold K. Mintz’s book, Speak with Confidence.

Articulation and diction have the same meaning. They are related to clarity, intelligibility and distinctness of your speech. Incorrect articulation results in leaving off parts of words, adding parts to words, or slurring words together. This creates sloppy speech; it is important to articulate words clearly. Voice each syllable carefully so that the entire word sounds crisp and understandable. The following are examples I hear often in speech classes: