Today's thoughts on voice are presented by Karen
Hutton is a professional female voice talent, broadcast and corporate voice
coach and the creator of MoFo Mountain Productions. In her 25+ years of
professional experience, she's been an competitive equestrian, figure skater,
dancer, actor and now, voice over pro. She also coached each of these
disciplines on the professional level. Her article series on voice and
performance entitled "Brilliance in Performance", was published in the national
broadcast e-newsletter "SHOPTALK", read by 100,000 broadcasters daily. Selected
articles were subsequently utilized in undergrad/graduate broadcast journalism
programs by several major Universities in the U.S., as well as in affiliate news
rooms across the country.
People often ask me about things like what they should
eat/drink, how to make themselves heard in a noisy bar (a surprisingly popular
query!), how to take care of their voices in an everyday setting – as well as
before a speech or presentation.
So, I thought I’d make a page for some ideas on various
matters…
Overall, drink plenty of water! I know we’ve heard this
advice a thousand times (you’d think we’d believe it by now!)! Vocal cords need
to be moist, warm and pliable to do their best job. Dry throat and cords can
make you sound raspy, make you cough, can make you have excessive mouth clicking
noise… along with other less-than-ideal responses. You can stick with the
generally recommended 8 glasses a day – and remember that in winter we’re often
MORE dehydrated! So, add a couple more glasses. If you drink lots of coffee or
black tea – they are diuretics, and consequently dry you out more. Soft drinks
are acidic and can be irritating to the throat – plus if they’re the sugared
ones, they’ll coat the throat with gunk while they irritate it. Bottom line…
drink water!
Warm your voice up before you give a speech or
presentation. I have tips on vocal warm up here link to: vocal warm up, or you
can find further instruction in various books link to: resources, or find a good
coach to help you.
Regarding how to be heard in a noisy bar, sporting events
or other loud venues… don’t yell or scream! It’s SO bad for your voice. When you
do, you’re setting yourself up to having anything from a tired, raspy voice – to
losing it altogether. All of it is damage to the cords, which you may recover
from in the short run… but which will takes its toll over the long haul. If you
want to protect your voice… keep it down!
Try not to cough or clear your throat in the normal harsh
way. It rubs, scrapes and rasps on the vocal mechanism. Instead, if you need to
clear – try swallowing or drinking water first. If that doesn’t work… clear or
cough as you must, but do it very gently!
The basic rule of eating is; watch out for dairy
products. Also cool it on sugary products, anything that you notice causes your
saliva to thicken, coats your throat – or causes phlegm and its unsightly need
to clear your throat. Always a bad impression. I once (even knowing this rule),
ate a bagel and cream cheese before a presentation – and spent the whole time
clearing my throat and hacking phlegm out of the way so I could talk without
gargling. (Gently, of course.) Since this was a talk about voice and
presentation – I also had to find a way to make light of my obviously foolish
mistake by kidding that I had purposely eaten dairy products to demonstrate what
NOT to do. Ugh. It was the longest hour of my life! Also the last time I EVER
made that particular mistake.
Before a speech or presentation, best not eating nut.
It’s not the first thing you’d think of, but those little bits have a way of
getting lodged in the most unlikely spots and coming loose in the middle of
making your key point. Nothing like spluttering, choking and turning all red in
front of an audience!
If you come down with a cold or upper respiratory malady
and have to speak, take it easy. Drink warm water and/or herbal tea (tannins in
black tea act like an astringent in your throat. Avoid this). Lemon is good in
warm water to keep the passageway clear. If you have irritation, honey can be
very soothing. If you are losing your voice – or it’s gone, DON’T SPEAK! But if
you have to, do so in a very quiet voice… not a whisper. Whispering makes
matters worse, for technical reasons I won’t go into here… quietly speak
instead. But please, only do it if you absolutely must.
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