BRILLIANCE IN PERFORMANCE
....or how to avoid the warble that only dogs can hear (Part One)
Originally published in ShoptTalk on 1/22/98.
How many of you just LOVE the sound of your voice? I’ve
learned that not many will raise their hands at this point. There are always a
few who do love it, of course… some blessed with a genuinely god-given, fabulous
voice… others who just love the sound of their own voice, if you get my drift.
I think everyone who’s ever come to me for voice work did
so because they didn’t like the sound of their voice for one reason or another.
They’re the lucky ones… some folks don’t even know that this is something that
can be changed! Granted, it does take focus, awareness, diligence - and don't
forget a sense of humor – to pull it off, but it most certainly is possible.
That’s misconception #1. The second misconception is by that doing voice work,
you’re somehow going to come up with a vocal sound that isn’t even your own.
Actually, with good coaching, you come up with a sound that is even MORE your
own than what you walked in with. Why? Because hardly any of us arrive in
adulthood speaking in our own natural voice! Through a myriad of conditioning
factors; where you grew up, how your parents sound, how your peers sounded,
internalized messages around how you are perceived (“Don’t talk so loud!”,
“Speak up – what’s wrong with you?”, “Don’t you use that tone of voice with
me!”, or the ever-popular “I’ll give you something to cry about!”) and so much
more, the sound of our voices change. We learn to choke back our feelings, speak
when spoken to, use the “correct” tone of voice, use a pleasing pitch, laugh
pleasantly, etc. ad nauseum.
But that’s not all… other factors that affect your
personal sound are stress, tension and incorrect breathing. Some tips on dealing
with these can be found in the article on “Relaxation”. There are others as
well, like how you used your voice to get what you wanted growing up, your
body/self-image, how welcome you were to speak your mind growing up or in your
primary relationships… to name but a few. So the first thing to understand about
your sound is that there's a heck of a lot more going on than two vocal cords
flapping in the breeze. This means that first of all, you must be patient with
yourself - and ever-curious about the process of vocal development.
If you recall, in previous discussions we talked about
relaxation and breathing. Now it's time to put them to use in warming up your
voice. Using your voice professionally is like an elite sport – you either warm
up, or you just won't do your best. If you do it right, you will create a sound
that is richer, juicier, fuller, more alive ? more "you". Keep in mind, the
electronic medium (anything that records or transfers your voice electronically)
always flattens and thins the sound of your voice. To some degree, is also it
flattens whatever energy and feeling you may be putting into your words, did you
know that? It bears remembering, because in order to have your both sound and
delivery come across as full and impactful as you want it to, you must be
bigger-than-life, real and believable AND supremely connected to your body.
Hey, no problem!
The same coaching technique I use to initially help a
person to relax, open up their voice and connect that sound to their body,
ultimately becomes their warm?up always. I use it myself before any kind of
performance. The short version of it (the long version can be found here:
http://www.joankenley.com/voicepower_frameset.htm or www.amazon.com, search for
Joan Kenley), goes like this.
Lie down comfortably (once past the learning stage, this
can be done sitting or standing) do the "arms and legs" exercise described in
the “Relaxation”. Then, focus on breathing, as in the article on “Breathing”.
Next, give yourself a short massage in shoulders, neck and jaw. Cross each arm
to the opposite shoulder while doing this – it helps to avoid tensing up the
very shoulders that you’re trying to release!
After a couple of minutes, move to the jaw and massage
the chewing muscles or “masticators”(clench and release your teeth a few times
to find these). Use the pads of your fingers and apply even – and fairly strong
– pressure by doing s-l-o-w circles. The goal is both to both improve
circulation and encourage a release in these muscles. Sometimes this area hurts,
in which case be easy with it. In other cases, there is so much continually held
tension in the jaw that there isn’t much feeling in there initially. This is
usually caused by the decreased circulation that habitual tension causes in
tissues. If this describes your experience, be careful with it – and don’t be
surprised if you start noticing some soreness as it wakes up! It usually passes.
While you breathe and massage these areas, be sure to let
your mouth drop open to the point of having about a finger's width of space
between your molars. Let the jaw drop down and back toward the base of your
skull - you'll feel a little buck-toothed, but it shouldn’t feel strained. Keep
your tongue flat and down in your mouth, with the tip touching your bottom teeth
(making the tongue flat & forward).
Then, put your hand on your lower abdomen, about 4
fingers' width below your navel, to check that your breath originates from this
area and pant your breath in and out of your mouth. It's like a dog pant, except
your tongue stays in your mouth and you don't drool all over the floor. Make
sure to inflate your abdomen toward the ceiling on the inhale, deflate toward
your spine on the exhale. Do this until you feel your breath connecting to the
movement of your abdomen. It shouldn't occur in pieces or only in your chest.
Visualization helps: keep an image of your breath being pulled into your pelvic
bowl - or even into your thighs. Try doing quick breaths - about 1 second in, 1
second out. Quick breaths are often a way engage the lower body in the breathing
process... but if you need to, do them more slowly. Either way, when the
connection happens… you have a body breath! This is breathing the way the body
was designed to do it… and incidentally, the way the body was designed to use
breath to support the voice.
Now for sound – at this point, we keep it simple and only
focus on sounds, no words yet. This sound will be very breathy - like a quiet
sigh. First, breathe in, just as described above. Then upon the exhale, make a
soft, breathy, sighing sound on this vowel: "AAAHHH". Easy does it… again, make
it breathy, not a normal speaking tone. This is a VERY quiet sound. It serves to
connect breath-to-sound and begin warming up the vocal cords. Pay attention;
it’s super important to not let air escape before the sound occurs, but to make
the sound begin right at the top of the exhale. When you can do this, your vocal
sound and your breath are beginning to work together.
Next, try the same thing on an "OHHHH" sound, making sure
not to use your lips to form the sound. Form it by imagining a doughnut hole in
your mouth and don't close it off with your lips. Then do it on an "UHHHH" and
finally on an "AYYYY". The main thing is to stay connected to your breath and
relax the jaw and throat (yawning helps). If you are making the sounds
correctly, you'll notice your sound becoming fuller... the pitch may drop as
well. This should all be comfortable and easy, no tension or discomfort at all.
The bottom line is that you are asking your body to breathe and make sound the
way it was designed to do. If it becomes difficult or creates discomfort in any
way, you’re adding tension that doesn’t belong! But as long as you keep
breathing and releasing – you’ll be well on your way to making some open,
resonant sounds that are beautiful – and your birthright!
In the next installment, we’ll take all of this to the
next step!
|