Voices convey a lot of information. What are you projecting?

We love some voices. We trust them, we want to listen to them, they soothe or excite us and they tell stories and paint pictures easily. Some voice are full of life and colour. Other voices can sound thin or shrill, forced or unconnected. We probably not only find them an effort to listen to, but probably have less positive associations with the speakers themselves.

Impressionist Alistair McGowan, man of a thousand voices, talks about how some voices sound ‘unconnected’ and therefore lacking depth or sincerity. While this might in some ways be unfair these perceptions are powerful, and particularly impact on our first impressions.

It is well known that Margaret Thatcher had voice coaching because her advisors wanted her to sound both warmer and more authoritative. Sometimes the objective is as big as wanting to be a credible Prime Minister (or King, in George VI’s case). Sometimes we might just want to soften our accent or have more variety. The bigger the space, for instance, the more variety, colour and support we need.

We can make choices, enrich our tone, expand our range, improve our clarity and articulation if we want to. As Patsy Rodenburg (Voice coach extraordinaire) says in ‘The Need For Words’.

“We can all strike the keys of a piano and some of us can even play a tune. But learning to play superbly and movingly takes choice, practice and desire”.

Would you like to have one of those voices that are full of life and colour? For more information visit our Voice Coaching page.

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