WATCH HOW YOU SPEAK!

PAY ATTENTION TO THE WAY YOU SPEAK.

Over the course of a day, most of us speak far more than we sing, and as singers, we need to be aware of how we use our voices in speech. Beyond being a means of your voice is a vital part of your personality and psyche, and you should treat it with care.

Singers can be gregarious, outgoing, and emotional people. Because your instrument produces both your speaking and singing voice, it follows that your singing can be negatively affected by poor speaking habits. To prevent this, employ touch-distance talking. Only speak to those who are within an arm’s length, or touching distance, away. This will help you control the urge to shout and prevent unnecessary strain on your voice.

In American culture, people tend to speak in lower pitched, less resonant voices, perhaps because they are associated with strength, seriousness, and intelligence. While this characterization of a low or husky voice especially affects the way women speak, many men also speak in a lower voice than is comfortable in order to command respect or convey a businesslike seriousness. This can be detrimental to singing; dragging down your voice and making your muscles work harder than necessary to produce sound. The contrary is the case with Africans who talk loud and hard, with its attendant adverse effects (opposite of the above stated)

Singers who habitually speak too low can adversely affect their tone production. The tendency to speak too low can make a singer timid about singing high notes. You can benefit from observing yourself and your speech habits for patterns that may be wearing to your voice.

Check where you tend to pitch your voice by speaking a phrase and finding its approximate pitch on the piano. Try to elongate a syllable and find a range where your speaking voice lies. If you speak much lower than you sing, imagine that you are elevating the focus of your speaking voice from chest resonance to more nasal resonance rather than raising your pitch. You may find that this results in a slight pitch change, but that it feels and sounds more natural than actually trying to speak at a higher pitch. Make sure you are phonating clearly. In addition, support your speaking voice as if you were singing, using a steady flow of breath. Avoid making unusual sounds.
Whispering is tiring to your vocal cords, so don’t make the mistake of thinking it conserves your voice. You can actually strain your voice by whispering when you should be resting vocally.

An excerpt from
The Contemporary Singer
By Anne Peckham (Berklee Music)
Chapter 8 Maintaining Vocal Health