Thank you for the thorough response.

If I may ask, what is it about breath management that plays into your ability to speak powerfully? What do people with a weak voice do exactly, in regards to their breath management, that they speak so weak?

And do you think that people who have powerful speaking voices, simply have better technique regardless of if they worked on it or not?

I have two friends who are public speakers and both of them have had lots of voice training.

Probably many of them stumble into it, but you get guys like Richard Burton, Richard Harris who are trained in Shakespearean acting, and they have this great resonance to their voices, and they speak with a Low but commanding voice, and I think it is a combination of their culture - where they grew up imitating a sound that is used in their region - and technique they are taught. After all, as a dramatic actor in a live setting, they are taught the same projection techniques that are used in classical vocal training - they learn placement, but rather than singing into the mask, they are speaking into it - either way, they have two "horns" (think of a horn lens on a PA speaker, or the end of a trumpet) for projection in their nasal cavities and mouth; learning to use those correctly via placement will increase your volume without having to overuse air.

Learning to control your breath, learning how to use exactly how much you need, and not using any more than that is half the battle in singing. It was the component that I was always looking for.

I was a drummer in a metal band, and my lead singer died, and the other band members pushed me to sing because Glen and I had worked together for years, but I would slack off and just push air sometimes because I wasn't serious about it, and I kept blowing my voice out. Our lead singer had been my best friend for 16 years and he had lived in Italy for years (his dad was in the Navy) and while he lived there he studied voice with a guy who taught "old school" Bel Canto - which included using what Jaime calls "The Power Push".
Glen would always say,"You push down like you're taking a crap."
I thought he was joking until I finally tried it, and that was when I learned that the power in the voice doesn't (or shouldn't ) come from air, but from the electrical energy that is created. Air is the fuel, and the pressing down is the spark. You need the right combination to get the maximum volume without damaging yourself.

And let's not forget resonance - that is free volume and tone! It is simply just a matter of learning how to "get out of the way" and let the resonance happen - you can't "make it happen", it is wanting to do it on it's own, you have to learn how to remove the ego - you - so that the body can ring.
Once you do that, you can mix all three together and you'll have that large robust voice you're looking for.


And I personally would say most of those people with those types of voices consciously think about and work on their speaking voice. I find myself doing it sometimes.... it depends upon the situation.



Tim

Thanks for the answer

My mom has a super loud voice and can't help but speak loudly all the time. When she tries speaking softer, it sounds really weak. When I would tell her not to
speak so loud, she'd tell me she couldn't help it. That that's how her voice is.
I really envied her, given that I struggled to make myself heard even at a supermarket or something.

Today I noticed a couple of things. When I tried to speak louder and my neck tensed up, I couldn't do it. If I tried doing it without my neck tensing up, then I could. I noticed that when I was doing it I was pressing down. I then tried doing it just pressing down, and noticed that you can press down as hard as you can and still speak softly. If I inhaled and press down I could do eheir do it without the volume changing, or with the volume increasing. When I did the latter I just focused on not tensing the neck. I even tried it with various kinds of voices, from super nasal to not nasal at all. So it got me thinking, what is it that creates the volume? Because I don't think it's only pressing down.

Approach speaking the same way you would singing. Take the time to breathe and support your voice. Slow down your speech and enunciate to shape your resonance chamber and propel your voice. If you'd like more input on finding your natural dynamic voice, please visit my website and check my new book (published by Jaime Vendera) here:

http://www.voiceyourselfintheclassroom.com

It's addressed to teachers but anyone can benefit from it.

Thank you, Valerie. I purchased the e-book, hopefully it will help me understand my voice better and improve it!

Awesome! Thanks and good luck :)