Easier to speak: three exercises to remove voice clips

The voice opens us to the world. Not only our thoughts, but also what we feel and sometimes would not want to show. By it, others judge us, and it largely determines their attitude towards us.

Once, at a training, we received a task: to read the same phrase with different intonations. After all, it is a voice with a generous melody that is considered rich, allowing itself to easily rise and fall, play with shades. Intonations were written for each on pieces of paper, the phrase on the board read: “What a day it is. Not that word”. The intrigue was to guess the intonation.

And so one of us starts: “What day is it today,” and the rest guess – irony? malice? Didn’t guess. It sounded intonation of joy in the performance of the author. Another girl reads: “What a day it is. Wrong word,” and we ask her: sadness? anxiety? Again, they didn’t guess – the phrase was read with an intonation of surprise.

A strange thing was revealed: in the voice of each of us sounded that basic vital intonation, that voice of the soul, which we ourselves are not even aware of. Someone always has notes of complaint in their speech, someone’s voice sounds inquiring, and someone, on the contrary, can calm and restore hope with just the sound of his voice. Like this. We pronounce words in order to communicate something, but it turns out that the melody of speech itself has already said everything for us. And if we say one thing with words, and another with intonation, they will believe not words, but her.

Why aren’t they listening to us?

Are we aware of how our voice sounds from the outside? It seems like he lives his own life sometimes. Doesn’t listen. Each of us had questions for him (and for ourselves): “How to remove the clamps when you are training in logistics, and your voice sits down?”, “I don’t know how to control it – as soon as I see a man, I start to chatter”, “What to do with a flat and monotonous voice to an interpreter?”, “They don’t listen to me, and I myself don’t like what I say” …

Do you know what percentage of communication is due to the fact that we tell about ourselves in words? According to statistics – only 7%. “In other words, we are understood only by 7% of the information that we provide with the help of words. Much more – by 35% – speaks for us intonation, the rhythm of speech, inconsistency in breathing, ”explains psychologist Valeria Aginskaya.

It is precisely what we, carefully choosing words, practically do not control and what betrays our emotions and our attitude to life in general. This means that the very sound of the voice decides a lot. That is why there are people who are “not heard”, “not listened to”. The tone of their voice said that the person is not sure, afraid – or deep down he has not been interested in what they are talking about for a long time. Even in a simple “hello” you can hear hidden aggression or the promise of a scandal or sincere joy and optimism.

Why don’t I like my voice?

A lot of people don’t like their own voice, especially on a recording. The thing is, we don’t hear ourselves the way we sound to others. We hear ourselves “from within our own body” with all its resonators. And also because we do not accept ourselves. We do not like in our own voice its stiffness, stiffness – and rightly so we do not like it! This means that we do not want to be squeezed and constrained.

But the voice itself is like a prisoner – if you let it fly freely, if you hear it without clamps, it is beautiful for everyone. Deep like a cello, soft like a clarinet, flying like a violin.

Many people want to change something in their voice: to make it higher, thinner, more feminine. But first of all, it is necessary to work on ensuring that the natural voice sounds free and full, freely rises and descends, if necessary, down to some of its velvety notes. The voice may seem muffled, flat, inexpressive, and at the same time it is objectively high in tone, above the first octave.

Our voice is so unique that it remains the same as it was given to us by nature throughout life.

As in “12 Chairs” by Ilf and Petrov: “When a woman grows old, many troubles can happen to her: her teeth can fall out, her hair can turn gray and thin, shortness of breath develops, obesity can come, she can overcome extreme thinness, but her voice will not change. He will remain the same as she was a schoolgirl, bride or mistress of a young rake.

“If you approach the piano, you can find your note – exactly the one you sound on. This is the kind of music everyone has, says Valeria Aginskaya. – She is yours, and you need to accept and love her. And then we will work on “salvation”, freeing our voice. The timbre of your voice is yours, and it will stay with you, it is given to you in the same way as your unique body, but it is quite possible to give your voice sonority, depth, and melodiousness.”

What does the voice say about us? How easy is it to speak?

1. Intonation

Here you need to consciously control yourself. If you have to speak in public, be sure to think about the intonation with which you will pronounce the words. Even a well-written text will get lost and become boring if you read it uncertainly or monotonously. Sometimes reasonable ideas and proposals can be rejected and start arguing with you, because you submitted them with a know-it-all intonation, an orderly and demanding tone.

How to change the basic intonation inherent in you, which betrays your emotions? Become a bit of an actor, try first saying some phrases like your favorite actress or someone you admire. At first it will be unusual, and then, if it is really “yours”, it will become part of your image. It won’t happen right away, it will take practice.

2. Tempo and rhythm

Someone makes long pauses, speech can be hurried and confused, or it can sound measured and monotonous.

What is the rate of speech? This is a reflection of our attitude to life, how we are in a hurry to live. And the rhythm – well, if it is inconsistent, it turns out that we ourselves do not live according to plan, we are carried by its flow. Anyone who hears a hasty and confused patter can read such information about us. It’s probably enough to make you want to sound a little different.

To begin with, try to read some text syllable by syllable and in a singsong voice to slow down your run, to accustom yourself to speak calmly. And then – think, after all, everything living has a rhythm! Our speech is rhythmic, as music is rhythmic. Rhythm conveys energy, the beat of life. He may slow down a little, he may speed up, but he must be alive.

3. Diction and articulation

So many of us swallow sounds and don’t think it’s important. Who would have thought that our diction could be more important than what we know and say? Clear speech characterizes a confident person – remember how Hermione Granger said in Harry Potter. Such a person is always listened to, even if he speaks in a whisper.

4. Volume and pitch

Some people are afraid to speak loudly or artificially raise their voice. Here’s one piece of advice: let yourself be seen! Let your voice “reach out” to the farthest corner of the room, talk to your family while in different rooms. Trust that you are saying important things and everyone wants to hear them.

Let yourself be noticed

But first we need to understand that we are not speaking with vocal cords. Imagine the flow of air that brings our “mouse breath” to the vocal cords if we breathe quickly and often, like a mouse. Or if we contract and pause on the exhale.

Our whole body speaks, free, standing firmly on the ground with both feet. Its lightness is transmitted with the flow of air to our lungs, and they carry this flow to the larynx, and it flows just as freely and smoothly, clothed in the sounds of your speech. A light breath – and again the words, those that you are free to pronounce, with complete freedom and confidence. Then the speech sounds like music that you want to listen to.

A loud and sonorous voice is a sign of our animal strength, health, it convinces. A deaf, choked, intermittent voice is constrained by muscle clamps, which we will talk about. What is holding us back from expressing ourselves?

How to remove voice clips

Clamp No. 1. Clenched jaws

It arises from the desire not to scream with anger, to hide emotion. Keep problems to yourself. To contain anger or pain, we clench our jaws. To remove such a clamp, you need to relax the muscles of the jaw. You can move it up and down with your hand, you can open it, and when closing it, resist with your hand so that it overcomes this resistance with effort. Then try to lower your jaw with your hand down and pronounce the sounds “a-o-u” in this position. Listen to how freely they sound now.

Clamp No. 2. Compressed larynx

When we want to suppress crying, our throat constricts. What should be done about it? Unclench the larynx, straighten even mentally this muscle lump. The best exercise for this is simply to yawn, loudly, long and drawn out, without being embarrassed. Then the tightness, coughing and sore throat will go away.

And by the way, those of us who speak through our noses also do so because of the constriction of the larynx. Their tongue root is tense, the larynx is compressed, and therefore the sound comes out through the nose.

Another exercise to relax the larynx is laughter. But not simple. Once in a kundalini yoga class, we were given the following task: to laugh for exactly 10 minutes. How to laugh on demand at a late hour, at nothing, and at the same time not look stupid in front of other “yogis”? We giggled modestly and slightly out of tune. It turned out to be contagious, and little by little the laughter became general, more and more soloists were added to the choir. Many were already in tears, and did not want to stop … Here is such a “laughter on demand” removes the clamps of the larynx.

Clamp No. 3. Lips

The clamp arises from our habit of “smiling out of politeness.” From such a feigned smile, the voice becomes tight, doll-like sweetness and seems squeezed and flat. And listening to him is unpleasant because we imperceptibly “pronounce” his words together with the speaker, repeating his articulation, just like him, straining his larynx or squeezing his lips.

No wonder Friedrich Nietzsche said: “The most understandable thing in a language is not the word itself, but the tone, stress, modulation, tempo with which a series of words are pronounced – in short: music hiding behind words, passion hiding behind music, personality hiding behind passion: that is, everything that cannot be written … “