Improve Your Voice

Whether you just want to improve the sound of your voice in general or you want to improve your voice for a play or musical performance, there are several things you can try. You can use a variety of different exercises to improve the sound of your voice, alter your speaking voice to make it more impressive, or adjust the way you sing to hit more powerful notes. By exercising your voice on a regular basis and making some minor adjustments, you may notice some drastic improvements in your voice.

Steps

Exercising Your Voice for Optimal Quality

  1. Practice breathing into your diaphragm. Using your diaphragm when you speak and sing is essential for actors and singers. Your diaphragm is in the area just underneath your sternum (where your ribs meet). By breathing into your diaphragm and Sing-Using-Your-Diaphragm your voice will have more power.[1] Breathing into your diaphragm instead of into your chest will also reduce strain on your vocal cords.
    • To practice diaphragmatic breathing, take a breath into your abdomen. You should feel your abdomen expand as you breathe in. Then, release the breath slowly with a hissing sound. Try to keep your shoulders and neck relaxed as you breathe.[2]
    • You can also place your hands on your abdomen as you breathe in. If your hands rise when you take in a breath, then you are breathing into your abdomen.
  2. Release your jaw. Taking tension out of your jaw will allow you to open your mouth wider when you speak or sing, which may result in a clearer voice. To remove the tension from your jaw, push on your cheeks with the heel of your hands just below the jawline. Draw your hands down toward your chin, then start back at the top massaging your jaw muscles.[2]
    • Allow your mouth to gently open as you draw your hands downward.
  3. Breathe through a stirring straw while practicing your vocal range. Practicing your vocal range can also help to improve your voice for singing. To practice your vocal range, place a stirring straw between your lips and start to make a low “oo” sound. Slowly start to increase the pitch of the “oo” sound. Go from the bottom of your vocal range to the top of your vocal range.[3]
    • The air that doesn’t fit through the straw presses down on your vocal chords.
    • This exercise is helpful for reducing swelling around the vocal chords.
  4. Trill your lips. Trilling your lips is also a good way to exercise your voice and give it a clearer sound. With your lips gently closed, blow air through them while making the “uh” sound. Your lips will vibrate together from the air that is released.[3]
    • The air trapped inside your mouth will close your vocal cords, allowing them to gently come together.[4]
  5. Hum. Humming is an effective way to warm up your voice and to cool it down after using it for a long performance. To start, close your lips and relax your jaw. Inhale through your nose and let the breath out on a hum. Start by making a nasal “mmm,” then move the hum down through the lower part of your register.[2]
    • This exercise activates the vibrations in your lips teeth and facial bones.
  6. Stretch your tongue for better articulation. Stretching your tongue can make it easier to articulate your words, which is essential for stage actors. To stretch your tongue, press your tongue against your palate, then stick it out of your mouth. Press it against one cheek, then the other. Place the tip of your tongue behind your bottom lip and fold the rest out of your mouth, then fold your tongue backward with the tip on your palate.[1]
    • Repeat these exercises 10 times in a row.
  7. Improve your diction with tongue twisters. Saying tongue twisters may also improve your ability to speak clearly because it gives you practice enunciating. Tongue twisters will also exercise the muscles in your lips, face, and tongue, which can benefit your voice. Make sure that you exaggerate the sounds of each word that you speak as you say the tongue twisters.
    • Start slowly and progressively speed up your recitation of the phrases.
    • Practice “P” words by reciting “Peter Piper picked a peck of piquant peppers.”
    • For “N” and “U” words, try, “You know New York. You need New York. You know you need unique New York.”
    • Give your tongue a workout by repeating, “Red leather, yellow leather” over and over.
  8. Ease any tension in your voice by saying “Hooty Gees.” Saying “hooty gees” will help to relax your larynx and this may improve the quality of your singing voice. Try to say the word “gees” like you are Yogi Bear. As you do, you may feel your larynx drop. Having your larynx in this lowered position gives you more control over your vocal cords, so you might find it easier to hit a higher note after doing this exercise.[3]
    • Repeat this exercise a few times.
  9. Balance your vocal resonance with “ooh-oh-uh-ahs.” Making these vowel sounds will help you to practice singing with your mouth in different positions. Start with one sound and then transition all the way through the ooh, oh, uh, and ah sounds to give your voice a good workout. Doing this may make it easier for you to hit a higher note or to keep your voice stable while you are singing.[3]
    • Repeat this exercise a few times per day.
  10. Exercise your voice twice per day. To improve your voice for speaking on a stage and for singing, you will need to exercise it on a regular schedule. Warm your voice before using it extensively, but also practice vocal exercises twice per day for best results.
    • Try setting aside 15 minutes to do vocal exercises when you wake up, or do them while you are getting ready for work or school. Then do them again before you go to bed, such as while you are making dinner or taking a bath.

Improving Your Voice for Acting

  1. Project your voice. Speaking loudly and clearly is essential for stage actors. When you deliver your lines, make sure that you are speaking loudly enough that people will be able to hear what you are saying, even at the back of the theater. However, it is important to use your diaphragm to project rather than yelling. If you yell, then your throat will get sore and you may lose your voice.[5]
    • Take a deep breath into your diaphragm and then try practicing breathing out and saying “ha” at the same time. This will help you to identify your diaphragm. You should feel the breath coming from your abdomen and out through your mouth as you say “ha.” After you have mastered this, try speaking your lines using your diaphragmatic breath.
  2. Enunciate your lines. Speaking your lines clearly is also important for a good acting voice. Make sure that you are enunciating each word of your lines so that people will understand what you are saying. To ensure that you are speaking as clearly as possible, open your mouth as wide as you can when you speak. This will help you to enunciate your lines.[6]
  3. Use emotion to emphasize your lines. Emoting is also an important part of delivering your lines well.[7] To emote, try to think about what your character’s emotions should look like.
    • For example, if you are saying something that makes the character feel sad, then you might slow down the pace of your lines slightly. You might even allow your voice to register the emotion of sadness more dramatically by speaking with a bit of a trembling voice.
    • Consider the appropriate emotion for each of your character’s lines to determine how your voice should sound when you speak them.

Improving Your Speaking Voice

  1. Analyze your current speaking voice. Record yourself speaking or ask a friend to listen and evaluate your speaking voice. Assess your volume, pitch, articulation, vocal quality and rate to determine the main areas where you need improvement.[1]
    • Is your volume too high or too low?
    • Is your pitch more shrill or full, monotonous or varied?
    • Is your vocal quality more nasal or full, breathy or clear, lifeless or enthusiastic?
    • Is your articulation hard to understand or crisp and articulated?
    • Do you speak too slow or too quickly? Do you sound hesitant or deliberate?
  2. Adjust the volume of your voice. You should always speak loudly enough so that everyone in the room can hear you. However, adjusting the volume of your voice up or down can add emphasis or intimacy to different parts of your speech.[8]
    • Get louder as you are about to make an important point.
    • Lower your voice when you are making an aside.
  3. Use pitch to your advantage. People might tune out your voice if it sounds monotonous. Varying your pitch will eliminate a monotonous sound and make it more likely that they will keep listening to you. Continue to vary your pitch throughout your speech. Some common ways to use pitch include:[8]
    • Ending questions on a higher pitch.
    • Affirming a statement by ending on a lower pitch.
  4. Change your tempo. The tempo is the pace of your speech. Slowing the tempo of your speech will help you to place more emphasis on certain words and phrases. It may also make it easier for people to understand you if you are prone to speaking rapidly.[8]
    • Try pausing after making an important point to give the listener a chance to absorb it.
  5. Show your emotions when appropriate. Have you ever heard someone’s voice quiver when they are experiencing strong emotions during a speech? This can be an effective technique in some situations, such as when you are giving a speech or acting in a play. Allow the timber, or emotional quality of your voice, to show when you are expressing strong feelings.[8]
    • For example, if you are saying something that makes you feel sad, then you might allow your voice to tremble if it comes naturally. However, do not try to force it.
  6. Practice your speech. Before you get in front of an audience to present your speech, practice it alone and uninhibited. Experiment with variations in tone, pace, volume and pitch. Record yourself and listen for what is working and not working.[1]
    • Practice the speech several times with different variations. Record each attempt and compare them.
    • Many people are uncomfortable hearing themselves on tape. This sounds different that the voice that resonates in your head, but is closer to the voice other people hear.
  7. Drink plenty of water. When you are speaking for long stretches of time or at a high volume, it is important to keep your throat and vocal cords lubricated. Avoid beverages that can dehydrate you, such as coffee, soda and alcohol.[9] Drink water instead.
    • Try keeping a glass of water close by while you are speaking.

Improving Your Singing Voice

  1. Open your jaw for vowel sounds. Take your ring and index fingers and place them underneath your jawbone on either side of your face. Draw your jaw down two inches. Sing all five vowels, A E I O U, while holding your jaw in place.[10]
    • Try putting a cork or plastic bottle cap between your back molars to hold your jaw in place.
    • Continue this exercise to get it into your muscle memory until you don’t need to physically hold your jaw in place.
  2. Keep your chin down. As your voice rises, you may be tempted to lift your chin up to get more power. Lifting your chin can help to strengthen you voice for a moment, but it can also have a negative effect on your voice over time. Instead, try tilting your chin down while you sing.[10]
    • Try singing escalating scales in front of a mirror. Tilt your chin slightly down before you begin and focus on keeping it down even as the scales move up in range.
    • Keeping your chin down gets rid of strain on your voice while giving you more power and control.
  3. Sing-Vibrato. Vibrato is a beautiful, yet sometimes difficult sound to achieve. However, you can develop the ability to sing in a vibrato voice by practicing the technique.[10]
    • Press your hands to your chest and lift your chest higher than normal.
    • Breathe in, and then exhale without moving your chest.
    • As you exhale, sing “ahhh” on a single note. Hold the note for as long as possible.
    • Half way through singing the note, press on your chest while imagining the air spinning in your mouth.
  4. Find your range. You can find your range by singing along with the keys on a keyboard. Play middle C on a keyboard. This is the white key to the left of the two black notes in the middle of the keyboard. Sing “la” as you play each key to the left, while matching the tone in your voice. Continue as far down the keyboard as you can, comfortably matching the notes until you feel strain or can’t reach the note. Make note of the key you end on. This is the bottom of your range.[11]
    • Work your way back up the keyboard until you find the note which marks the top of your range.
  5. Add one note to your range. Once you have found your vocal range, try adding one note on either end until you can comfortably match it. You may not be able to hold the note at first, but focus on hitting the note 8 to 10 times each practice until you are comfortable reaching the new notes in your range.[11]
    • Once you can sustain the new note for a significant amount of time, you can move on to adding the next higher and lower notes to your range.
    • Have patience and don’t rush this process. It is best to control the sound and be able to hit the note consistently.

Related Articles

Sources and Citations

  1. ↑ 1.0 1.1 1.2 1.3 http://www.toastmasters.org/~/media/B7D5C3F93FC3439589BCBF5DBF521132.ashx
  2. ↑ 2.0 2.1 2.2 http://www.entnet.org/content/vocal-warmup-put-your-best-voice-forward
  3. ↑ 3.0 3.1 3.2 3.3 http://www.backstage.com/advice-for-actors/singing/top-10-exercises-for-your-vocal-health/
  4. ↑ http://www.voiceteacher.com/cordclosure.html
  5. ↑ http://www.theatrefolk.com/blog/projecting-your-voice-without-yelling/
  6. ↑ http://www.theatrefolk.com/blog/6-tips-to-improve-enunciation/
  7. ↑ http://www.holmdel.k12.nj.us/schools/satz/eng_dept/Novels/8th%20Grade/Romeo%20&%20Juliet/elements_of_drama_and_theater.htm
  8. ↑ 8.0 8.1 8.2 8.3 http://totalcommunicator.com/vol2_3/voicemessage.html
  9. ↑ http://www.fastcompany.com/3035634/how-to-be-a-success-at-everything/6-simple-ways-to-improve-the-way-you-speak
  10. ↑ 10.0 10.1 10.2 http://caricole.com/5-secrets-to-make-your-voice-sound-better/
  11. ↑ 11.0 11.1 http://www.musicnotes.com/blog/2014/08/22/improve-vocal-range/
Retrieved from "https://kipkis.com/index.php?title=Improve_Your_Voice&oldid=288095"