Choose Your Voice
We choose our clothes and our hairstyles. We can also choose our voice.
Your voice comes from several places and most people emphasize one of them. You can have:
- a chest voice
- a throat voice
- a face voice
- a nasal voice
Chest Voice
This
is a low, breathy, full voice. You often hear it with people who love
to talk! The breath is full and open, the chest is open and this leads
to that full sound in speech.
Throat Voice
This
is a tighter voice than the chest voice. People who become silent when
angry typically have this voice. It is a bit tight and edgy.
Face Voice
This
is usually a higher-sounding voice. Sound is reverberating off the
cheekbones. This voice tends to be brighter than the chest voice and is
also used by people who love to talk.
Nasal Voice
If
you sing, your highest notes happen in a reverberation behind the top
of your nose, between your eyes. This is the place where people speak
who have a nasally sound. Some language/dialects prefer this
sound-location.
Choose It!
So
you have been speaking with a nasal voice all your life. Can you switch
to a face-voice or a chest-voice? Yes, you can. Here's how you can
choose each of the voices:
Chest Voice
This
is the voice of the breath. You want to make sure your breaths are
large, your chest is open and your throat is open. This can take
considerable practice, as breath comes from the diaphragm, which is a
muscle. If your voice has always been quiet, it will take a few months
to build this muscle. Imagine your sound reverberating in your chest.
This will help you keep your body open. Make sure you breathe before
you speak and imagine you are blowing out a candle with each phrase.
This will help you push the sound and breath out of your mouth.
Throat Voice
If
your voice is light and you want more edginess in it, this is your
voice. You want to hold your throat a little bit tightly. Imagining you
are angry or very serious will help. Also imagining the color red,
which is tied to anger, can help. You can also imagine that your throat
is cut off from your chest and speak without the full breath you use in
the chest voice.
Face Voice
Many
people who are reflective or intellectual have difficulty with this
voice, which is very in-your-face. All you need to do is imagine the
sound of your words inside your mouth and push the sound against your
cheekbones. Really think about your face and imagine the sound almost
pressing through it. Imaginging these things will create a brightness
in your voice and the sound literally reverberating off the cheekbones
will create a higher, brighter sound.
Nasal Voice
The
nasal voice isn't very popular, but if you want to experiement with
speaking in a higher pitch, it can help. Like the face-voice, you want
to imagine the sound is coming through your nose and tighten your nose
a little bit. You can also imagine the sound reverberating between your
eyes. Contact Us
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