Gymnastics for Your Voice — Be Taken Very Seriously Whenever You Speak (college interviews, in the classroom, job interviews, etc.)
Written by Nina, UCLA MA; Former Teaching Fellow, Harvard University; and author of 20 textbooks and a novel
If you could choose just one variable, what do you think guarantees success more than any other? Good grades, a top-level education, family/social connections, or communication skills? While the above-mentioned are components of success, one outstrips the others.
I've worked with people at the highest levels at the largest corporations in the world, and I've seen over and over that people who communicate the best achieve the highest levels of success. As I've written in many blog posts, the words we say represent just Step 1. How we say them takes our communication to the next level -- the level where we have a better chance of getting what we want.
For those who haven't read my series of blog posts about how to achieve this deeper level of communication, see my following posts:
“Weed Out the Sneaky Conversational Vocabulary Words That Inadvertently Sap the Strength of Your Speech -- For Your College Interview and Beyond”
“Learn linguistic techniques to sound confident at your interview (even if you're so nervous you rival jello)”
"College Interview-- How to Create a Deep Chemical Connection with Your Interviewer with Three Simple Linguistic Techniques That Change Brain Chemistry"
And now, you're going to practice with me how to change the machinery the above communication comes out of. I'm talking about the actual sound of your voice. The way your voice sounds can convey much more confidence, if you know how to exercise it. The above techniques in my previous blog posts enhance your strength, but all words come out of the mechanics of our voice. Our voice gives your listener an impression, an emotion which remains with him or her long after your words have faded. In other words, we need every tool at our disposal in this very competitive world.
For those of you who sing Karaoke, what's the one thing you can do if your voice sounds like someone is circumcising a goat? You can open your mouth wider, allowing a fuller, more pleasing sound to come out. But how can you apply this wider mouth position to every sound you make in spoken English? You need an exercise to teach your mouth muscles what it feels like to open your mouth much wider than you're doing now as you're talking. Why? Think of the exercises you might do at a gym. If you want to lift more weight, for example, you can't just think "I'll lift more weight". You have to teach your muscles what it feels like to lift more weight and practice it regularly. Language involves the body as well as the mind.
If your voice sounds thinner and weaker than you'd like, like when you're nervous, a simple exercise can move it to the "power" position in your body -- the lower stomach. You might think, "How is it possible to 'move' my voice?" I have a simple breathing exercise that will train your voice to move to the "power" position whenever you'd like.
Practice Exercises
Listen to the follow audio. You'll be working directly with me on two exercises. The first is the "Open the mouth" exercise. It teaches you to open your mouth more widely for all sounds so your pronunciation is clear and confident.
I'll also teach you the "Breathing" exercise. It helps you to place your voice in the "power" position whenever you need to sound persuasive and confident.
Please click on the audio links, below, to work with me on these two voice exercises.
"Open the Mouth" Exercise
The "Breathing" Exercise
