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8: The Voice

The speaker's principal tool for communicating emotion is his voice, which can be varied in pitch and volume. The voice is so effective at communicating emotion that people are highly accurate in gauging emotion by the sound of a person's voice without seeing them, and even if they do not understand the language that is being spoken.

However, many speakers do not use their voice to its full potential, and even work to create a "professional" sounding voice that is clear and understandable, but fails to convey emotion. Especially when a speech has been overzealously practiced or committed to memory by rote, it tends to be emotionally flat when it is delivered.

To some degree, everyone conveys emotions with their voice when they speak extemporaneously, but the natural way in which emotions are evident in vocal expression may not be appropriate to a speech (it's natural to be nervous when speaking) or it may not be sufficient. Or it may be entirely effective or comical, as anger causes some people to speak to rapidly, mangle their words, and project a shrill tone that is annoying or comical to others.

An effective speaker is attuned to his speaking voice, and consciously tunes it to match the emotions he intends to convey, and must practice conveying emotions in the same way that an actor does in delivering a stage performance.

Resonant Voice: The Key to Voice Projection

For most of history, the primary skill of the speaker was to make himself heard - it was less than a century ago that the microphone and loudspeaker enabled a person to speak in a normal tone and be heard by large groups of people. As such one of the primary concerns of a public speaker was to be loud.

While technology has overcome this problem, technology cannot be counted upon. There may not be a public address system available in a given venue, and even if there is it may not work, so a person who means to speak often should work on developing a resonant voice.

Speaking loudly is not the same as shouting, which is not as intelligible and does not in fact carry as far as a resonant voice. The resonant voice depends on relaxing the vocal cords and opening the mouth slightly wider, whereas shouting causes tension ion the vocal cords and tightening of the lips, both of which are counterproductive to being heard clearly and at a distance.

It's also mentioned that nervousness, which is a common reaction many people have to public speaking, also causes tension that results in tightening the vocal cords and the lips, such that people who are nervous tend to speak more softly and indistinctly.

In addition to the effects on volume and resonance, both shouting and nervousness make the voice seem forced, which detract from the credibility of the speaker.

Professional speakers do a variety of vocal exercises that are designed to improve their resonant voices. The author mentions chanting, and suggests the "ohm" sound that is usually associated with meditation has been effective for him in developing a resonant voice.

(EN: Voice training requires quite a lot of time and practice, and builds clarity as well as resonance - for the aspiring professional speaker, or someone who is in a position where they must speak often, taking real training is likely a good idea. For the novice who speaks occasionally, or who is speaking impromptu, the general advice is to breathe deeply, project from the chest, relax the throat, and open the mouth a bit more widely when speaking.)

The Pitch, Tone, and Volume of Speaking

Speakers have a "speaking voice" that generally defaults to a given pitch, tone, and volume - but they also vary these qualities in order to emphasize certain phrases or convey emotion.

Pitch relates to the voice being "high" or "low" in terms of the musical note. In a general sense, a high pitch deals with strong emotions such as fear, anger, anxiety, or excitement - it is natural for the vocal cords to become tense when a person is feeling strong negative emotions. A lower tone often conveys more positive emotions, such as happiness or joy, in which the speaker is feeling relaxed. To the listener, high-pitched voices are annoying (but grab attention briefly) and low-pitched voices are soothing.

The tone of a person's voice deals with ineffable qualities of emotion - whether they are speaking in an angry, happy, nervous, or saddened manner. (EN: The author doesn't do much in the way of describing this, and a quick internet search finds sources that do no better. It seems to be assumed people know what is meant by a "happy voice" and how to make one. I expect that there exist sources that are more informative).

Volume also has an effect on emotion, as louder voices convey higher energy and lower voices convey calmness. A sudden change in volume can also be used to regain the attention of the audience, for which both can be effective - when there is a sudden change from soft to loud, the audience's attention is regained, and a sudden change from loud to soft can also be used to get them to pay greater attention.

(EN: The author left out a fourth quality that is often discussed along with the three above: the pace. To speak rapidly gives the audience a sense of excitement, and to speak slowly gives them a sense of calm. A phrase spoken more slowly tends to cause people to pay attention.)

Use of the Pause

Many novice speakers are reluctant o pause when speaking, whether it's for fear of losing credibility because the audience will think they have forgotten their words, fear of offering an opportunity for a heckler to interrupt, or simply because they are attempting to cover too much material in too little time and cannot spare a moment to pause.

Accomplished speakers recognize that silence is very powerful, and even a brief pause in a speech can get the audience to give the speaker more attention, in anticipation that he is about to say something very important.

The author mentions a specific incident in a speech competition for kids, in which one child had in fact forgotten what he was going to say, and stared at the floor for about thirty seconds while trying to remember it. The author looked out at the audience during that pause, and noticed that the people were giving him their full attention, and that when the child remembered his lines and resumed the speech, they were captivated. A pause can be powerful.

The author mentions a specific use of a pause after asking the audience a rhetorical question - it give s them time to focus on the question, but not enough time to formulate an answer, which causes them to give greater consideration to the answer that the speaker then provides.

A pause can also be used at the beginning of a speech, to create a sense of anticipation for what is about to be said. It can also be used after delivering a particularly poignant or memorable line, to give it a moment to sink in.

He also notes that silence during a speech tends to make the audience feel a little uncomfortable - and is particularly valuable when a speech is presenting something that is going to be unpleasant for the audience to hear.

Using Your Accent

As an Indian, the author is well aware of the special challenges of attempting to speak in a second language - but it's not always a bad thing. He recognized very early that his accent also had benefits - and likens it to being a bit exotic and uncommon that helps to grab attention. Also, the fact that you mispronounce things from time to time gets the audience to pay closer attention to what you are saying.

However, an accent is not always a good thing, because it interferes with comprehension. Not only does a foreign speaker pronounce words differently, but he also may use different words than those that are common among the native speakers - and doubly so when a foreign speaker learned to speak British English rather than American English.

To speak effectively merely requires being self-aware. Work to reduce your accent and learn the local language, particularly when speaking to a group of natives. Be aware of words that you have difficulty pronouncing, and either slow down a bit when you speak them or choose a different way of expressing yourself.

The author advises against trying to "put on" an accent - it's not possible to do this effectively and when the audience discovers you're not speaking in your "real" voice, you lose all credibility. They may even be offended and believe you're attempting to mock them. It is far better to speak in a voice that is comfortable, so that you can focus on more important matters.

(EN: The author might not recognize this, but Americans in particular are often very accommodating to foreigners - when they hear an accent and realize the speaker is a foreigner, they are more forgiving of mispronunciations and unusual word choices. To think poorly of someone who has an accent, or especially to mock it, is regarded as a sign of racism, which is dreadfully out of fashion in most circles.)