The house that cries

"The gift of words is magic," says world renowned storyteller Jane Yolen. After spending a very rich and busy week facilitating a workshop on teaching and learning I am even more puzzled and excited by the conundrum and complexity of words.

As a voice instructor I have spent years encouraging people to trust their instincts and let whatever word instinctively fall out, having faith that the impulses will enliven the body and allow that particular word to be voiced in the most natural and connected way.

Now as a facilitator, and as a teacher, I am also relearning words; words that inspire and invite rather than judge or shut down the listener. What are the words that spark something inside the listener heads and makes them want to delve into a thought, break it apart and search for their own conclusion?

My three year old, after spending a week crying each morning as I left the house, told me on Saturday, "Mom, we can't leave the house, it might cry!" Eight words that powerfully communicated to me his experience of being over the past week.

The challenge is the balance between trusting impulse and creating a knowledge base around words. Ian Raffel, a wonderful voice teacher in the lower mainland, has a real love of language and etymology. Although this may be less thorough than many books on the subject, I found my way to an Etymology On-line Dictionary. Looking up "Breath" alone could keep me busy for days.

http://www.etymonline.com/

After going into great detail on the magic of words in "Touch Magic", Jane Yolen sites research done on children raised by animals. Apparently, in the few cases that are known and studied, it was the acquisition of language that remained the hardest for these children when they were re-socialized in a human community. Is language our greatest gift? Helen Keller would probably answer a resounding, "Yes". So let us continue to explore its powers...

Persona

Glancing through the Sunday paper over brunch this past weekend I was struck by an article about "Canada's Youngest Ventriloquist", Carolyn Walters. Walters recently passed away and this lovely spread honoured her life and contributions. The idea of persona when we are presenting had come up several times over the past few weeks in my teaching. I was enchanted to find yet another story, the life story of Carolyn Walters, reaffirming my belief that altering our view of persona can free us to present and interact with others in a state of confidence and ease that we may not usually possess in our daily lives.

You see as a child Ms. Walters was, according to a friend, a "desperately shy child with a pronounced stutter"-- until she brought her puppet to show and tell one day. To the amazement of her class, the puppet, Sandy, spoke without a stutter and told animated jokes with a sense of humour and confidence her classmates hadn't previously seen. The shy young girl and her puppet would later become TV personalities and spend a good amount of time in the public spotlight.

Although surprising, this story is not as unique as it may appear. The actor Danny Glover speaks flawlessly in his roles on camera but watch him in an interview and you will hear the stutter that has been with him his entire life. Some of the world's most famous actors, most notably Al Pacino, are said to be quite shy. What is it about the process of changing personas or roles that allows us to also shed our insecurities?

After a presentation skills workshop last week, one of my co-workers, a vivacious and outgoing woman with excellent communication skills, noted that during her last presentation she felt listless and timid. She wanted to know how to adapt a different persona, one that would enable her to still feel genuine and connect with others at the same time. I didn't give her a quick answer because I wanted to encourage her to take some time and experiment, to discover the persona herself.

As I watch my three year old play on his own during the day he has begun to act out the story of Little Red Riding Hood. He expands his body and deepens his voice, stomping around the house as he becomes the wolf. I hope he continues this play, sampling these personas, discovering which sounds and movements make him feel safe or powerful or playful. I know from my experience working with actors, teachers, businesspeople and more that experiencing these states of being can be just the trick to enjoying your time in the spotlight.

Exercise and the Voice

With the growing popularity of yoga and pilates, participants in voice classes have a greater awareness of diaphragmatic breathing. However, it is important to note that different forms of exercise encourage different types of breathing.

The 'Ujjayi' breathing suggested in certain forms of yoga, where you contract muscles in the throat is inefficient for speech work since you are actually adding tension to the throat. The contraction of the abdominal wall in pilates, while extremely helpful to strengthen and support the back, can prevent the diaphragm from contracting fully and thus limit the breath supply needed for sound.

Fortunately, to guide us through these considerations, Joanna Cazden in her recent book, How to Take Care of your Voice, has included a chapter on exercise. Here she lists common types of exercises, their benefits for voice and speech work, as well as some of the precautions you may want to take before, during or after a session to prevent any vocal strain.

Lucky for us, there are excerpts of her book available online which includes the chapter on exercise.

http://booklocker.com/pdf/3026s.pdf

So continue strengthening, relaxing and moving your body, just remember not to forget about your voice in the process.

Oratory

In contemplating the offerings for the new term, I keep returning to the idea of oratory. Although no longer in vogue in our school system,from the mid-eighteenth century up until the end of the nineteenth century oratory skills were not only included in the curriculum but some proponents believed that oratory skills were a fundamental key to life.

In Oration on Eloquence given on commencement day at Harvard University in 1794 the speaker stated:

"Speech and reason are the characteristics, the glory and the happiness of man. These are the pillars which support the fair fabric of eloquence; the foundation, upon which is erected the most magnificent edifice, that genius could design or art construct. To cultivate eloquence, then, is to improve the noblest faculties of our nature, the richest talents with which we are entrusted."

Fredrick Douglass in My Bondage and My Freedom recalls reading Caleb Bingham's The Columbian Orator, "The reading of these speeches added much to my limited stock of language, and enabled me to give tongue to many interesting thoughts, which had frequently flashed through my soul, and died away for want of utterance."

My fascination with oration comes from my background as an actor. One of the true joys of performance is to rediscover word and thought for yourself night after night. The same words are spoken, but I can always tell a really great playwright by the insight I gain from their words in the repeated utterance. Can we not all benefit from ingesting great words and thoughts?

I was relieved to find a website for "Poetry Out Loud", a national recitation contest for high school students. There are wonderful poetry selections that are short enough to learn in a week and an interesting set of standards that the adjudicators use to evaluate participants. It is definitely worth checking out, but more importantly find a quote, a poem or even a joke that you can learn. Once you have done that try it out on a friend or colleague, their reaction alone will be incentive to add to your collection.

What do we do?

Where did the fall go? After several weeks of a snowy vacation, Vancouver saw more snow than it has seen in over forty years, I am desperate to get out of the house and sink my teeth into an exciting project. Of course, this long neglected blog is top priority!

As I created my New Year's hopes, wishes and dreams list (I write down 26 each year, one for each letter of the alphabet), I contemplated a theme for this year's blog and the answer miraculously appeared during a "cleaning out my cupboards" session. I would like to compile a clearer picture of what voice and presentation skills coaches do. What would a session look like? What types of exercises would a student go away practicing? What questions, concerns might a participant grapple with? So hopefully we will be including more video this year, podcasts and informal entries from participants. All in all providing you with even more resources, ideas and support.

To get us started I found this great example of a private "American Accent Coaching" session. Take a look... maybe it will even inspire you to dive in to your voice and speech exercises.

http://www.slatev.com/player.html?id=1184473562

Puntuation

The summer has been so busy with private sessions I haven't had nearly the time I would have liked to attend to my blogging. Not to worry- I am back! If the fall affords you with any extra time, or the need for a good laugh, I strongly suggest picking up a copy of Lynne Truss's (note the use of the apostrophe here) book, "Eats, Shoots and Leaves". Now, why on earth would I advocate picking up a punctuation book when I am a voice teacher who deals with the spoken word? I'll let Ms. Truss tell you herself:

"Punctuation directs you how to read, in the way musical notation directs a musician how to play. As we shall see in the chapter on commas, it was first used by Greek dramatists two thousand years ago to guide actors between breathing points…"

Give it a try. Take out your next lecture, presentation or script and try breathing each time you get to a comma. Then, check out Lynne Truss's book for a good laugh and hopefully, a new appreciation for the written and spoken word alike.

I've had a few requests for blog entries and podcasts. We are working on getting more podcasts and possibly some with video up soon. Topics will include:

Devoicing

The Mighty Tongue

Presentation Notation

 

 

How do I sound?

My cousin, a gorgeous young woman in her early twenties with blond hair and a petite frame, is well on her way to becoming a talented director in the film industry. We had a chance to get together over pizza the other night and catch up. I asked her how everything was going and after lots of great stories about the Paramount lot, we got to talking about the work that I'm doing. Somehow she brought up the fact that she consciously pitches her voice low so that people will take her seriously. She has the impression that it is harder for her to attain immediate respect from co-workers because of her youthful appearance.

It is tempting to pitch our voices higher or lower according to how we hope to be perceived, just make sure that you aren't impeding your body's natural ability to communicate easily. So often men come into my sessions vocally tired because they have either consciously or unconsciously pushed their sound back into their throats to sound "cooler" or "more masculine". Forcing your voice into a certain pitch can cause tension in the vocal folds and cut off your natural resonance.

Try this: Sit comfortably in a chair or lying down on the floor while you allow the breath to fall in and out. Place your hands on your face, covering you forehead, cheeks and mouth and begin to hum. Without forcing in any way, hum a few high pitches and then a few low pitches. When the humming feels easy, speak a simple phrase, such as, "Hello, how are you?" Notice whether these words are spoken in a higher or a lower pitch from where you normally speak. How does it feel?

Go on, give it a try!