Tim Noonan 0419 779 669
tim@VisionaryCommunications.com.au
www.VisionaryCommunications.com.au
Download your complimentary copy of Tim’s E-Book.
“Your Voice is Your Business: Tim’s Top Voice Strategies for Vocal Brilliance”
www.timnoonan.com.au/YourVoiceArticleByTimNoonan.pdf
Subscribe to Tim’s occasional ‘Your Voice’ email newsletter
Send an email to
tim@VisionaryCommunications.com.au
With the subject of
Subscribe Me
As speakers, our voice is literally our business. Our tone of voice alone (the vocal expression) makes up 38 percent of the impression we leave with our audiences. If we are speaking on the phone, recording a podcast or developing an audio product, tone of voice jumps from 38 percent to 84 percent in terms of how our listeners assess our attitude and our message.
In essence, our voice is our identity. It is the expression through sound/vibration of who we are. Our voice moves outwards from our inner world, and travels to others in our outer world.
When we look at someone, we essentially see reflections of light bouncing off the exteriors of their body, if we don’t like what we see, we can simply turn away or close our eyes.
But, in vibrant contrast, when we hear someone speak, our body literally vibrates in resonance to the sounds emanating from their voice. The voice originates from deep within the body of the speaker and it arrives and penetrates into the head and body of the listener. This is one reason why voices have the capacity to be so incredibly powerful, and yet so deeply intimate.
The Vocal Consciousness system is a set of principles and strategies which:
· promote vocal understanding;
· nurture expressive speaking; and
· foster insightful listening
Vocal Consciousness is the journey of becoming more consciously aware of our own voice, and how we engage it, as well as becoming increasingly more conscious of the voices around us.
Indeed, Vocal Consciousness is a journey from self consciousness, through to an increased consciousness of the self.
All of us, to a lesser or greater degree, unconsciously interpret vocal language. Vocal language is the first kind of language communication we ever encounter, from inside the womb, and of course, when we are infants. We employ vocal language best when we talk to babies and puppies.
As we grow up, however, we are taught to restrict our own honest vocal expressiveness; we are taught to behave, to suppress, and how to conform. In fact, we are rewarded for exercising a socially acceptable form of emotional repression, even dishonesty. We learn that it is a bad thing to honestly express how we feel.
Over time this can lead to us giving less conscious attention and intentionality to our own speech, and bringing less respect and attention to others when they speak.
The result is that more often than not, when we hear someone speak, we dismiss or partially close ourselves off to what we hear and what we feel. We have been taught to give disproportionate importance to the words people say and to the body language people convey. We learn to dismiss and mistrust what we often describe as our ‘gut reactions’ to the sound of a speaker’s voice.
Vocal Consciousness techniques work to uncover our half-forgotten skills of vocal understanding. They emphasize bringing greater care and intention to our speaking and greater presence and openness when we are listening.
Vocal Consciousness is a pathway to increasing our openness, sincerity and realness as speakers; and enhancing our understanding, empathy, trust and compassion , when conversing and listening.
At the deepest level, our voice reflects the relationship we hold with ourself. How we view our voice gives us rich insights into how we view ourself on the deepest and most personal levels.
As a speaker, our voice informs our audiences of the relationship we hold with our content and our message. If we aren’t truly comfortable with aspects of our message, our voice will reveal this discomfort and incongruity, or it will reveal that we are cloaking and holding back.
As a speaker, our voice also ‘tells’ our friends, our colleagues and our audiences about the relationship we hold with them and indicates our personal attitude towards them. Whether it be respectful, vulnerable, superior or appreciative.
· V - Vibrant
· O - Open
· I - Intentional
· C - Conversational
· E - Emotionally Expressive
The open voice, the expressive voice, the generous voice, is a blend of the crispness and clarity of our thoughts, plus the warmth and sensitivity of our feelings around those thoughts. When we speak in this complete and integrated way, our voice expresses a rich, congruent and harmonised message for our listeners. This allows each audience member to not only understand our words but to also appreciate how we feel about the things said. This is the key to authenticity.
www.timnoonan.com.au/YourVoiceArticleByTimNoonan.pdf
1. Record Every Speech You Give.
2. Review With Eyes Closed!
3. Build Trust and Understanding through Sincere Delivery.
4. Speak WITH, not TO, the Audience.
5. Warm Up Your Voice.
6. Smile As You Speak!
7. Play Your Instrument and Express your Passion!
Open a Conversation with each person, don’t talk to a room of people.
There are benefits in dynamic authentic expression of ideas versus a pre-determined over-rehearsed performance. I call this style a Conversational Keynote. Allow the audience to see that you are real. Some authentic vulnerability can be positively perceived by the audience.
Employ breathing, pauses and variations in speaking style to add to the pictures your voice paints in the mind of the listener.
Louder, Slower, Deeper, is only one of many ways to create emphasis. Consider Quieter, Faster, Cheekier. Try bracketing the important point with extended silence, before and after.
We all have different voices, but no matter what our situation or experience, we all have room to move and grow in our vocal openness and authentic self expression.
· Listen to what you say and how you sound;
· Respond constructively and compassionately to the messages your voice delivers.
· Be kind to yourself; practice listening to your voice, without judgment or criticism.
· Create the desire to fall in love with your voice.
· Notice the changes; you will be astounded how quickly your voice changes, when your response to it shifts.
With a friend or colleague, tell them a story but don’t speak any words. With your mouth largely closed, just use pitch, pauses and excitement to get the idea across. This acting technique is called Gibberish.
Exercise 1
Whenever you can, close your eyes, slow your breathing and just allow the speech to reach you.
Note how it sounds, how it makes you feel, what thoughts it triggers. Also note blocks, distractions etc. Observe your normal patterns/distractions when visual input is closed off.
Commit to explore and harness the increased attention and speech processing resources available to you, when your eyes are closed.
Exercise 2
Sit with your eyes closed and listen for distant speech, such as through a closed door. Again, focus on the intonation, not the words. What is the person (or people) ‘saying’ with their voice, separate from the meaning of their words?
The key to insightful listening isn’t so much what you Think when you hear a person speak, but rather how you Feel.
What emotions and feelings in you are engaged? How does your physical body respond to the sound of their voice?