We actually have two “voices”: a “head” voice and a “chest” voice. Basically, when you sing, your head voice does the high notes and the chest voice does the low ones. Your head voice breathes out largely through your nose while yoru chest voice through your mouth. The head voice comes from the throat and the chest voice from the diaphragm.
Try this exercise. Hum a note, then slowly raise it and then slowly lower it. It should sound like a siren, up high, down low, up high, down low. As you do this, pay attention to where the air pressure in your body is. As you shift from high to low, it goes from your head to your chest, and then back up again.
As you could guess, we want to develop that chest voice. Again, the only way to do this is through conscious practice — reminding yourself countless times to speak from your chest voice until it becomes a habit.
Here’s a cool exercise that you can do. Read the following sentence aloud:
“Do you want to get a drink Thursday night?”
Now, hold your nose and read it again. How different is your tonality? If it’s not very different, you already speak largely from your chest and probably have good tonality. If you suddenly sound very nasal when you hold your nose and say it, you need to work on speaking with a deeper voice.
Keep practicing it until you can say it while hoding your nose and it doesn’t sound any different.
Another problem men have is they often talk too quickly. This comes from a subconscious belief that if we don’t get everything out quickly, people won’t listen to everything we have to say. This is a needy behavior.
There’s not a definitive metirc for this. But pay attention to whether people seem to have touble hearing you often. Experiment with slowing down how you speak and notice any differences in how it feels or reactions you get. If people are constantly asking you to repeat yourself, and it’s not loud in the room, you may speak too quickly.
Also, chances are you are not loud enough. In fact, just about everyone does not speak loud enough. Speak louder. Do it now, do it everywhere. Don’t scream. But speak loudly, from the diaphragm, from yoru chest voice. Research shows it commands more respect and attention.
Like body language, these adjustments will take time and practice to implement.
Not only do better body language and vocal projection enage other people more effectively, but good body language has also been shown to affect your moods positively. Yes, even shifting your body into a more confident position consciously will make you feel more confident and vice-versa. Even if you do it on purpose and know what you’re doing, it will still work. So start paying attention to your body, how you present yourself, how you sit, how you stand and the amount of eye contact you’re making. It makes a difference. And it adds up quickly.
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