Why a singer needs a better speaking voice

This one's easy:
Because every time you speak, you use your voice!

When I was on the road as an artist, I used to try to get interviews scheduled for AFTER my performance instead of before, because I noticed that using my speaking voice negatively affected my singing voice.

Now I talk all day and never get vocally tired! It's truly amazing. When you learn to "pull" instead of "push" your speaking voice out, it seems that you almost communicate by telepathy, it's so effortless to your throat. You resonate your rich speaking tones out and they invite listening!

Perfect practice makes perfect performance. While I usually don't like using the "p" word (perfect), I use it to make a point here. Every time you speak you practice using your voice. So watch your mouth, as your mama always said!

Chronic breathiness or hoarseness? Suspect vocal damage!

I was eating lunch when my one of my new students' mother called. "Hello", I said. "Well, you were right", she said. Sadly, I had guessed I would be right. It wasn't the first time I'd correctly suspected vocal damage.

She had taken her little actress daughter to the doctor after my suggestion at her last voice lesson to get her vocal cords inspected. Her doctor found lesions on both vocal cords. He told them she should not talk for a week and that it will be a long, long time before she should attempt to sing. She had been scheduled to audition for two productions... one a movie... and it's all on hold for now.

I knew something was wrong because I had way too much trouble getting this little girl to be able to sing in her head voice. When I did gently coax a head tone out of her, nothing I suggested could help her sing very far up the scale, and those notes were very breathy. She tried her best to follow my directions, but she could not focus her spread tone into a healthy, clear, bell-like sound. The breathiness in both her chest and head voices and her limited range cautioned me to stop the vocal training until she could get checked out. And thank God her mother took the initiative and the discovery of vocal injury was made.

Anything which keeps your vocal cords from closing properly, such as a bump of tissue caused by injury, swelling, any kind of lesion or other obstruction, will cause problems such as breathiness, hoarseness, fatigue, vocal cracks and other limitations in your speaking and singing voice such as an inability to sing in head voice. Fortunately, these symptoms are a cry for help... which needs to be heeded.

It is imperative to get a correct diagnosis as to the type of vocal lesion present, because some injuries respond quite well to rest and corrective vocal training, and some require surgery. And sometimes the lesion is malignant. Don't fool around with chronic breathiness or hoarseness. Get to the bottom of the problem. For a "symptom tree", see: http://voiceproblem.org/disorders/vflesions/index.asp . If you suspect a problem, make an appointment with a doctor who can inspect your cords and who knows about singers' voices (get references).

You can actually click a link and hear examples of some types of vocal damage at: http://www.gbmc.org/voice/disorders.cfm .

Here's a wake up... you can cause your vocal cords to hemorrhage (bleed) from just ONE episode of traumatic vocal abuse. A jingle singer I worked with in Memphis named Janie Fricke was diagnosed with this many years ago. Good news... with rest, she did fully recover - and she became a highly lauded country singer with a major hit career. I myself had vocal damage from the insertion of an endotracheal tube (I was on a ventilator for a while many years ago). With the help of my vocal teacher Gerald Arthur, I fully recovered and then went on to my own career at MTM records.

This mother had been told for years that her daughter's breathy sound was natural for her... that there was "nothing wrong - that's just the way her voice sounds". Therefore, her daughter has been re-injuring her vocal cords constantly. Hopefully, this talented and precious little girl's voice will mend with time. When her injury sufficiently heals, she will need vocal training to fully recover.

Read into this post your own cautionary tale. Sometimes you may wish to make a breathy sound for a momentary "effect", but don't fool around with chronic breathiness that you can't focus into clear tone. If you think you have a problem, get checked out with a good voice teacher and/or a doctor who specializes in voices.

Teachers: Does Your Speaking Voice Communicate?

This post is to all teachers everywhere.

I talked to a young friend, Laura Cambell, at church today who had home for the weekend from college. I asked her how her studies were going and she made a common complaint that got me thinking. She said that many of this semester's teachers she had did not talk clearly during lectures. One of them actually spoke to the blackboard during the whole class, never once looking at the students. My friend therefore was having trouble learning in these classes.

If you are a teacher, may I first thank you for your service. It is a tough, trying business, and you are to be commended for your willingness to share your expertise. But may I respectfully also suggest that you think about how your communicate your lessons.
Do you-

• Look at your students when you speak?
• Enunciate clearly so that even a student with hearing problems can understand you, or even read your lips?
• Use varied pitches in your voice- instead of a monotone delivery?
  Look for response (or the lack thereof) in your students' faces, indicating that you have engaged their interest?
• Take time between phrases to 1) get a good breath and 2) let your last phrase sink in?
• Adjust your words if you are not getting through, possibly re-stating your information another way?
• Articulate with energy and animation, but not with intimidation or harsh tone?

If you really want to go up a level in your spoken communication skills, you may wish to join a Toastmaster Club. Or, possibly get a group of teachers together and observe each others' classes, giving and getting feedback on your delivery.
Here is a web page from the University of Oklahoma, which offers a "Teach Test" and gives some suggestions for doing well on the test. http://gradweb.ou.edu/eap/teach.htm . Check it out for great tips.
And thanks again for caring for your charges. They desperately need your information; give them your best shot at being able to receive what you have to give!