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2023.04.30 – 0850 – Vocal Trauma  A secondary problem comes when you release that breath through the previously tightened folds.  Added together you have the very real possibility of ‘vocal trauma’, serious damage to your folds. Think through the vocalisations that often come with the gym-strains of ‘glottal attack’ – using that pressure behind the larynx to give added strength through added tension. You have seen it (perhaps with weightlifters or tennis players), if not done it yourself, perhaps when you lift a heavy box, say.  The noise that often precedes the breath-holding (something like “erghh!”) then the lifting up of the box, and then as you set it down, a release (“arghhh”!). Avoid potential vocal trauma by not vocalising these strains, or if you have to make them (especially the release-sound), make it softer, a ‘sshhh’ sound, rather than a sudden vocal “argh!”. Lots of relaxing moves after the strain of weightlifting will also reduce any necessarily-held tension.  So, as a voice professional, with any kind of exercise be careful of this kind of grunting as it tenses and can damage your vocal folds. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

2023.04.29 – 0849 – Sub-Glottal Pressure  VOICE BOXSub-glottal Pressure OK, so ‘sub’ is ‘below’, so this is the pressure below the glottis. A ‘glottal stop’ is the stop-start airflow from your throat in a word such as ‘uh-oh’ or when the word ‘butter’ is said without the middle t’s: ‘buh-er’. Indeed, ironically, the word ‘glottal’ also includes a glottal stop.  Those sounds are made by closing and opening of the vocal folds. If you say ‘butter’ in the usual way and gently and slowly, and then without the t’s, you should be able to feel the slight and momentary resistance that your folds are under before air is allowed to flow again. We also use sub-glottal pressure as we hold your breath as you push or pull, say lift something heavy or more dramatically, give birth, or do resistance training. The pressure in the lungs helps tense surrounding muscles to give stability and strength to make exertion easier. That’s a lot of strain on the small glottal ‘valve’ and a lot of tension being held in the neck (and potentially if continued, a sore throat and headache).  Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

2023.04.28 – 0848 – Help! The Gym Has Wrecked My Voice!  But beware: ·        Strong physical exertion soon before a presentation can cause physical exhaustion which will be heard in your voice·        Weightlifting and working out your upper body and neck and shoulder area can cause stress and tension ·        Damage from exercise such as from weightlifting, pull ups, rowing or even bent over a cycling machine for a long time, can pull muscles in your neck and shoulders, limiting your movement and causing stress in your breathing. (In fact, any pain from menstrual to mini-migraine, will distract you from your best vocal performance.)·        Pushing and pulling exertion can cause overuse of the glottal pressure, so be very careful. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

2023.04.27 – 0847 – Fit Body Factors: intensity and balanceFactors to consider:·        Exercise intensity – how hard you push yourself and for how longo  Especially on days that you will be performingo  Be careful of ‘red lining’ – there’s usually no need to push things to the maxo  Muscular damage or failure can be painful and long term, affecting you emotionally as well as physically·        Exercise balanceo  The exercise selection – don’t overwork one particular group, so balance ‘pulling’ with running and swimming.o  Be aware of overworking on the weights – straining neck and trapezius muscles (at the top of the back) can affect your throat area and so, your vocal performance.o  A rigid rectus abdominus (a six-pack to you and me), is suboptimal for breathingo  Cardio work is very important – choose LISS work over HIIT work[1] [1] LISS, or Low Intensity Steady State, involves consistent effort at a steady pace for an allotted amount of time. HIIT, or High Intensity Interval Training, involves short bursts with high effort, followed by lower effort rest intervals. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

2023.04.26 – 0846 – Fit Body, Fit Voice Physical fitness and trainingOf course, your voice needs the rest of you to be in shape, your overall health, fitness, strength and posture, not just the actual vocal mechanics! And that means the right kind of exercise:·        Core and aerobic exercises help you with strength and breath control·        Aerobic exercise, such as swimming or running, help vocal stamina by increasing the speed the muscles are oxygenated·        Swimming will also help your lung capacity·        Activities that develop body alignment, muscle strength, dexterity and balance, such as Tai Chi and Yoga, also promote better mind/body connection and encourage greater vocal flexibility. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

2023.04.25 – 0845 – Birthday Candles Birthday candles Stand as previously described, with your feet firmly on the floor shoulder-width apart, knees very slightly bent rather than locked, with dropped and relaxed shoulders.·        Put your hands on your diaphragm area to help you feel and picture the following process·        Now blow out some imaginary candles on a cake, with short sharp, exaggerated panting bursts of air… you should see and feel a lot of movement in your diaphragm as you do this·        Now do this again with some sound: “huh huh huh” to engage the vocal folds as well as the abdominal muscles. You should get 10-20 sounds out per breath before running out of air. If you aren’t, focus on deeper inhalation and controlling the amount of air you exhale with each sound.·        Repeat with a series of staccato “ch” sounds Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

2023.04.24 – 0844 – Sue-eeeeeeSue-eeeeeeStand as previously described, with your feet firmly on the floor shoulder-width apart, knees very slightly bent rather than locked, with dropped and relaxed shoulders.·        Put your hands on your diaphragm area to help you feel and picture the following process·        Start relaxed breathing, and let air drop in to your lungs over a count of four·        Then, as you release that air, again for a count of four, make the start of the Sue-ey sound: “ssss” through your teeth·        Repeat, for a count of six, eight, 10 and 12 for each part·        The repeat each stage, replacing “ssss” with “oooo” and then “eeee” sounds. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

2023.04.23 – 0843 – Let It All OutLet It All OutFocussing on full exhalations helps expand your diaphragm.·        Lie on the floor in a semi-supine position (the ‘sit-up’ position described earlier).·        Exhale all air through your mouth·        Relax and let air drop back in (don’t gasp), and breathe naturally for a minute before repeating the exercise Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

2023.04.22 – 0842 – It’s Hip to Breathe SquareIt’s Hip to Breathe SquareSquare Breathing is used by US Navy Seals among others to create calmness and control. ·        Sit or lie down so you are relaxed and comfortable·        Breathe in for a count of four as you draw one side of a ‘square’ in your mind·        Pause and hold the breath for a count of four, as you mentally draw the second side·        Exhale for another count of four, picturing the third side of the square·        And then hold for the count of four as you complete the shape·        Repeat the cycle for progressively longer counts until you feel calmer. The longer time periods will help you strengthen and control your diaphragm, the ‘pump’ which regulates the airflow from your lungs to your folds.  Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

2023.04.21 – 0841 – The Crunch and Stretch The Crunch and StretchRib stretches open up the intercostal muscles (the ones that run between the ribs, and help form and move the chest wall), and release tension. Breath in through the mouth – as that’s what we tend to use when we are actually speaking.·        Lie on the floor and bring each knee in to your chest, and then flop them to one side and your head to the other side·        Put your arms away from your body to form a T shape·        Breath in and then swap over, with your knees and head on the other side ·        Then return your knees back to centre and notice any difference ·        Stand up and give yourself a hug·        Drop the shoulders in a voiced sigh·        Flop over at the waist at a voiced sigh … to crunch the entire front and ‘open up’ your back·        Gently breathe and let your arms drop·        Roll up, stand up gently, through the spine one vertebrae at a time. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

2023.04.20 – 0840 – How To Know Your Air Flow How do you know, your air-flow?Watch the clockTake a standard breath (not a huge gulp) and then let it out as though gently releasing air from a balloon: ssssssssssss on your natural ‘home tone’ until the supply is exhausted.Then repeat the exercise with a touch of vocality to it, swapping the ‘sss’ for a long but gentle ‘zzzzz’How long did the sound last for on each exercise? A ‘good’ flow will last for around 15 seconds. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

2023.04.19 – 0839 – Don’t Take Fish GulpsBut be aware of you use of air: do you tend to gulp? Or are you squeezing out the final words in a sentence with the last ounce of air you have spare? What about your other breathing habits? Be aware that in certain situations you may feel short of breath: if you are recovering from an illness, if you are nervous, if you’re tense… If you take in too much air than you need to use:You can take fish-like gulpsYou may get light-headedYou may damage your folds…Take a deep breath now, and notice what you feel in your larynx area. Feel the strain of air trying to get out? That’s sub-glottal pressure again, leading your folds to have to work much harder to release just what you need, just when you need it. And that can lead to damage, vocal fatigue, and a limit to the range you can talk in. So, you need to be able to take in just enough air to power your voice for what you want to say, and then control the ‘flow of the fuel’ steadily.  Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

2023.04.18 – 0838 – Excessive Oxygenation Excessive oxygenationYou only really want to take in as much air as you will need to get to the end of your adlibbed phrase or sentence, or to read what’s been written. So how do you know how much that is? As for adlibs, it usually comes naturally; I mean, how many times do you see someone strain at the end of a sentence in a conversation as they run out of air, or take a huge gulp before they say something. Almost never. You instinctively have the breath to last the ‘thought’ (or maybe we adapt what we say, as we say it, depending on how much air we have left…)For script work, it’s good to pre-read and rehearse what it is that someone else wants you to say (or even what you wrote down to read out loud). What sounds good in someone’s head, or looks good on a screen, may not sound good when it is said. The sentences may be Amazonian in length and convolution. Looking specifically at sentence structure (you’re not just looking for commas and full stop/periods, you’re also looking for phrases and sentence sense), can help you work out where to take full or part-breaths. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

2023.04.17 – 0837 – Efficient Air-Use Exercises Now consider these exercises to help you create:·        The most efficient way to get air in to your body·        The most effective way to use it to power your voice (and that doesn’t necessarily mean to give you a powerful voice)·        How to control your out-breath for a consistent, confident sound·        And how to support your voice to the end of every sentenceI mentioned earlier that a lot of the exercises combine across the three niches of vocal, physical and mental. That is some physical exercises involve making sound as you do them, and others exercise require some imagination, as picturing something a bit abstract (like breath) can help you understand what is happening, or rather what should be happening. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

2023.04.16 – 0836 – The Deep Breathing Double Whammy So short and shallow breathing from your upper chest results in a tightening and tensing of neck and throat muscles (as well as affecting the pecs which raise the ribs, and the shoulders) which leads to a reaching and squeezing voice. Such breathing can be as a result of, well, ‘life’: nervousness, bad posture, the ‘stress of the day’… Better breathing, deeper and diaphragmatic using the lower ribs and the lower back, not only gives you more air to fuel the voice, and gives you a more resonant, round sound, it also activates your parasympathetic nervous system, a network of nerves that relaxes your body after periods of stress or danger. So deep breathing is a double-whammy: a more relaxed voice and a more relaxed ‘you’. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

2023.04.15 – 0835 – “Why Do I Run Out Of Breath?” Running out of breath before the end of a sentence could be the effect of poor support (you did not take in enough to start with), or poor writing (the sentence was simply too long to be read in a single comfortable breath). Or it may be because of poor control (you leaked air as you spoke, wasting it in perhaps a breathy voice, caused by inefficient closure of your vocal folds), a breathy voice also dehydrating your vocal folds.  Without enough air, your voice will sound weak and lack colour and you’ll have trouble getting attention. It won’t travel as far. You will sound strained at the end of sentences, leading to a drop in volume or resonance, or causing a vocal fry.  Squeezing out sentences without enough air support can cause a tightness in your throat and neck from the effort. Remember: if your message is important, so are the end of your sentences. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

2023.04.14 – 0834 – The Breath Control ProcessBreath control (or ‘supportive breathing’) ensures that your vocal folds are getting just the amount of air based on what it is you want to say.[1]1. Your brain has a thought and sends a message to your ribs and diaphragm muscles that you will need air to vocalise that thought.2. Your ribcage expands and that leads your diaphragm to drop, which in turn creates room in your chest cavity for your lungs to expand. Aristotle coined the phrase “nature abhors a vacuum”, and that’s what’s happening here: the lungs expand into the space by taking in oxygen.This process of breathing in is called ‘inspiration’. 3. Then your stomach muscles are activated, moving in, which lets the diaphragm move slowly up, and the ribs slowly close. That process squeezes a variable amount of air out of your lungs as you talk, your brain calculating just the right amount of air that’s needed to fuel your thought.The muscles being used here are:the transversus abdominis – sometimes called the ‘beach muscle’, which wraps around your lower torso. It’s one of the core muscles, stabilising the ribcage and the pelvis when you do things like lift heavy objects. It’s the muscle that keeps your belly tucked in so you look good on the beach, hence its nickname.internal oblique muscles and the external oblique muscles (‘the twisters’) are diagonal, connecting the ribcage and the pelvis and help you to twist, turn and bend, hence their nickname. The process is called ‘breath support’ because these three muscles help compress the abdominal wall, pushing the belly in, and supporting the stability of the diaphragm by helping it stay low and move up slowly. In ‘normal’ breathing when we are silent, the airflow is still and silent. But we need some ‘push’ behind the airflow when we talk, and we get that by regulating the contraction of the stomach muscles. Think about it: in repose watching the tv and not talking, we barely notice the belly moving in; when we talk, we can sense a slight tightness as we control its movement to supply just the right amount of air-power; now imagine yourself yelling a cry of support to your sports team and you’ll notice the swift and strong movement of the ‘belly’s breathing muscles’ to push more air out more quickly, to create that loud sound.4. The air moves up to the larynx where it is vibrated by the vocal folds to create the initial soundwaves. It’s by controlling these muscles (the transversus abdominis and internal and the external oblique muscles), that you can adjust the airstream leaving the lungs, the volume and velocity, to create the right amount of sub-glottal pressure to vibrate your folds to create a basic sound5. The sound moves up into spaces in your throat, mouth and nose, where they get amplified6. And finally your speech muscles shape the sounds into words. [3][1] Adapted from the “Voice What Matters” podcast 3/7/2019[2] https://anouska-taylor.com/ [3] Adapted from https://tips.how2improvesinging.com/anatomy-of-breathing/ Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

2023.04.13 – 0833 – Breath Support and Breath Control  Breath Support and Breath ControlThese two terms are often used interchangeably (I do so myself), but there is a specific difference. Breath SupportIs maximizing the air capacity available to you for speaking, through best posture and best use of the diaphragm, lung health and so on.  Fitness of the diaphragm is key because when you speak the diaphragm is constantly relaxing and stretching. (A quick reminder: your diaphragm is the ‘elastic’ dome-shaped muscle that, when you breath in, drops down, tenses and flattens as the lungs inflate… and then, when you breathe out and the lungs empty, relaxes back into its dome shape.) Breath ControlThis is the regulation of the amount of air that you push past your folds, the amount and pace of the release depending on the need of the sentence or situation.  This is the way we control the airflow from the lungs to the folds, to power the voice. How we use muscles and our mind to increase or decrease the intensity of the flow, depending on the vocal power that we need in that moment. To control your voice well you have to control the breath you power it with.Think of your lungs as a ‘bagpipe bladder of air’, or the boiler of a house. A small or un-serviced pump unit in a large house with lots of radiators on full, will struggle to cope to keep heat to them all. In a similar way, poorly performing lungs caused by an untrained diaphragm won’t be able to maintain the flow of air to deliver an effective message. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

2023.04.12 – 0832 – Passive and Active BreathingA quick reminder that air is what fuels and carries your voice and that you invariably speak on the outbreath, when your stomach is coming in, a bit like an accordion.[1] Breathe through the nose where you can (but don’t sniff) to warm and filter the air, although when talking, short sound-less snatches are taken instead.Keep topping up your air supply as you talk, rather than speaking until you’ve used every last drop of air … like a waiter in a top restaurant keeps topping up your wine.Passive BreathingPassive breathing is what you do naturally when still, and about 24,000 times a day. An in-breath and an out-breath are about the same length, we don’t control them and literally do it in our sleep.Active BreathingThis is controlled and we do it when we’re talking. The in-breath is shorter and the out-breath is longer as it needs to power the words with the vocal folds interrupting the airflow. You use a bit more air if you are highlighting or emphasising a word and some consonants use more air (like “ssssh” or “aahhhhh” and “ffff”). Other consonants like ‘b’ and ‘t’ interrupt the flow of air for a split second, so we have to be really adaptable in our breathing system. [1] Humans can speak while inhaling, but we don't do it naturally, very often in English. Having said that, ingressive sounds occur in many languages (often Scandinavian) and dialects (https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ingressive_sound ). The nearest we get to it in English is when we do rapid counting to maintain a steady airflow, when surprised (the gasping "huh!" sound) or when expressing empathy (the inward hiss "Sss”).  Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

2023.04.11 – 0831 – The Key Thing of BreathingBREATHINGWe’ve looked before at the importance of proper breathing, not just to give you life (!) but to give your voice enough support so your words are heard and you have enough fuel to feed your voice to the end of a thought. Additionally, your voice will sound ‘fuller’ (not ‘louder’ or ‘deeper’ but with more ‘colour’ and ‘resonance’), with more range, and your articulation will be more agile. What you say will sound more inviting and compelling: “That gives you more ways to express yourself and gives the listener more variety,which keeps the sound of the story interesting and engaging.”Jessica Hansen, NPR Voice Coach[1] Respiratory issues can also affect how you sound – perhaps unsurprisingly as ‘breathing is the key thing’ when it comes to a better voice. That could be:·        high-breath inhalations·        poor tonal quality·        vocal fatigue·        dryness in the mouth and vocal folds·        a loss of range·        snatching or gasping for air·        running out of breath and bulging neck veins.Your voice is breath. [1] https://training.npr.org/2017/06/19/aerobics-for-your-voice-3-tips-for-sounding-better-on-air/ Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

2023.04.10 – 0830 – Lion YawnsHave a large, lion-like yawn to focus on getting the blood flowing into your throat and face.·        Then move all the muscles of the face individually·        Screw up your face and make the smallest face you can: close your eyes, purse your lips, frown. ·        Now try and make it as large, wide, open and expressive as you can. Eyes and mouth wide open. ·        Repeat this a couple of times and allow the tension to melt away.Then roll your shoulders, slowly shake and nod your head (see the instructions, above) before shaking all over.Finally, you need to allow your vocal folds to relax out of their over-used speaking range that they have been in during the course of the day.Gently set a pitch a little higher than your talking-pitch and gently glide down in a hum, to and beyond the pitch you’ve been using.Now, give yourself the ‘rag doll’ shake-down ·        Give yourself a shake all over including your arms, legs and hands. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

2023.04.09 – 0829 – Cooling Down After Voice WorkCooling down after voice workMost people know the importance of warming up the voice, even if not sure exactly how. But cooling down the voice? Not so much.But the truth is that if you have a high vocal demand, cooling down with give you more stamina, reducing fatigue and enabling better functioning. As we saw earlier, a “high vocal demand” could be:·        Lots of talking in general conversation·        Lots of ‘presentation’ talking with a mic, perhaps as a talk-radio presenter or recording lots of podcasts ·        Lots of ‘presentation’ talking without a mic, maybe as a school teacher, where more volume might be thought necessary·        Talking over background noise, perhaps as a sports commentator, in a noisy classroom, as a club DJ … ·        and so on, especially if it goes on for several hours or over several days.A cool-down helps get you ‘out of character’, trains your brain to come out of its ‘presentation state’ and the muscles to relax out of their ‘work ready’ holding tension. You’re resetting and relaxing your voice mechanism.Close your eyes and ‘scan’ your body from head to toe, deliberately thinking about any tension you are holding in any place, and turning it ‘off’. Are your shoulders being held high? How is your jaw and tongue? Loose or lifted? Consider your breathing: short and snatched or low and slow?  Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

2023.04.08 – 0828 – Yoga For Your VoiceYoga for your voiceTraditional yoga is an ancient form of physical, mental, and spiritual practices that focuses on strength, flexibility and breathing to boost physical and mental wellbeing. The main components of yoga are postures and breathing.As we saw earlier, one of the seven chakras, or energy centres, of the body, is the Throat Chakra. It is believed that a blocked throat chakra can impact your ability to communicate, and an open and balanced throat chakra enables you to express clearly, and honestly. The yoga poses which involve balance of the Throat Chakra: child’s, anahata, cat, cow, cobra, bow, fish, camel, reverse plank, camat-karasana, sarvanga-sana, sava-sana.‘Mudras’ are hand gestures to help create the energy flow from the fingers to the rest of the body. The Throat Chakra Mudra is done with the interlocking of the fingers inside the palm, with the tips of the thumbs pressed against each other. When done for a minimum of 10 minutes a day, it is said to bring balance in the Throat Chakra. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

2023.04.07 – 0827 – Stretching Cats and Wobbly BabiesTense and release·        Actively applying tension to parts of the body and releasing and relaxing·        (need more examples) The cat arch·        Onto your hands and knees and stretch your spine like a cat arching and wriggling around. The wobbly baby·        Onto you back·        Lift your arms and legs up, keeping your elbows and knees slightly bent·        Shake them quickly and strongly·        Don’t hold your breath! Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

2023.04.06 – 0826 – The Forward FlopForward flop·        Stand with your feet hip-width apart. ·        Inhale and as you do so, raise your arms to the sky·        Then slowly bend at your waist on the exhale and take your hands toward the ground. It doesn’t matter how far you can drop·        Stay here for a couple of breaths·        Then on an inhale slowly go back up to a standing position·        Now drop down again, and as you do so move through your vocal pitch range with an “ahhhhh” sound, so when you are standing tall your pitch is high in your range and as you bend your pitch lowers.·        When you are bent over, reverse the process back to standing.·        Repeat this with “eeee” and “ooooh” sounds. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

2023.04.05 – 0825 – Side SlidesThe side slides·        Stand with your feet slightly further apart than your hips, for added stability·        Take a deep breath – properly and from your diaphragm, then as you slowly exhale… do some side bends·        … tilting your body to the right with your right hand running down the side of your right leg·        Take another breath in as you slowly return to the upright position where you will finish your exhalation.·        Repeat on the left side – and then the complete sequence twice more·        Side stretches are great for expanding your rib cage and making your lungs feel full of air. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

2023.04.04 – 0824 – Yes and NoYes and No·        Move your head from side to side in a wide but slow ‘no’ gesture·        Move your head up and down in a high, low and slow ‘yes’ Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

2023.04.03 – 0823 – Hands DownHands down·        Slowly lift your hands over your head…·        And as you do so breathe in.·        Then exhale as you move your hands down again.·        This will help you concentrate on your breath control Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

2023.04.02 – 0822 – Hula HoopsHula hoops·        Stand with your feet hip-width apart and with your knees slightly bent·         Put your hands on your hips and do a ‘hula hoop’, big circle movement with your hips. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

2023.04.01 – 0821 – Shoulder Shrugs and RollsShoulder shrugs and rolls·        Raise and lower your shoulders in a slow exaggerated shrug. Up to your ears and then hold for two seconds and then feel the muscles relax as you drop them·        Put your hands on your shoulders and do some big forward shoulder rolls three or four times to unlock tension. The roll them backwards.·        Repeat each exercise and become aware of the tension flowing away. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

2023.03.31 – 0820 – Windmill ArmsWindmill arms·        Stretch your arms out from the side (not the front or back) of your body·        Now draw a ‘figure of eight’ in the air alongside you, gradually increasing the size of the digit·        This helps work out any shoulder and neck tension. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

2023.03.30 – 0819 – Be A CrawlerBe a crawler·        Do some big ‘front crawl’ swimming movements with your arms, slowly and gently for 20 seconds in a full circle. This will loosen your back, chest and ribcage muscles to help better breathing ·        Now repeat the exercise with the arms rotating backwards ·        Watch out for the ceiling fan! Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

2023.03.29 – 0818 – Hum and DrumHum and drum·        Stand and breath in deeply – remember from your diaphragm!·        Breathe out slowly and as you do so hummmmmmm a constant note·        And as you hum, wake up your chest, sides and back by firmly patting them with a gently closed fist  Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

2023.03.28 – 0817– Make A Stand!First, make a stand! Many presenters and voice-over artists prefer to stand at the mic anyway. It enables alertness and better breath control:·        Feet firmly on the ground shoulder-width apart and with three points of contact with the floor: underneath the big and little toe and the centre of your heel·        Have your knees soft, the pelvis balanced, your stomach loose and free·        Drop your arms loose and heavy, with your shoulder blades ‘dripping down the back’ with no muscle tension there at all, a ‘long’ spine·        Have your jaw free, with your tongue resting on the bottom of your mouth behind the bottom teeth, with the head floating on top of the spine·        Your chin should be level with the floor·        Consider your head position: there’s a happy medium between a jutting ‘text neck’ and one that’s unnaturally forced back. Remember your spine supports the head quite far back, not in the middle·        Imagine a string up your spine and through your head, gently pull it taught to straighten your back and neck like a balloon full of helium is attached to the string.Now pick and mix from these exercises to warm up your chest and lungs and relax-out any tension in your muscles and joints. Pump blood, and let your brain tell your body that you’re going to do some work.  Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

2023.03.27 – 0816 – Whole Body Warm Up ExercisesWhole Body Warm Up Exercises[1](Some of these exercises incorporate ‘sound’ as well as ‘structure’, that is you may use your voice while you are physically moving, and in that way, there is naturally some cross over with the previous chapter. This again shows how all elements of the body are interlinked.)  We have seen already how nerves and stress creates tension. In this ‘anti-tension section’ we’ll look at the three Rs of relaxation, release and re-alignment of your neck and head, your chest, ribs and shoulders, to allow better breathing and more rounded resonance. In the next chapter we’ll look at how to combat the fight/flight mechanism that closes your throat when you get nervous. [1] There are many more exercises from The National theatre in London no less, on this video: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=CFXqyl4C1J4&list=PL5E683693532693DE&index=1 Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

2023.03.26 – 0815 – Relaxation From TensionThe flip side of tension is relaxation. Hopefully you will have seen by now how so many parts of the body are involved in creating the sound we call voice: your spine, various ligaments and muscles – some as small as the vocal folds in your throat, some large and powerful such as your diaphragm. And ‘relaxation of the mechanism’ is the key to have these work to support your voice, its construction and projection.Better relaxation leads to better presentation – but that’s easier said than done, with deadlines to meet, stories breaking, talking to time, important clients watching you through the glass, and the occasional breakdown of the technical setup.Relaxation with concentration (you’ll be no good if you’re practically asleep!), will soften your voice, help it be more resonant, help you breathe better and reach the end of phrases and sentences, all of which will lead to more confidence and fewer verbal trips and slips. Proper posture helps you prepare. Health reminderThese exercises can only be a general guide.You know your body the best. Well, you and a health professional. Consult them first and stop if anything hurts. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

2023.03.25 – 0814 – Ten Tell-Tale Signs of TensionSome physical tension creeps up on us. We don’t notice small changes to the body until it’s ‘too late’. So here are Ten Tell-Tale Signs of Tension:1.      Your voice sounds crackly and raspy2.      It sounds thin or strained3.      Your voice sounds weak4.      You find yourself short of breath while speaking5.      You sound irritated or bored6.      You have trouble projecting your voice7.      You sound an octave higher than you normally do8.      You have ‘dry-mouth’ syndrome9.      Your presentation is rushed10.  You often have headaches, back or neck pain The quickest way to damage your voice is to talk with tension. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

2023.03.24 – 0813 – Your Studio Desk Set Up Your Studio Desk Set UpAre the screens in your studio laid out so you can see them without twisting and turning, actions which will causes spinal stresses and strains?If you talk with a twisted neck, you are pulling the larynx out of alignment causing other muscles to compensate, which will affect your vocal sound, health and stamina.If you can, move the screen or the mic or your chair so everything is ‘square on’.If this is not possible, make sure you exercise your neck when you can, carefully moving it in the opposite direction.Consider a regular massage to release postural tension caused by the poor studio layout. (It’s not self-indulgence, it is taking care of yourself and may be tax deductible) Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

2023.03.23 – 0812 – Nine Lines On the Spine (7-9)7.  Similarly wearing high heels can also throw your body out of alignment, you may have to stick your bum out to counterbalance your weight, causing other stresses on the ‘wrong’ part of the skeleton and muscle groups, and the resulting tension causing a less effective and free voice. 8. The ribs are joined to the spine and they need to be free to move as the lungs fill with air.9. A good posture, one that is soft, and which we are not gripping or holding but free to move, will also help your breathing and therefore your breath control and resonance. Consider looking at yoga, Pilates or the Alexander Technique to learn more about strength, balance and flexibility. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

2023.03.22 – 0811 – Nine Lines On the Spine (4-6) 4. The larynx is at the top of the trachea which runs along the same line as your spine. What you do with your head and neck alignment has a knock-on effect on your larynx, and therefore your voice. 5. The average human head weighs around 5kg or 11lbs, that's more than most new-born babies, and is balanced on just seven vertebrae in your neck and supported by around 20 muscles that move your head and keep that weight in place. If you force your head back or your chin up, or slump or slouch then your alignment will be affected and so too your voice. 6. Bad posture can literally be a pain in the neck. If you’re using the correct muscles to keep your head in position (and remember your head is not naturally perched perfectly on your neck like a toffee apple on a stick, it is slightly forward of the rest of the body, although not jutting forward with a ‘laptop neck’), then that’s less tension that’s feeding through to your neck and larynx, which’ll affect your voice. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

2023.03.21 – 0810 – Nine Lines On the Spine (1-3) Nine Lines On the Spine1. Why is this important? Well, your voice is affected by your postural alignment, and you will have better breathing and resonance if your ‘spine is fine’. That means using minimal effort for maximum effect: an efficient, effective and effortlessly good voice without the work of holding and tensing muscles to create it. 2. That means when standing, lining up the heaviest parts of your body so the centre of gravity goes down the middle of your frame. Balance without tension. 3. That doesn’t mean, despite what you were told at school, you need to “stand up straight” because your spine isn’t actually straight, it has three curves in it. And if you stand as though you have a rake up your back you will be holding yourself in unhelpful tension as other muscles and bones over-work to compensate.  Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

2023.03.20 – 0809 – Vocal Tension From Sitting and Standing  Physical tension can come from sitting down and standing upIt is very easy to stay still in a studio and only at the end of a programme realise that you have been in the same seat for three or four hours.  Sitting still has your body relaxed into a sedentary position, your breathing slows into shallow breaths as the lungs struggle to fully open. You begin to sound dull and lifeless because of a lack of oxygen to power your voice, and your muscles and brain. Get re-invigorated by walking around the studio whenever you have a chance. It will get some air into your lungs and help you sound more alert the next time you open the mic.Standing for a long time may also cause problems: locked knees, a tight lower back, head jutted towards the mic. But in general standing is preferable. Standing up gives you better control of your breathing, helps you stay alert and means you can move around much more freely as you gesture. Radio stations which have presenters who ‘stand to deliver’, have studio desks which are raised slightly so they don’t have to slouch to operate the faders and some have microphone head-sets so their presenters can walk around the studio as they talk. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

2023.03.19 – 0808 – The Causes of Vocal Tension What Causes Tension Nerves. Overwhelm. Anxiety. Excitement. The unknown. Panic. Being underprepared. Being worried about how you sound. Concerns about your message and the audience’s reception to it.Any physical niggle can affect your voice. That’s anything from a paper cut to menstrual cramps, discomfort anywhere will cause ‘compensatory muscular tension’ and so mental distraction. Even if just a small part of your brain is dealing with the pain, possibly even if you are trying to block it out, it will affect your voice performance. The solution is obvious: deal with the source of the pain. Physical tension can be a direct cause of you sounding different: text neck, baby carrying, shopping, pushing and driving can all cause muscular strains or stasis that will affect your breath – the very foundation of how you sound. Tension pain may be treated with medication, which itself can cause a change in your voice: overly relaxing you, causing drowsiness or a lack of mucus. And a lack of mucus in your throat and mouth can lead to hoarseness and possible polypsTension can cause tiredness, both fatigue in your vocal instrumentation, but also in the rest of your ‘self’. Tiredness will affect your voicePain can cause you to be irritable or depressed, itself leading to stress and the possible use of medication… and so the spiral continues. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

2023.03.18 – 0807 – Tension and Relaxation We looked at releasing tension in the mouth, jaw, tongue and lips in the previous chapter, but as the Voice Box above shows, physical tension that can affect your voice can be in many other places. “Tension murders vibration (and) vibrations thrive in relaxation”Kristin Linklater, “Freeing the Natural Voice: Imagery and Art in the Practice of Language” And it’s important to remember that physical tension can come from mental tension: nerves or excitement about a presentation can manifest themselves in your muscles and so affect your performance. You see how everything is interconnected? (We look at mental stress and ‘mic fright’ in the next chapter.)  Muscles in a state of undue tension can make your voice sound a little thin, strained, irritated or bored and put it up an octave. Your reading can also speed up and your mouth can dry up leading to articulation problems.  Releasing tension opens the diaphragm, which gives deeper breathing which in turn helps the voice sound more open and confident. And in a ‘self-fulfilling spiral’, when you know you sound good, you relax, you slow down, your heart rate decreases and the natural fluids returns to your mouth. And during times of dramatic or significant news, it is important for radio and TV presenters to manage their personal tension. Feeling anxious, angry, sad or depressed can make it difficult to sound comforting or calm. But that is exactly what radio presenters need to sound if they are to communicate their message effectively. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

2023.03.17 – 0806 – Stretching and Strengthening Your Laryngeal Muscle There are around 27 muscles in and around the larynx, 15 of these are outside the larynx and hold it in position in the neck, 12 are essential, with a direct action on the vocal folds in their lengthening and shortening, tension and relaxation, thinning and thickening.  These laryngeal muscles are intimately connected to the muscles of the neck, shoulders and upper chest and back. The tension of all these muscles is influenced by how we are feeling both physically and emotionally and they affect the function and sometimes the structure of the vocal folds.  We need enough tension for a strong healthy voice, but not so much that the voice becomes strained and constricted. [1]So, the muscles around the larynx are intricate and need delicate movement to work, and you need to avoid the other muscles around it, like in the neck (and they’re huge – if you’ve ever been in a car accident and had whiplash, you’ll know how debilitating that is) getting tense.And that’s why exercises are so important in getting a better voice: moving and stretching to both relax and strengthen muscles. [1] https://www.wsh.nhs.uk/CMS-Documents/Patient-leaflets/SpeechandLanguageTherapyServices/6534-1-Practical-voice-care.pdf  Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

2023.03.16 – 0805 – Your Physical Health In the previous chapter we looked at your vocal zones and how looking after them affects the way you sound. Earlier in the course we discussed the ‘art of breathing’ and how sitting and standing ‘properly’, affects how you sound. Now, we’ll take a look at the wider body and its effect on your voice, including the physical tensions you need – and the ones you don’t! Each of our voices sound different partly because of how we produce our own sound: our physique, the tension settings of the muscles, the pressure we put on the vocal folds and so on. All this has a huge effect on the sound, the stamina and the general health of our voices. For example, if we speak with too much throat constriction, a tightly pulled-back tongue, a clenched jaw or thick, stiff vocal folds, it is likely that these patterns will have an effect on the way our throat feels and how our voice works and on the health of our vocal folds themselves. And what’s the point getting a better voice, if you can’t guarantee it’ll be there when you want it? Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

2023.03.15 – 0804 – The Cool-Down Low-Down % The cool down low-downThere is a need to ease yourself back to normality after extensive vocalising, resetting to ‘neutral’ rather than just stopping suddenly. You have used your voice lots, perhaps been a bit stressed and had adrenaline, you might have projected a bit more, put on a character voice (perhaps been speaking to other delegates in a crowded conference hall, teaching and preaching), maybe your bright and happy or stern tone has been ‘false’. ·        Destress by having a stretch·        Get back to the norm by having a yawn·        Return to the day-to-day having a shake, shimmy and sway·        Be more like the natural you … by gliding down on the notes of ‘zoooo’ Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

2023.03.14 – 0803 – Green Kings Singing  Green Kings Singing·        Slowly and carefully say the phrase “green kings sing-ging” . Note how I’ve written the last word, split in two, that’s because I want you to say it that way, “sing” and then “ging” stressing the ‘ng’ and hard ‘g’ sounds, so you can be conscious of where the sounds are being made.  Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

2023.03.13 – 0802 – The ‘siNG soNG’ Vocal Warm Up Nasal It’s important to be comfortable in diverting sounded air from your nasal cavity to the mouth and vice-versa. The Nasal Siren·        Say the word “song” and take that ‘ng’ sound that is sent through your nasal cavity and keep it going. Then carefully glide up the register (sometimes called ‘tonal sweeping’), and down to your original starting point, and then down. Repeat this swooping glide several times. Keep it light and fun and don’t force your voice.·        Listen for any cracks or slight breaks in the tone, which will show you the note you need to work on·        Put a couple of fingers on your larynx to feel the vibrations as you siren.·        Now repeat it with a long ‘v’ sound…·        And then with a long ‘zsh’ Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

2023.03.12 – 0801 – The ‘This & That’ Vocal Warm Up This & ThatSay the word “this” and “that” and you’ll notice that to make the “th” you put the tip of your tongue between your teeth.·        Say ‘th’ again and make it a long, buzzing sound ‘ththththththth’, feel your larynx vibrate by resting a couple of fingers on it·        Stick your tongue out a bit further, again while vibrating a ‘ththththththth’ Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.