How to Develop a Better Speaking Voice

The most frequent fault in the using of the voice is throat-contraction. It is at the root of nearly all speech troubles (as distinct from speech errors) of which the most general are inadequate breath, hard tone, thin quality, sore throat and loss of voice. Inadequate breath—because the air has to squeeze its way through; hard tone—because the voi

The Sub-conscious Mind is the Habit Mind.

If you find your chest rising instead of your sides expanding, you have not exhaled completely. To remedy this, place the fists against the lower ribs, just below the breasts, and press hard as you breathe out. When no more breath will come, release the pressure but retain the fist position so that you can feel the ribs swing out again. Repeat this

This air is stored in our lungs in three layers, and their names indicate their nature. At the top is the Tidal air, which comes and goes rhythmically like the tides of the sea, and which is used for the light breathing of sleep and inactivity. Below this is the Reserve air—the main reservoir which, when renewed by a deep breath, is replaced by wha

We need a Voice that is vital and colourful—calling for the buoyancy of full breath support.

But whenever we breathe in order to speak, the breath instinctively enters the mouth, for three perfectly common sense reasons: the hole is bigger, the journey to the lungs is shorter, and the lips are already apart in anticipation of our next word. Also, nose-breathing tends to lower the soft palate—that is, the back of the roof of the mouth—partl

Exhale and expand as before, and this time let out the breath on a steady HISS. Avoid tightening the lips or jaw, or the throat may tighten in sympathy, and a restricted throat means restricted tone. Try to keep the Hiss uniform in strength —for about fifteen mental counts. (The breath should last longer, now that the mouth-exit is smaller.)

BREATH is the power that makes Speech possible.

there are countless normal people who go through life deaf to the sounds they are making, and without the slightest interest in how they make them—let alone how they affect other people. As Cato said, nearly 2,000 years ago “Speech is the gift of all, but the thought of few.”

The Conscious Mind is the Creative Mind, and while we talk it is kept working at full pressure forming our thoughts, choosing our words, arranging our sentences. Therefore our Voice machine must be left to the mercy of the subconscious: to it is relegated the way we breathe, the way we resonate and the whole process of delivery.