How to Develop a Better Speaking Voice

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

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

most of us live in a constant state of tension; always hurrying—because everyone else is hurrying —our minds tense, and our bodies tense even in apparent repose; and the voice being the chief means by which we tense individuals express ourselves, it is no wonder that the throat —the voice's channel way, and one of the most sensitive areas of the bo

The Sub-conscious Mind is the Habit Mind.

the amount of breath we let in and out, and the manner in which we allow it to enter and exit, exactly determine the amount of voice that results and the quality of its sound, for Breath is Voice.

When people are nervous they tend to use the extreme ends of their natural pitch: thus men tuck their chins into their collars and growl into their boots, and women tilt their chins and talk out of the top of their heads. And in normal, un-anxious conversation there are many lazy voices that cling to the particular pitch that comes easiest, instead

BREATH is the power that makes Speech possible.

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.

—as if you were breathing on your hands to warm them, or making steam on a window-pane—producing a whispered “HAH . . .” Don't hold back the breath, or there will be no strength in it, and feeble breath means feeble tone.