A careless word may kindle strife, A cruel word may wreck a life; A bitter word may hate instill;

A brutal word may smite and kill. A gracious word may smooth the way; A joyous word may light the day. A timely word may lessen stress. A loving word may heal and bless. LOVE WORKS FOR THOSE WHO WORK AT IT.

One reminder: Take good care of your voice. The good qualities you are striving to develop and maintain will be negated by having hoarse voice. Here are some practical tips: 1. Avoid strain. When others speak too loudly, dont try to drown out their voices with your own. Get attention by some mechanical means, such as rapping the table, then speak with quiet emphasis.
2.
3.

If you must smoke, do so only moderately.

If you have a cold that has affected your chest, speak as little as possible. The strain may cause nodes (callouses), resulting in permanent hoarseness. 4. Dont clear the throat by force. Try panting to remove the phlegm. Keep your voice vital or animated. A vital voice has life. A vital voice will keep you vital.

YOUR VOCAL QUALITIES

I. Voice Improvement Ask yourself these questions: How do I sound to others? Is my voice working for or against me? Do I have these qualities of a good voice? Audible, pleasant (not too loud or too soft, not gutttural, raspy metallic, nasal. Harsh, shrill, but fluent, flexible and articulate)
Identifying your

weaknesses is your first step in improving your voice Improving your voive is accompanied by being conscious of it. Taping your voice is one best means to do so; reaction when you first heard yourself on tape? Surprised? Doesnt sound like me at all. What do your friends say?

Vocal Qualities (continued)

Reason for difference of
Remember, voice training

opinion is: the vibrations which make up your voice are transmitted to your inner ear through the bony structure of your skull as well as through the air. But when you hear your voice on tape, you do hear your voice approximately as other people hear it. The purpose of voice improvement training is to put you and your voice on better speaking terms.

requires ear training. You will have to become really interested in speech sounds for the first time, perhaps.(You will begin comparing your speech with those of others, and will learn to judge voices as good, mediocre and poor and appreciate what makes them so. The first lesson you will have to learn is HOW TO LISTEN to your own sound and others in order to bring your own up to the level of its highest possibilities.

A. Expel air from your lungs in short/sharp gasps;

put your palm on your abdomen to make sure theres a sharp inward contraction of the muscle wall, at the same time with chest contraction on each outgoing puff. Vocalize hey with a great deal of force 5 10x; vocalize with rah with staccato accent and considerable vigor.
B. Fill your lungs with air, exhale as slowly as possible until lungs are empty. (time yourself by counting to see how LONG you can keep exhaling without a break or inhaling soon enough again. (no stealing of breath)

Breathing Exercise (Continued)

Note: the object here is NOT to see how much air you

can get into your lungs but how slowly you can let it out. Fill your lungs, vocalize the outgoing breath stream first with a long continuous hum (avoid breathy sound) keep the tone clear. C. Articulate easily and carefully the words of the following quotation in one breath stream producing low, mellow tone: Her voice was ever soft, gentle, and low, an excellent thing in woman.

D. Take a deep breath then release with ffff sound as softly and

gently as you can. Continue the release as long as you can without difficulty. E. Take a deep breath without straining, keep well relaxed. Count 1 20 or longer if you can. 40? F. To induce relaxation of the throat: - with eyes closed, relaxed neck, jaw and muscle, raise head to an upright position and YAWN with mouth open as wide as possible. - still with mouth wide open, inhale deeply, then exhale quietly 2 or 3x and intone a-a-ah quietly and slowly _ repeat the same 3x more each time nodding your head forward quietly and without tension. - tongue - in - cheek exercise

-Say the following words putting your fingertips on nose and cheekbone to see if you can feel vibration there. Give them a ringing quality. Avoid breathiness.
-fine -soon -Moan

loan tone home lean doing plain alone mine nine

one rain ring