***Why You Cannot Find Your 'Real' Voice With a Book or CD

By Nancy Daniels, The Official Guide to Public Speaking
The official guide to Public Speaking

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Do you think Michael Jordon became a great basketball player by reading a book on the subject? How about Lionel Messi? Do you think he became one of the world’s greatest soccer players by listening to a pile of CDs?

In both cases, these athletes might have become more motivated or more inspired, but neither one learned the techniques of the game by listening to audio or reading a book. The same holds true for great actors, musicians and singers.

If you are interested in discovering your ‘real’ or true voice, you need to not only hear what is happening but you must see it as well. There is no doubt that you have a better voice inside of you. In order to find it, however, you must see how to do it and as well as how not to do it.

You body has 5 resonators responsible for voiced sound. Presently you are using 4 of those resonators which would include your voice box, throat, mouth and nasal cavities. The one that is missing is the chest cavity.

The problem that results from not capitalizing on your chest cavity, obviously the largest of your resonators, is that you are pushing your other resonators to speak. And, in order to increase your volume, you are pushing much too hard. This is why so many people yell or shout when they are trying to be heard in a loud environment. If you do enough yelling or even just talking for great lengths of time, you could end up with vocal abuse.

The beauty of using your chest cavity as your primary amplifier is that it requires no pushing. Just the act of speaking is so much easier. When you want to increase your volume, you pull in your pelvic muscles and allow your chest to do the work. What this means is that you will be reducing the wear and tear on your vocal folds and throat. It is truly amazing to feel the difference between your ‘throat’ voice and your ‘chest’ voice.

It is also truly amazing to hear the difference between those two sounds. Your ‘throat’ voice is probably higher in pitch and may be nasal, whiny, childlike or too soft, to name just a few characteristics. Your ‘real’ voice, on the other hand, is richer, warmer, more mature-sounding, and probably deeper in pitch.

Forget the books and CDs if you want to discover your true voice. Find a good video program or personal coach so that you will can see, hear, and feel the difference in your voice.