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However, if you ask singers to name the most important part of vocal technique, 9 out of 10
will say “breathing.”
So, is there some special way to breathe that makes your voice better? Yes!
In this article, we explore breathing as it relates to vocal variety as a speaker. I’ll provide
you an easy to follow technique, as well as tips to improve your voice through better use of
air.
The results of applying these tips will be more Power, better Pacing, more interesting Pitch
and more effective Pauses in your speaking.
Contents
Overview of Breathing
So how does one breathe for better speaking and singing? Well, watch a baby breathe. You’ll
see that she seems to breath from her stomach, but she is really using her abdominal muscles.
It’s breathing 101 — so easy a baby can do it. Here’s how it’s done:
Breathing 101
Read the following instructions out loud carefully, and then try them. (An audio file of these
instructions can be heard by clicking here.)
“The key thing to remember is that breathing should be low and expansive.”
The key thing to remember is that breathing should be low and expansive. If you do the
exercise correctly, your stomach will go in while your chest stays out and expands. Practicing
this technique will provide many benefits, including:
Ideally, you want your content to align with your delivery method and both to align with the
sound of your voice. Vocal variety is all about the sound of the voice and, in this case, that
vocal image is created through several aspects of your sound, including pace, pitch, pause,
and power.
Pace
Pace is the speed of your delivery. In general, for vocal variety you are encouraged to vary
your pace by speeding up and slowing down appropriately for the message you are delivering.
However, some people have trouble with pacing due to poor breathing. If you speak too
quickly, or if your speaking is labored or too slow, consider the following:
“Vary your pace by speeding up and slowing down appropriately for the
message you are delivering.”
Speaking too fast is often the result of not stopping to breathe often enough.
Solution: To slow down your speaking with the breath, consciously take a breath
before you begin. Remember to stop and breathe between ideas. The next time you
practice a presentation, take time to inhale and exhale deeply five times before you
start to speak. Then take one more deep breath and exhale vigorously into your first
words.
Speaking too slowly can also be caused by not taking in and using enough air.
Solution: Not using enough air can cause a person to sound dull and lifeless. This may
also be caused by poor posture. Practice the breathing technique above, paying special
attention to posture. Be sure you move that air with the abdominal muscles as you
speak. Overdo the latter when you practice so you really feel the breath in the sound.
By breathing deeper and then using all the air in your sound, you create a more
energetic sound and you feel more energized, too.
Pitch
If your voice sounds squeezed or strained, or too low, you may not be using all the
air you take in.
Lisa Braithwaite comments rightly that speaking too low can do vocal damage.
Another lesson from Poe’s prose is that you can produce a sound without breath. He
writes:
I discovered that had I, at that interesting crisis, dropped my voice to a singularly deep
guttural, I might still have continued … this pitch of voice (the guttural) depending, I find, not
upon the current of the breath, but upon a certain spasmodic action of the muscles of the
throat.
If you don’t want to be limited to a guttural growl, air should flow freely in your voice. You
can improve a strained sound by practicing a breathy sound and then gradually adding more
and more vocal sound to it. I call this “energizing the voice.” It also has the effect of making
pitch variety much easier to achieve because the voice becomes free to move and create more
pitches. If you do this correctly, you will definitely feel the freedom in your voice!
Pause
When speaking, pauses are the golden silences that allow your listeners to take in what you
are saying. They are the “beats” an actor uses between phrases; they are that special
something that leads to “comedic timing.” Importantly, pauses also give us time to breathe.
Power
A common misconception about Power is that it is the same thing as volume. The truth is that
vocal power is so much more than how loud you are. Vocal power is all about the impact your
sound has on others. Your personal vocal power may be found in the tone of your sound or in
how you phrase a thought. Many people are surprised to learn that power can be heightened
or lessened by how they breathe and how they use their breath.
Sound moves on air, so you need to have air to get a powerful sound. You can
speak loudly, but if you aren’t incorporating that air into your sound, you will be
shouting. Your impact on others may be quite different than you intended! In addition,
keeping the air moving with the sound allows for wonderful control of your voice so
that you can use all of your vocal variety techniques more effectively.
Practice breathing while driving. Your hands are raised as you drive which makes it
easier to keep your chest high. And practicing breathing can also ease road rage
significantly!
Practice breathing while sitting at your desk when you would normally be slumped
over in your chair. Sit on the edge of your chair and take 10 practice breaths three
times a day.
Practice breathing when you are about to go to sleep or lying down on the floor at
the end of a workout session. When you are lying down, it is easier to isolate the
abdominal muscles and strengthen them for proper breathing. (You can even put a
book on your abdomen to exaggerate the way you use those muscles for even better
awareness of how to do this correctly. Watch the book go up and down as you breathe
“with your stomach.”)
The final and real test, of course, will come in how well you incorporate good breathing into
your presentations. On the day of your big presentation, remember to consciously practice
using the air you take in. Take time to inhale and exhale deeply five times before you start to
speak, then take one more deep breath and breathe into your first words. Don’t forget to slow
down and breathe from time to time during the course of a talk in front of an audience.
As they say, practice makes perfect. So practice and it won’t be long before you are able to
make your learned breathing as natural as the breathing you are using now, and the benefits
will be enormous.