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Vocal
fry
There is one last register we need to consider. Vocal fry is a lazy, croaky
sound from the throat, made by relaxing the vocal cords and letting air
pop through them. It is particularly prevalent among young American
females, and research suggests that it is increasing in popularity, possibly
due to popular TV programmes that feature it. I advise against using it for
2 reasons. First, studies indicate that it is negatively received, being
associated with being less trustworthy, less competent, less attractive and
less educated – so not helpful in a job interview, for example. Second, it is
a sad waste of the wonderful instrument we have all been given. Our
voices have enormous compass, and it seems tragic to choose not to
deploy the richness, tonality and harmonics that are available to us all.
Please try not to use this register if you want to be heard.
Exercise: Moving
voice
If you have any trouble with these exercises, there may be some physiological or other
reason affecting your voice, in which case please seek professional advice, either from
your doctor or from a qualified voice coach.
In all these cases, it will pay to record yourself doing the exercise and listen back
afterwards.
If your home base is in the falsetto register, take a deep breath and sing a comfortable
note, then move it down like an elevator smoothly descending until your feel a break
in your voice. Below that is your modal register. Explore it. Sing some notes there,
each time taking a deep breath. Now read some text and listen to the difference in
your voice. This is where your power lies. Practice, and you can stay here.
If your natural home base is in the modal register (nasal, head, throat or chest voice),
then your task is to practice moving from one voice to another. It takes practice to do
this without sounding comical – in my workshops, people exploring chest voice for
the first time tend to sound very unnatural and they always end up laughing! Be
persistent in your practice and you will develop proficiency and consciousness.
The method is simple: start speaking, either repeating something meaningless like the
‘one-two’ used by live sound engineers, or reading some text. Now visualise your voice
coming from your nose, then your head, then your throat, and finally your chest. Feel
the resonance and vibration in each location, and listen to the difference as you move
your voice from one place to the next. In particular, when you move down to chest
voice, feel your whole chest resonating and experience the greater depth and lower
tone that result. This exercise will develop your ability to place your voice
appropriately for every occasion, and especially to deploy the chest voice when you
want to speak powerfully.
You can also play with delivering different emotions, from surprise to joy to sadness to
anger, and explore which voice (or even register) you naturally use. Then try different
content and intentions, for example humour, authority, inspiration or affection, and
again be conscious of where you naturally deliver these from. This practice will raise
your consciousness of your range of voices, helping you to be more aware of where
you speak from and modulate as required.
If your home base is the vocal fry register, you need to move to modal if you want to
be well received (unless you happen to be in a social circle where vocal fry is the norm
and it would be socially alienating to speak normally). Use the breathing exercises
earlier in this book, because vocal fry tends to result from using very little breath
when speaking. Take a deep breath before each sentence and focus on hearing your
full, rich voice, with no pops or croaks. Also concentrate on making the last word of
your sentences as strong as the first, because vocal fry tends to be strongest at that
point.
PACE
Pace, speech rate, is simply about how many words a minute you output.
Some people speak fewer than 100 words a minute, which feels very slow.
Auctioneers and racing commentators may reach up to breakneck speeds
of up to 400 words a minute. Although natural pace varies from language
to language, most conversation will be between 100 and 200 words per
minute; spoken English is mainly in the upper part of that range.
You will have a natural pace to your speaking, and it’s important to
become conscious of that par pace. If it’s too slow, your listener or
audience will struggle to stay engaged. If it’s too fast, you will risk losing
people as they can’t keep up. Many people who are not used to speaking
on a stage let nerves drive their pace up and the effect is gabble. Even the
shortest talk can be nicely paced: for proof, look at some of the shortest
TED talks.
This is one aspect of speaking where it’s important to be aware of the
listening you are speaking into. Many times, I have spoken on stages to
non-English speaking audiences. Either people will be listening and
translating in their heads, or they have a headset on and hard-working
translators at the back of the hall are simultaneously translating my
words. Either way, it is ineffective, if not downright rude, to speak too
fast. I moderate my natural speed, making sure to enunciate clearly and
give everyone time to process and understand.
It’s also very powerful to vary your pace while you speak. A burst of fast
pace indicates excitement; one of slow pace, emphasis and significance.
Speech delivered at constant pace tend to lack light and shade, and can be
less engaging as a result.
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