Article by Wenancjusz Ochmann, ARTeria Foundation – Photo: Georg Milton by Pexels
Are the skills of good voice emission reserved only for singers and actors?
Is it only radio and TV journalists who need to have good diction?
Do I need voice training in my normal life?
Let’s start with breathing. Has it happened to you in your life that during a stressful situation, when you were supposed to say something and it was still public, you ran out of breath? I can bet that this has happened to each of us… How to remedy this? Can we learn to breathe properly?
Good breathing during singing and public speaking is called vocal support. It is the ability to work with the voice properly so that there is always enough breath to sing a long, difficult vocal phrase or to have a sharp discussion in a TV studio. This does not mean that we always have to fill our lungs and take a deep breath. It is more the ability to fully control and quickly take little breaths appropriate to the situation on stage and in the studio. And here it is very important to train the muscles of the diaphragm, which by rising and falling can support breathing. It is breathing from the diaphragm, deep in our body, that is the basis of good singing or speaking. It is from the diaphragm, colloquially from the belly, that energy comes. Let’s practice breathing from the diaphragm. It has a positive effect on the functioning of the entire body and is also used during relaxation exercises.
Good diction – if we do not have any defects or infirmities of the speech apparatus then correct diction is just a matter of our attentiveness in speaking. We can develop the habit of speaking accurately and correctly. Let’s pay attention to how we speak. Do we tend to speak quickly and sloppily? Is what we say – from the standpoint of speech technique – clear and intelligible to the listener? And singing is nothing more than – an extension of speech….
However, if we feel we have problems with diction then we should not be ashamed to go to a speech therapist or phonetician even in adulthood. And sometimes it is enough to simply go to the dentist…. Certainly the specialists will be able to help us….
Correct voice emission – is a very broad concept. Some people already have, as it were, innate good voice emission. This is their personal predisposition to the speaking and singing professions. But most of us can exercise good voice emission to a greater or lesser extent. From my professional experience as a voice coach, I know that there are no one-size-fits-all breathing exercises for everyone. Individual diagnosis of our voice is very important. Do we have any blockages of psychological or physiological nature? With physiological defects of the speech apparatus related to its structure or incorrect development, I invite other specialists – ENT doctors and phonetics specialists. With psychological issues and inability to use the voice well – we can work on this with good results. We just need to diagnose what is not working….
Let’s take care of good breathing and speaking techniques. This will help us a lot in many professional and life situations. If we feel confident in this area, it will be much easier to take part in a job interview or give a project presentation to a large audience.
In our digital times, the ability to work with different types of microphones is also an important issue. But this is a topic for another article…
