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HOW TO PERFECT YOUR SPOKEN
ENGLISH
By
Valentine Palmer
A WORKBOOK IN SIX PARTS
TO USE WITH YOUR VIDEO COURSE
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PART ONE
How we learn to speak
When you are very young, just a baby really, there are two things you
desperately want to achieve. One is to learn to walk just like the big people all
around you and the other thing is to TALK! You realise, even at that very
young age that, if you can talk just like those big people around you then you’ll
be able to get what you want.
So how do you learn to talk at that age? You COPY those around you –
mother, father, brothers, sisters, grand parents and carers. As you copy them
all you do is assimilate their language, not just the words but the vocal tunes
and tones and rhythms of their language. Then, when you want to learn a
completely different language later in your life, it’s very difficult to lose those
tunes and tones and rhythms imprinted on your earliest vocal memory as a
small child.
The spoken English course that you’ve embarked on with the help of my
videos is designed to enable you to adapt to the way in which native English
speakers pronounce words and where the accent on these words is placed.
But also, importantly, how the English shape and produce the key sounds in
words that make up their true ‘Englishness’.
Let’s take a simple word that probably gets used quite a lot in your daily life:
CAR. Now the key sound in this word is AH; a wide open sound with flat
tongue and the mouth at its widest. It’s one of the most basic of all sounds
and one that babies learn to form almost before any other. So, let’s put it into
a simple sentence, one with a question:
How far is the car? Far also has a simple AH sound in the middle. So, if we
stress the two AH sounds in the sentence we get How FAH is the CAH?
Thus we see that in this sentence, like many others in English, the positioning
of key sounds in words produces an accent on that part of the word and thus
gives us an English accent.
Where is your voice?
Different people throughout the world place their voice in different places.
Many countries contain a wealth of different accents because different
languages are spoken in different parts of the country. This is certainly true in
countries like Nigeria.
I spent many years as an actor in television playing a number parts where the
role required me to be a character from another country. Yes, I played
Russians, Germans, Dutchmen and Frenchmen. It’s all just part of an actor’s
job – learning to assimilate the tunes and tones and rhythms of people from
different countries. I was also quite a successful voice artist for many years
and once again I was expected to be able to adopt the accent of people from
a variety of different countries. I did this by asking myself the question –
where is this person’s voice? The Asian and Indian voice lies high up in the
face – in the cheek bones. The Russian voice, by contrast lies very much in
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the chest. These placings of the voice may be cultural or climatic, I don’t really
know. I only know that the English voice lies more forward in the face than
some others.
What powers your voice?
The power for your voice comes from air. Many people breathe in a shallow
fashion, using only the upper part of their lungs, but this can never support a
voice in the way that’s needed for projection, power, confidence and control.
Yoga teachers and others may encourage you to breathe through your nose.
There’s nothing wrong in breathing through your nose, it is just that, for real
voice projection and control, you’re going to need all the air you can get. So,
for the purpose of practicing breath-control – breathe through your mouth.
Those who breathe in a ‘shallow’ fashion will usually find that their voice is
weaker than it need be, as they are unable to control it properly. You don’t
have to be built like some of the more heavyweight opera stars to have proper
control over your voice, but developing the muscles of your solar plexus will
certainly help. The true English voice requires more power and range than
many others. So let’s get on with the first exercise.
EXERCISE ONE
For the purpose of all your voice exercises, stand in the following prepared
fashion. Feet about a foot apart, knees slightly bent, as if you’re going skiing
or waiting to receive a serve on the tennis court. Look and feel as if you mean
business. Open your mouth wide, relax and take a slow deep breath in. Don’t
raise your shoulders, as this is a sign of shallow breathing.
Think downwards, so that your lungs get completely filled. That’s to say,
filled right down to the diaphragm, the floor of the lungs. The diaphragm is
what you’re going to control to push the air out. Keep two hands on the
diaphragm, just below the bottom of the rib cage. Take in a slow, deep breath
and feel the cold air hitting the back of your throat. Feel your whole trunk
swelling up like a balloon with the diaphragm swelling outwards. You’ll also
notice your rib cage lifting, as it expands outwards and upwards. Try it a few
times and then take a rest. Sit down if you want to. Occasionally, some
people feel a little dizzy after doing this exercise.
You are going to re-train your voice. You are no longer going to speak
English with overtones of the way you learned to speak originally by
copying others when you were young.
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PART TWO
The English voice is assertive
The English voice at its best is assertive but not aggressive. It has a certain
refined quality to it. The object of this course is for you to acquire an English
voice that is powerful, pleasant and above all a voice that sounds truly
English.
English is spoken by up to one billion people across the world, although only
about 400 million of them speak it as a first language. In fact a great number
of these people speak their own particular version of English.
To have perfect control of your English voice you are going to need to master
that vital ingredient that fuels it – air!
High pitched voices grate on our ears. Small voices can annoy us or
encourage us to underrate the speaker. People who mumble by not
articulating when they speak can become difficult to understand, especially on
the phone.
So what are the qualities you’re going to need to acquire to have a really
confident English voice? I would say Power, Control, Tune, Tone and
Rhythm.
Vocal power is not SHOUTING! Singing and speaking with true purpose is
what we’re talking about here. You don’t want to be letting out some sad little
sound that no one’s going to take any notice of. Surely you want to be a
success in your life and your business, so let’s get properly prepared.
Now don’t tell me you can’t sing. Singing is absolutely great for the speaking
voice. We’re miraculous creatures really because we can speak and sing. We
can do it at will, as if there was some invisible key in the top of our head that
we could just instantly turn to go from speaking to singing. But before we start
singing, let’s consider humming.
Humming
Humming is just singing with your lips closed. You can just try humming on
one note - not even a tune.
SO COME ON - START HUMMING!
EXCERISE TWO
Stand in the prepared position that you held in EXERCISE ONE. Now take a
slow deep breath in with your hands on your ribcage so you feel it widen and
rise, as the air fills your lungs. Now gently begin to hum. Don’t try to make a
big sound. Keep the lips only very lightly closed so that they tingle. Are they
tingling? Does it tickle? That’s good if it does. Now, hum and then open the
mouth up wide into a big open AH sound. That’s AH as in CAR.
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This exercise helps you to project the voice because the sound trapped inside
your mouth while you’re humming is suddenly free to shoot out across the
room.
Can you feel a slight tingling sensation around your mouth? If you can, that’s
excellent. It shows that your humming is bringing your voice forward in your
face. Sustain it and then open the mouth, forming an AH sound like:
“MmmmmMAH!”
Feel the AH sound building up behind the closed lips of the hum so that,
when you do let it out, it flies right across the room, for all the world like a
butterfly that has been trapped in your mouth and has suddenly been
released! Sounds crazy but this image will really help you to project the sound
across the room!
So now you’re singing! How about that? Let’s try the same thing with some
other sounds. These are key sounds that you’ll be using throughout your
course to gain greater control of the placing of your voice and also greatly
improving your articulation.
Hum into an AY sound. That’s AY as in PAY and DAY and SAY.
Close the lips – hum – now open up into that AY sound. How was that?
Now do the same thing with the sound EE as in SEE and ME and TREE.
Now with an OH sound as in GO and SHOW and KNOW
Lastly with an OO sound as in SHOE and BALLOON
So already your voice should be moving to a more forward placing in your
face and you’ve come to terms with what I call the Five Primary Sounds.
These sounds often come in the middle of many important English words.
More about these sounds in the next two steps of your course.
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PART THREE
The Five primary Sounds
You’ve now hummed your way into the Five Primary Sounds which are:
AH
AY
EE
OH
OO
Let’s look at some right and wrong ways of using these. Many people whose
first language isn’t English get muddled between the long (Primary) sounds
and the short (Secondary) sounds in our language. For instance, I once had
a delightful lady from Nigeria as a client. Her problem was that she couldn’t
understand the difference between the long and short English sounds in
words. So she would say something like:
“I’m going to buy some new shows because I’m going to a shoe tonight.”
To an English ear this sounds ridiculous and makes no sense at all. Yet it’s
just because this lady was muddling when to use a long sound and when to
use a short sound.
What she meant was:
“I’m going to buy some new shoes because I’m going to a show tonight.”
Another client used to say:
“I’m going to seat on that sit over there.”
Instead of saying:
“I’m going to sit on that seat over there.”
So, sounding truly English is often just to do with getting the long and short
sounds correct in key words.
Let’s take a simple sentence and analyse it to see what are the key sounds
that make up a simple phrase like this that I hear several times a day from
everyone I meet.
“Hello, Valentine.”
H+AH+L+OH V+AH+L+E+N+T+AH+EE+N
Let’s add “How are you?”
H+AH+W AH EE+OO?
Now let’s try some simple sentences with key primary sounds in them.
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How FAR is the CAR?
The key sound is AH in FAR and CAR.
I PAY on the DAY. The key sound is AY in PAY and DAY.
I SEE a big TREE. The key sound is EE in SEE and TREE.
I don’t KNOW how they GROW. Key sound is OH in KNOW and GROW.
My BALLOON burst TOO SOON. Key sound is OO in BALLOON and TOO
and SOON.
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PART FOUR
Whole body breathing
Whole Body Breathing! Wow! That sounds exciting, doesn’t it? Well, it
certainly is, and what’s more, it’s the secret of total voice control.
EXERCISE THREE
Open your mouth wide and breathe in slowly, making sure to fill the whole of
your lungs. Think you’ve got enough air in there? No you haven’t. Because
you’re going to imagine that you can fill not just your lungs but the whole of
your body as well. So, as you take this big breath in, imagine you’re filling the
WHOLE of your body, not just the lungs. Imagine that you can fill your trunk,
your arms right out to your finger tips and right down your legs and out to the
tips of your toes.
Now, how about UNDER WATER SWIMMING? It doesn’t matter if you don’t
swim, or have never swum under water. This is a great way to radically
improve your breath control.
EXERCISE FOUR
Stand as if you’re going to dive into the deep end of a swimming pool. Feet
together, arms stretched out in front of you. Draw your arms slowly back and
downwards as if you’re preparing to dive into the water. Now, as you do this,
take a deep breath in. Open the mouth wide and fill your lungs. Fill them
completely. Not just the top half of them, but the lower respiratory chamber as
well. Feel your entire ribcage expand. As you take the deep breath in, let your
knees bend.
Now, let your arms move forward, as if you are diving into the deep end of the
swimming pool. As we’re only pretending, it doesn’t matter if you can’t swim
or dive. Just imagine you’re under the water. Hold your breath for as long as
you can, while your hands make a breast- stroke movement, as if you’re
propelling yourself along the floor of the pool. When you feel that you can’t
keep the breath in a second longer, start to let it out in short bursts. However,
remember to control these short bursts of bubbles of outgoing air. Then, when
you’ve almost run out, imagine yourself shooting up to the surface again.
ARTICULATION
Articulation
“…to utter clearly defined sounds.” (Webster’s dictionary)
Let’s take your Five Primary Sounds and add a consonant in front of them.
To start with, let’s add an M, rather like we did with the humming exercise.
Thus you’ll get:
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EXERCISE FIVE
MAH
MAY
ME
MOH
MOO
Next add an N instead:
NAH
NAY
NEE
NOH
NOO
Then lastly add an L
LAH
LAY
LEE
LOH
LOO
For the basis of this exercise, you can write these sounds in columns like:
MAH
MAY
MEE
MOH
MOO
NAH
LAH
NAY
NEE
NOH
NOO
LAY
LEE
LOH
LOO
Just be sure to articulate these sounds clearly. Go for the PRIMARY SOUND,
the ‘core’ sound’.
The first few times you do this exercise, breathe after each sound.
As you practice these sounds be sure to go up at the end of each phrase of
them – don’t drop off the way so many people do at the end of a sentence.
One way to avoid dropping off at the end of a sentence is to take a good big
breath before you start to speak and then take small ‘topping up’ breaths as
you proceed through the phrase. Let’s look at what is probably the most
famous speech from probably the most famous play ever written:
“To be or not to be”
from Shakespeare’s Hamlet.
I’m going to show you where you snatch those small ‘topping up’ breaths to
get you through the speech without falling off at the end of each line. If you do
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this you’ll be able to actually go up at the end of each line and this will be
good practice for your breath control.
To be or not to be*
That is the question*
Whether tis nobler in the mind*
To suffer the slings and arrows*
Of outrageous fortune*
Or to take arms against a sea of troubles*
And by opposing* – end them*
The whole speech is actually one big question while this young prince of
Denmark tries to decide whether to kill himself or not. This is why I’ve put little
stars at the end of each line to remind you to make a rising inflection before
you snatch your next little breath.
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PART FIVE
Long and short sounds
When it comes to long and short sounds in English it can all get rather
muddled if you’re not careful. So here are some words that can’t really be
classed as Primary (long) or Secondary (short) and yet they are also
important.
OR as in FOUR and RAW and MORE
ER as in TERM and GERM and FIRM
OW as in COW and NOW and FROWN
Then there are Combination Sounds
I have written only the Primary Sounds in capitals for clarity.
AH + EE
i + OO
e+r
u + ss
EE + r
O + EE
Sch + e +ss
= EYE
= PURE
= AIR
= US
= EAR
= BOY
= PRECIOUS
Also, as I expect you know, some English words can look the same but are
pronounced differently. For example:
I had a ROW (as in COW) with my brother because he wanted to ROW (as in
GO) the boat.
Long may the Queen REIGN, as she REINS in her horse
The Queen REINED in her horse because it was RAINING.
Then we have words that don’t get pronounced the way they look. For
instance:
I WALK to WORK sounds like I WORK to WERK!
Where is your voice?
Many people speak in their native language all in the head (cheek bones),
others all in the throat and some all in the chest. You are going to learn to
move your voice around from head to face to chest. Start to practice this now,
in order to help you acquire the English tone and tune and rhythm that come
from having a long vocal range. This gives you power but also variation and
flexibility.
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PART SIX
Revision
This is one of the most important parts of your course – revision. Go through
everything that you have learned in this course and make sure that you really
HAVE learned it. You can view the videos as often as you wish, so please do
so.
Check out the following vital elements in your course:
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Breathe in through the mouth
•
Push words out in a relaxed manner on a cushion of air
•
Remember to use Whole Body Breathing
•
Do NOT drop off at the end of sentences!
•
Do NOT give every word or syllable the same emphasis
•
Practice SINGING some English phrases and sentences
•
Do NOT confuse long and short sounds in words
•
Practice humming to get the voice forward in the face
•
ANALYZE the sounds contained in the words you hear every day
•
RE-TRAIN the muscles of your mouth and tongue.
Secondary Sounds
One way to look at Secondary Sounds is as shortened versions of the five
Primary Sounds. You could say that Primary Sounds stretch a word, while
Secondary Sounds serve to shorten it.
Here’s a table to give you some idea of how these two sets of sounds relate to
each other.
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PRIMARY SOUNDS
SECONDARY SOUNDS
AH as in CART
a as in CAT
AY as in GATE
e as in GET
EE as in SEAT
i as in SIT
OH as in COLD
u as in COULD
OO as in SHOOT
o as in SHOT
EXERCISE SIX
Make up some sentences for yourself that contain combinations of primary
and secondary sounds like the ones below:
The C-a-t s-a-t i-n the c-AH-rt
(The cat sat in the cart)
The C-a-t s-i-ts i-n the c-OH-ld
(The cat sits in the cold)
D-OH-n’t s-i-t i-n m-AH-EE c-AH-t EE- f EE-OO-ve sh-o-t
the c-a-t
(Don’t sit in my cart, if you’ve shot the cat)
Now analyse some existing sentences that contain both Primary and
Secondary sounds for yourself. For instance:
I saw that chap in the street
AH-EE s-o-AH th-a-t ch-a-p i-n the str-EE-t
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Step Five
So, where is your voice? If you listen carefully to the way people you meet
speak you’ll begin to notice that their voice is in a particular place. By that I
mean that some people’s voice is high and thin because it’s a
HEAD voice – that is to say, their voice is all in their head. Of course that’s
where their brain resides, so perhaps this person is very brainy. However, for
whatever the reason, they are only using the resonating cavities of the head,
when in fact the main resonating cavities for the human voice lie in the face
and the chest.
EXERCISE SEVEN
So start moving your voice around. Try speaking with your hands placed
edgewise above your eyebrows. That’s where your brainy friend keeps their
voice – high and thin and not very attractive. Now move your hands edgewise
down to level with your mouth. Now when you speak from this position, you’re
using your FACE voice. This is the voice that most people use. However, if
they don’t open their mouth and articulate properly, their voice is going to
retreat back up into their head. Just watch and listen and you’ll see this
happening in so many cases.
People often come to me and say: “I’ve got such a tiny voice – what can I do
about it?”
“Well open your mouth for a start.” Is the first thing I usually say.
But the voice that most people ignore is the CHEST voice. So now take a
good big, deep, wide breath, place your hands flat in the middle of your chest
and imagine that your mouth is right there. Yes, in the middle of your chest.
Now speak from your chest, using all the resonance from that great cavity.
Did you feel the difference? Did you hear the difference?
Just play with your voice. Have fun moving it up and down and see the range
and tune and tonal changes you can discover.
VOCAL KUNG FU
No matter what business you’re in, you may sometimes feel that you should
be further up the corporate ladder or, if you’re free-lance, that more people
should be buying your product or service. You may feel that you’ve been
passed over for promotion or failed in an interview for a job that you felt you
were eminently suited for. Developing a more powerful and assertive voice
can be the answer. Here’s an innovative and entertaining way. It’s, called
Vocal Kung Fu.
Actually, it’s got almost nothing to do with martial arts - except the attitude. It’s
really about vocally “kicking some ass!”
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Vocal Kung Fu is a series of exercises to help you develop a more powerful
and assertive voice and so build self-confidence in your business and social
life.
First then, let’s talk about the vocal bit.
A woman’s voice
A woman’s voice is often higher pitched and thinner in quality than many a
man’s but this isn’t always due to lung size. Do you remember how, earlier in
this course, you were encouraged to take a closer look at people when they’re
talking to each other? Have you been doing this and have you noticed how
many of them are hardly opening their mouths when they speak? What’s
more, they don’t actually seem to be breathing either. So, it’s back to our first
principle Building a bigger voice simply involves opening the mouth and getting more
air into the lungs.
If you’ve ever seen a great opera singer on TV or live in the concert hall or
opera house, you won’t see them breathing through the nose when they’re
belting out an aria with a voice that nearly blows the audience out of their
seats. That singer would never get enough air in through those two tiny
nostrils to fuel that enormous sound! So, please remember:
When you’re doing any kind of vocal exercise, imagine that you’re on
the sports field or the tennis court or any place where you’re preparing
to take part in a powerful, physical sport.
Open your mouth and breathe in deeply, in order to begin developing an
important and often neglected part of yourself – your assertive self!
Remember that the ‘seat of most power’ in any human being resides in
the area of the solar plexus.
EXERCISE EIGHT
Stand in a position of power and preparedness.
• Legs about 12 inches apart. Knees slightly bent – don’t lock them.
• Hands relaxed by your side. Be sure that your shoulders are also
relaxed. Many people tense their shoulders when they’re going into
any kind of exercise.
• Take a deep breath in and let it fill every part of your body. Yes, every
part!
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Remember Whole Body Breathing? Of course you do.
When most people take in a breath, they just fill the upper part of their lungs.
This means that, when they want to make a loud, sustained sound, there’s
not enough air to support it. One of two things then happens. Either they let
out a weak kind of sound that wouldn’t frighten a mouse, or they force a
sound, unsupported by enough air, which puts a great strain on their vocal
chords. This kind of thing can cause a sore throat, loss of voice or even
nodes on the vocal chords and you wouldn’t even want to know what those
are! However, you’re going to fill your whole body with air.
Now you’re ready to start your first lesson in Vocal Kung Fu.
Draw in a slow, deep breath through a wide-open mouth. Stay really relaxed
as you do this. Now imagine that you’re going to fill your entire body with this
air. That means you can take in even more air than you thought you could,
because there’s all that room in your arms and legs and every other part of
your body (like hands, feet etc). So, take in a bit more breath – the bit you
thought you didn’t have room for.
Hold it! Don’t let it out yet! Wait a few seconds. Try to stay relaxed even
though you may feel that you’ve taken in so much air you’re going to pop, just
like an over-filled balloon.
Now, begin to let all that air out in a slow, controlled sigh. Allow all the
frustration you’ve ever felt to come out in that sigh. Try and sustain the sigh.
Make it last as long as you possibly can. A voice only has power and carrying
ability if it‘s supported on a cushion of air. That deep, whole body breath
you’ve just taken should have filled your lungs completely. The way singers
and actors control the output of air, and thus the sustaining and carrying
power of their voice, is by using those abdominal muscles we’ve already
talked about earlier.
Remember the Primary Sounds? Of course you do.
Now’s the time to start using them in a new way.
Give each of these sounds the benefit of your Whole body Breathing.
Take a slow Whole Body Breath in and sigh out on
AHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHH
Then AYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYY
Then EEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEE
Then OHOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO
Then OOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO
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Remember – sigh out. Sustain each sound as long as you can. Allow all your
anger, frustration, whatever negative emotions you’ve got stored up inside
you to come out in that sigh!
After preparing by powerfully sighing out any frustrations and negative
emotions, you can move onto the next part – the more exciting Kung Fu
action.
To do this, place your left hand firmly on your solar plexus, palm inwards, just
below the bottom of the rib cage. Then slightly bend your knees. Once you’ve
got comfortable and balanced in this position, punch forward in slow motion
with your right fist, until your right arm is fully extended.
At the same time, bring your right foot forward, so that it’s now ahead of your
left. After you’ve tried this in slow motion a few times, put some real energy
into the movement and, at the same time vocalise. Instead of the sigh we
were practicing before, make as loud a sound as you possibly can - a wideopen sound like “Ahhh!” To make this really effective, the trick is to push the
solar plexus in with the left hand, as you punch forward with the right fist. This
kind of movement creates great vocal power and control.
Remember
Vocal Kung Fu is not a martial art. It’s just a way of using some of the basic
principles to help you in developing Whole Body Breathing and a way of
powerfully expressing yourself with your voice. In stressful situations,
breathing becomes rapid and shallow, using only the top third of the lungs. To
counteract this, consciously breathe slowly and deeply. By deliberately
slowing down your breathing and going against your natural inclination, your
self-control and other responses will follow.
EXERCISE NINE
Once you’ve mastered the basic movements of Vocal Kung Fu,
you can start adding positive phrases, like: “I am powerful!” “I am free!”
“I am me!” “I am loved!” “I am strong!” “I am great!” These give you an
intense feeling of empowerment .
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STEP SIX
Use the videos in this course. Don’t just go through them once and think
you’ve got it. Go through them over and over again and watch how your voice
develops into something bigger, more controlled and more truly confident. I’m
always there to help you – right there on your screen. Just follow me and you
can’t go far wrong.
Let’s just take a look at the most important things you’ve learned in this
course.
1. Study the vital knowledge of how your voice works. If you know how the air
you take in can empower your voice, then you can easily learn how to control
your voice. Remember – breathe though the mouth, a wide open mouth. Fill
your lungs completely and tell yourself that you’re filling your whole body with
air!
2. Most people’s voices are boring! Yours doesn’t have to be. Use what
you’ve learned about breath control and what you’ve learned about using the
head, face and chest resonating cavities.
3. Your voice is like a musical instrument. Play it like that. Be musical.
4.The most important sounds in an English word are often the Primary
Sounds. You have a table of them in this work book, together with the shorter
Secondary Sounds. You can also do the exercises together with me in the
relevant video.
From the study of the primary sounds we moved on to humming to get the
voice forward in the face. Then we used the Primary Sounds as the basis of
an articulation exercise by adding M, N and L in front of:
AH, AY, EE, OH and OO.
Simple stuff really.
5.Then, in the last step we just did, we put Whole Body breathing and the
articulation exercise together with Kung Fu to deliver the hugely empowering
Vocal Kung Fu.
6. Please work hard at the tips and techniques I’ve shared with you in my six
videos and in this accompanying work book. Remember, when you enrol as a
member of the Academy of Communication you can remain in constant
contact with me to get your questions answered.
I look forward to speaking with you again very soon.