Unfiltered Thoughts

2023.03.16 – 0805 – Your Physical Health
In the previous chapter we looked at your vocal zones and how looking after them affects the way you sound. Earlier in the course we discussed the ‘art of breathing’ and how sitting and standing ‘properly’, affects how you sound. Now, we’ll take a look at the wider body and its effect on your voice, including the physical tensions you need – and the ones you don’t!
Each of our voices sound different partly because of how we produce our own sound: our physique, the tension settings of the muscles, the pressure we put on the vocal folds and so on. All this has a huge effect on the sound, the stamina and the general health of our voices. For example, if we speak with too much throat constriction, a tightly pulled-back tongue, a clenched jaw or thick, stiff vocal folds, it is likely that these patterns will have an effect on the way our throat feels and how our voice works and on the health of our vocal folds themselves.
And what’s the point getting a better voice, if you can’t guarantee it’ll be there when you want it? Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

2023.03.15 – 0804 – The Cool-Down Low-Down % The cool down low-downThere is a need to ease yourself back to normality after extensive vocalising, resetting to ‘neutral’ rather than just stopping suddenly. You have used your voice lots, perhaps been a bit stressed and had adrenaline, you might have projected a bit more, put on a character voice (perhaps been speaking to other delegates in a crowded conference hall, teaching and preaching), maybe your bright and happy or stern tone has been ‘false’. ·        Destress by having a stretch·        Get back to the norm by having a yawn·        Return to the day-to-day having a shake, shimmy and sway·        Be more like the natural you … by gliding down on the notes of ‘zoooo’ Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

2023.03.14 – 0803 – Green Kings Singing  Green Kings Singing·        Slowly and carefully say the phrase “green kings sing-ging” . Note how I’ve written the last word, split in two, that’s because I want you to say it that way, “sing” and then “ging” stressing the ‘ng’ and hard ‘g’ sounds, so you can be conscious of where the sounds are being made.  Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

2023.03.13 – 0802 – The ‘siNG soNG’ Vocal Warm Up Nasal It’s important to be comfortable in diverting sounded air from your nasal cavity to the mouth and vice-versa. The Nasal Siren·        Say the word “song” and take that ‘ng’ sound that is sent through your nasal cavity and keep it going. Then carefully glide up the register (sometimes called ‘tonal sweeping’), and down to your original starting point, and then down. Repeat this swooping glide several times. Keep it light and fun and don’t force your voice.·        Listen for any cracks or slight breaks in the tone, which will show you the note you need to work on·        Put a couple of fingers on your larynx to feel the vibrations as you siren.·        Now repeat it with a long ‘v’ sound…·        And then with a long ‘zsh’ Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

2023.03.12 – 0801 – The ‘This & That’ Vocal Warm Up This & ThatSay the word “this” and “that” and you’ll notice that to make the “th” you put the tip of your tongue between your teeth.·        Say ‘th’ again and make it a long, buzzing sound ‘ththththththth’, feel your larynx vibrate by resting a couple of fingers on it·        Stick your tongue out a bit further, again while vibrating a ‘ththththththth’ Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

2023.03.11 – 0800 – The ‘Puh-Tuh-Kuh Puh-Tuh-Kuh’ Vocal Warm Up The Puh-Tuh-Kuh exercise·        Without pushing or forcing, sound “puh-tuh-kuh” individually, slowly at first, noticing how the different words are created in different places in your mouth and with different tongue movements, over enunciate with exaggerated lip, jaw, and tongue movements·        Repeat several times, gradually building up speed.·        Then switch from “puh-tuh-kuh” to the opposite “kuh-tuh-puh” and gradually speed up·        Repeat the process with the ‘voiced plosive’ sounds of “buh-duh-guh” and then “guh-duh-buh”. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

2023.03.10 – 0799 – A Trill-iantly Easy Lip Warm-Up  Lip trills These encourage you to relax your mouth and lips, easing the muscles associated with enunciating, warming them up and encourage a consistent air flow·        Close your mouth and teeth and relax your lips and cheeks·        Exhale to vibrate your lips until you use up all your breath (if this is tricky, put an index finger on each cheek at the end of each lip, and press lightly)·        Repeat with short bursts of ‘trills’, gliding from a low tone up to a higher one to make a sound similar to a child doing a car impression – or a braying horse on a rollercoaster ·        Repeat with more tense lips Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

2023.03.09 – 0798 – Giving Your Lips A Work-Pout
LipsGive your lips a work-pout with these great exercises. Lip pouts ·        Make an exaggerated extended lip-purse as though moving in for a big kiss. Open and close the lips while in this position, like a fish (a ‘trout pout’?!)·        Then tuck them in, folding them against each other inside your mouth·        Add a big wide grin into the mix·        Work though these three movements (out, in, grin), but don’t clench your jaw or let your neck muscles become tight.·        Silently move between the vowel sounds ‘ooo’ and ‘eee’ as fast as you can using strong lip movements;·        Now, vocalise this exercise, sounding ‘ooo’ and ‘eee’·        Then silently and then vocally do the same exercise with ‘or’ and ‘ee’, then ‘oh’ and ‘ee’, all the while keeping clear, intentional articulation.  Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

2023.03.08 – 0797 – The ‘Pucker Muscle’ and the ‘Smile Muscle’ The ‘Pucker Muscle’ and the ‘Smile Muscle’ The ‘pucker muscle’ that controls lip movement to shape sounds is the ‘orbicularis oris’ muscle. The’ zygomaticus major’ runs from your cheekbone to the corners of your mouth to help create smiles and other facial expressions, as well as sounds such as ‘eee’. (Fun fact: This muscle can contract with a force of 200 g.[1])
[1] https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/abs/pii/S0268003309001521 Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

2023.03.07 – 0796 – Bits About Lips Bits About LipsLips are more than just the ‘lipstick bit’, their muscles extend into the cheeks and so affect (and are affected by) the whole of the face and expression. Holding tension in yur lips, or barely using them when speaking (some people rely on their tongue to do a lot of the hard articulatory work), can restrict your understandability, as how you hold your lips helps create word-sound groups. Stiff lips may be a result of the perceived danger of sharing:·        The ‘stiff upper lip’ – being afraid to show and share emotion in your face and mouth, from a wince of pain or a smile of pleasure, because of how you were brought up, that you shouldn’t show your feelings·        Mouth embarrassment – a worry of what others may think of stained or misaligned teeth, braces, gaps or fillings, a cold sore…·        Content concern – the worry you may have about what others may think about what you say, that you may be through stupid. You are literally holding back your voice, your thoughts, feeling, emotions and contributions. ·        Articulation and accent worries – maybe there’s an idea that your accent is in some way not good enough or your articulation not clear, so even though you want the world to your words, they struggle to fly-free because of how others may judge the voice you use to explain them.
All this can lead to mumbling, stiff lips, a stiff jaw and a muffled sound, instead of the lips being used to their full capability as part of intentional articulation. Articulation? Yes because as we saw many episodes ago (Number 89), the lips are an integral part of saying consonants ‘p’, ‘b’ and ‘m’. Say the phrase “Peter’s many books” slowly and consider the initial letters and how the sounds are formed. Now say the phrase “very few westerns” and you’ll notice that the lips are also used to form, to a lesser extent, the initial letters ‘f’, ‘v’ and ‘w’. But it’s not just consonants. The lips help shape the sounds ‘oo’, ‘oh’ and  aw’, helping give more resonance and colour (“Oh! Awesome oozings!”) Along with articulation, animation also helps tell a story and draw in a listener. We have already seen how facial expressions help us express emotions vocally, and that includes the use of the lips and cheeks. So it’s important to keep them in working order! Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.