Cultivating Your Speaking Voice

Insights from Grenville Kleiser’s Talks on Talking (1916)

Grenville Kleiser, an author on public speaking, explains how to cultivate your speaking voice in his Talks on Talking (1916).

1. The Need for a Well-Cultivated Voice

Cultivating a pleasant, well-modulated speaking voice is essential for effective communication. Many people neglect this skill, leading to strident or unpleasant vocal qualities.

The Importance of Cultivating Your Voice

There is a widespread need for a more thorough cultivation of the speaking voice. It is astonishing how few persons give specific attention to this important subject. On all sides we are subjected to voices that are disagreeable and strident. It is the exception to hear a voice that is musical and well-modulated.

2. Relaxation and Resonance

Relaxation is the foundation of a good speaking voice, while resonance brings richness and clarity. By practicing simple techniques, you can unlock the natural potential of your voice.

Reducing Vocal Tension

Most people make too much physical effort in speaking. They tighten the muscles of the throat and mouth, instead of liberating these muscles and allowing the voice to flow naturally and harmoniously. The remedy for this common fault of vocal tension is to relax all the muscles used in speech. This is easily accomplished by means of a little daily practice.

Tone Placement for Resonance

The first thing to keep in mind is that we should speak through the throat and not from it. A musical quality of voice depends chiefly upon directing the tone towards the hard palate, or the bony arch above the upper teeth. From this part of the mouth, the voice acquires much of its resonance.

The Yawning Exercise

An excellent exercise for throat relaxation is yawning. It is not necessary to wait until a real yawn presents itself, but frequent practice in imitating a yawn may be indulged in with good results. Immediately after practicing the yawn, it is advisable to test the voice, either in speaking or in reading, to observe improvement in freedom of tone.

3. Protecting and Refining Your Voice

A good voice must be protected from strain and developed through mindful speaking. Rest your voice when needed, and refine your tone with deliberate practice.

Protecting Your Voice in Noisy Environments

It is not desirable to use the voice where there is loud noise by way of opposition. Many a good voice has been ruined due to the habit of continuous talking on the street or elsewhere amid clatter and hubbub. Under such circumstances it is better to rest the voice, since in any contest of the kind the voice will almost surely be vanquished.

Speaking with Poise and Self-Control

What we need in our daily conversation is less emphasis, and more quietness and non-resistance. We need less eagerness and more vivacity and variety. We need a settled equanimity of mind that does not deprive us of our animation, but saves us from the petty irritations of everyday life. We need, in short, more poise and self-control in our way of speaking.

Avoiding Overemphasis

It is well to remember that few things we say are of such importance as to require emphasis. The thought should be its own recommendation. But if emphasis be necessary, let it be by the intellectual means of pausing or inflection, rather than with the shoulders or the clenched fist.

4. Addressing Vocal Faults

Identifying and correcting faults like nasality, throatiness, or high pitch is key to creating a pleasing and impactful voice.

Common Vocal Faults: Nasality and Throatiness

A very disagreeable and common fault is nasality, or “talking through the nose.” Many persons are guilty of this who least suspect it. This habit is so easily and unconsciously acquired that everyone should be on strict guard against it. Almost equally disagreeable is the fault of throatiness, caused by holding the muscles of the throat instead of relaxing them.

Choosing the Right Pitch

The best tones of the speaking voice are the middle and low keys. These should be used exclusively in daily conversation. The use of high pitch is due to habit or temperament, but may be overcome through judicious practice. The objection to a high-keyed voice is not only that it is disagreeable to the listener, but puts the speaker “out of tune” with his audience.

5. Techniques for Voice Development

Developing resonance, articulation, and clarity requires structured practice. Focus on building foundational qualities for an expressive, authoritative voice.

Qualities of a Good Speaking Voice

A good speaking voice should possess the qualities of purity, resonance, flexibility, roundness, brilliancy, and adequate power. These qualities can be rapidly developed by daily reading aloud for ten minutes, giving special attention to one quality at a time. A few weeks, assiduous practice will produce most gratifying results. The voice grows through use, and it grows precisely in the way it is habitually used.

The Role of Articulation and Pronunciation

Distinct articulation and correct pronunciation are indications of cultivated speech. Pedantry should be avoided, but every aspirant to correct speech should be a student of the dictionary.

Cultivating Clarity Through Practice

There is need for the admonition to open the mouth well. Many people speak with half-closed teeth, the result being that the quality of voice and correctness of pronunciation are greatly impaired. Consonants and vowels should be given proper significance. Muffled speech is almost as objectionable as stammering.

6. Enhancing Vocal Depth and Strength

Deep, resonant tones convey authority and conviction. Strengthening your voice through targeted exercises can dramatically improve its impact.

Developing Deep and Convincing Tones

Many voices are too thin in quality. They fail to carry conviction even when the thought is of superior character. The remedy here is to give special attention to the development of deep tones. One of the best exercises for this purpose is to practice for a few minutes daily upon the vowel sound “O,” endeavoring to make it full, deep, and melodious.

Building Vocal Power

The best remedy for a weak voice is to practice daily upon explosives, expelling the principal vowel sounds, on various keys, using the abdominal muscles throughout. Another good exercise is to read aloud while walking upstairs or uphill. As these exercises are somewhat extreme, the student is recommended to practice them prudently.

7. Breathing and Resonance

Mastering breath control and resonance forms the bedrock of a powerful speaking voice. These techniques ensure clarity and longevity in speech.

The Importance of Correct Breathing

Correct breathing is fundamental to correct and agreeable speaking. The breathing apparatus should be brought under control by daily practice upon exercises prescribed in any standard book on elocution. Pure tone of voice depends upon the ability to convert into tone every particle of breath used.

Mastering the Orotund Voice

There is a voice of unusual roundness and fullness known as the orotund, which is indispensable to the public speaker. It is simple, pure tone, rounded out into greater fullness. It is produced mainly by an increased resonance of the chest and mouth cavities, and a more vigorous action of the abdominal muscles.

Resonance Exercises for Improved Voice Quality

Where resonance of voice is lacking, it can be rapidly developed by means of humming the letter m, with lips closed, and endeavoring to make the face vibrate. The tone should be kept well forward throughout the exercise, pressing firmly against the lips and hard palate.

8. Conclusion

Cultivating your voice is a personal and professional duty. By developing clarity, resonance, and poise, you enhance your ability to connect and communicate effectively.

The Speaker’s Duty to Cultivate Their Voice

The speaking voice is capable of most wonderful development. There is a duty devolving upon everyone to cultivate beauty of vocal utterance and diction. Crudities of speech so commonly in evidence are mainly due to carelessness and neglect.

Final Words

“O, how our organ can speak with its many and wonderful voices!— Play on the soft lute of love, blow the loud trumpet of war, Sing with the high sesquialter, or, drawing its full diapason, Shake all the air with the grand storm of its pedals and stops.”