Tobey and Sophie at the Willamette River
As a vocal professional, I ask this question: is the vocal quality of your voice preventing your message from being really heard? I was listening to a speaker recently and finally realized why I always wanted to leave the room when I heard this particular person. I had discerned his message was well thought out and worth hearing; I also knew his voice quality bothered me. Finally this day, though, I realized that vocal fry was alive and well in this young person. I had heard and read that young people exhibiting vocal fry was very common and becoming more so, but previously had mostly noticed it only in young children. About the same time as the above realization, I saw Barbara Walters’ interview with Miley Cyrus. I had never seen her perform and only the reputation of her rather dramatic performance practices as an entertainer preceeded my viewing of her interview. I was shocked when I heard her speaking voice and only my curiosity as a voice professional kept me from immediately shutting off the sound. That said, the first questions that came to mind was this, “can this voice really sing?” Curious, I went to YouTube and had a listen. 4 years ago her singing was very different from now. Now, her speaking voice and her singing voice have very much the same abrasive quality of drone. A third experience occurred about the same time as the previous two. I was shopping and the male clerk in the department store exhibited the same abrasive quality of speaking voice. These three examples, I would like to think, are at the extreme, but there is no doubt that this sort of vocal abuse is rampant. That such public figures are examples is a very blatant sign that vocal fry is becoming more and more the norm.
Singers, as well as speakers, need to be cognizant of abusive qualities that appear in the speaking voice. It disracts from the message and is unhealthy. The fact is, we singers spend more time speaking in our lives than we do singing. But, do most of us really practice and have a conscious awareness of how we speak. For example, singers have had their voices wrecked by abusing their voices talking at loud parties after their concerts. Our speaking voice is most often the voice that is heard first when we are introduced. We answer the phone; we are introduced to new friends or business associates. For singers, perhaps the first voice that is heard is the singing voice. Then, when he or she speaks that first dynamic impression may be shattered; the croak that comes out does not match the glorious sound that was heard earlier.
Public speakers have a message they want heard. Often, as with the public speaker I mentioned earlier, the polished words and ideas expressed are not heard because listeners are, at the very least, distracted by the acutal quality of sound they hear produced.
Truly, Breath is the Answer to finding one’s authentic voice. Each of us has the ability to produce a quality voice which resonates and draws our audience to the words and message rather than distracting from it. Start the New Year by paying attention and making sure your voice quality matches the quality of and does not distract from your message.