Friday Focus: Voices are dreadful at lying

Consider this scenario. 

You are in charge of a meeting or presentation. The stakes are high. You have the floor when your usually completely functional voice suddenly quivers, or fails.   Your throat is dry, the sound is strained, maybe if you coughed or got some water, but that doesn't help either. You may chock it all up to nerves or anxiety, and perhaps they are implicated, but the culprit may be much easier to fix. 

It could be that you are unclear, underprepared for, or even reticent about the meeting itself. 

The Voice is a Tattle-Tale. This means that if you are unclear about your intentions, or you are just trying to ignore them, the voice WILL show its disdain.

Mastering your voice in the room is about managing your inner voice.

What you are thinking, what you believe to be true, and your intentions enter every room with you. Your outer voice wants to tell that story. Still, that story is not meant for every room. To paraphrase the ineffable Susan Eichhorn Young, You must decide what to reveal.

Consonance is the key to effective communications. Whether you are speaking or singing,  you must know what you mean to say, be clear about who you are speaking with and why, and be in alignment with what you want or need to happen next. You have to know what your core values are and how they relate to what the voice must do. You must believe that your intention creates the reality in the room. Because it does, every time. We refer to the differing parts of the instrument for our ease but there is no separation between our brain, our body, our thinking, and our voicing. We are complete, we are dynamic, and we decide even when we fail to decide.

If you do not observe your inner world and manage your inner voice, you leave the decisions made in the room to your ingrained fears, and automatic flights. That voice does not convey authority, it sings the song of your doubts and fears. You must decide actively, so that the passive decision to fail doesn't have a chance.

I hope you enjoyed the post. If you have any questions or comments please post here or email me at gina@growvoice.com.

GROW Voice, is a Boston-based business.  Founder and CEO, Gina Razón has taught voice and speech for over sixteen years to individuals, organizations and in academic settings.   She is sought after as a teacher of voice and speech, singing, and public presentation.  Gina has a BM and MM in Voice Performance, is a practitioner of Fitzmaurice Voicework and a certified teacher of Somatic Voicework. She has served as voice coach for TEDxCambridge, and speaks at National and local events on all things voice and speech.  Gina is a member of the National Association of Teachers of Singing, The Voice Foundation, the Voice and Speech Trainers Association and the National Speakers Association. More information at www.growvoice.com.