Angela Lansbury and Cate Blanchett spoke briefly at last night’s TONY AWARDS ceremony. They both have magnificent speaking voices.
They were not alone. Most Broadway actors have strong speaking voices. The question is: did they become successful because they were gifted with such speaking voices, or did they work to develop their instruments?
The answer? Who knows? Some of us are born with a distinctive speaking voice, some of us are not, and others work their butts off to develop their speaking voice so they can have the career they want.
You are not an actor, and yet like an actor, your success depends on the impression you create and on how you perform on the job. In fact, the sound of your speaking voice is arguably the most memorable thing about you: it echoes in the minds of those who have met you and worked with you. Yet most of us get no training on how to use our speaking voices.
That’s too bad, because the speaking voice is perfectly trainable. It can be tuned, like a guitar or a piano. And training your speaking voice can be incredibly fun.
Here in New Jersey, training the speaking voice is a personal and professional goal for many. Whether they are young women seeking to increase their image of authority and gravitas when they speak, or men with successful careers who want to minimize the stigma of an accent, they seek out private or group instruction in training the speaking voice as a passport to success.
Training the speaking voice covers:
- how to breath in order to support your sound
- how to release habitual tension in the speaking process
- how to expand the range, resonance and deep dark color of the voice
- and how to enunciate vowels and consonants with clarity and precision
Because New York and New Jersey are melting pots of ambitious and successful people—people who see opportunity and want to take advantage of it—many of them want to develop their speaking voices as their number one calling card.
Also a large number of major corporations in New York and New Jersey want to retain highly skilled knowledge workers who must interact with teams and present their specialized knowledge to others. Helping these people to contribute to the organization is one of the many reasons why companies seek out training for voice and speech.
The speaking voice is the world’s greatest instrument—of leadership, change, and communication. Tune your instrument. Practice your instrument. Become a master of your instrument.
The rewards, for you and your company, will be positively resounding.