Speech & Exercising Control

Weekly account of class work:

For this week lesson, we started off the session with the “name game” again (where we had to call out another person’s name and walked towards them). Given that it was only the second session, we were still a little unfamiliar with one another but I think we managed to open up faster. For those who were a little more familiar with the faces and names, I could tell that they were opening up and speaking more confidently. I guess when we become more confident, we naturally open up our mouth more and speak a little brighter, bolder. This week, we played a new game – “Hunter, Fire, Earthquake” game which got us moving and running about. Through this game, not only did it got us running about and warming up our body, it also allowed us to know more about one another through observing each other playing style. Some individuals were quieter and played everything more safe while others got more aggressive as the game progressed.

After our warm up games, we proceeded to do some breathing exercises which included clenching our fists – then releasing it, taking in deep breath, holding it, and then releasing it (8-4-8), learning how to breathe from other parts of the body, rather than just solely from the chest.

How I felt while during the breathing exercises:

Given that this was one of the first few times we were doing the breathing exercises, I felt that it was quite a challenge given that I have never really carried out breathing exercises on my own. Furthermore, I have realised that I am someone that constantly breathe through my mouth, rather than nose. I feel that this is because I tend to suffer from block nose and sinus, which results in me having slight difficulty breathing through my nose. However through this breathing exercises, I felt that it forces me to breathe through my nose and helped me get used to it.

After this activity, we did an activity on walking posture and presentation. Claire had each of us to walk down the aisle that was made of our course mates standing on both side, before walking back and introducing ourselves at the end of the lane. The comment I got from Claire about my walking and standing posture was that I was quite comfortable with myself (that was really nice to know) but my left hand was stiffer compared to my right hand and hence it stuck closer to my body while I walked. This was probably due to the fact that I played softball and relied a lot on my right hand and hence it was a little more relaxed than my left. Another common comment the class received from Claire was that many people were not strong at their hip area. Hence this resulted in many of them to ‘collapse’ slightly to one side, or reflect signs of weakness in the lower back.

Takeaway from this class/Research findings:

The first takeaway was definitely knowing more about breathing and how significant it was in producing a good voice. Having good breathing techniques can definitely help in developing a good voice as it is important for our body, focus and concentration. Furthermore, good and deep breathing can help relieve nervous energy which will in turn help in the development of a stronger, more stable voice. This was witnessed in some of my course mates who were asked to present and then got a little nervous.

On top of that, I have learnt online that what many people do – “chest breathing” (which involves us breathing with our shoulders. We’re shallow “chest breathers”- stomach goes in and shoulders go up) was not the healthy way of breathing.

For the breathing exercise, I kept this few steps in mind (so that I can refer to in the future or to share it with others as well):

1) Exhale completely through the mouth first

2) Close the mouth and inhale quietly through your nose (mental count of 8).

3) Hold breath for a count of 4.

4) Exhale completely through the mouth for a count of 8.

5) This is considered one breath. Repeat the cycle for about 3-4 times.

Another takeaway I got from the class was how important good walking and standing posture was. Went online and managed to find out some simple directions to help me remember how to keep a good posture:

I think this is a good summary of how a good posture should be like. I intend on using this to help my younger sister correct her standing posture given that she tend to slouch and have very rounded shoulders. Hopefully I am able to impart some of the knowledge I have learnt to her and aid her in improving her standing posture. 

Introduction to Voice Production

Weekly account of class work:

Attended the first session of AAU28D Voice Studies and Production this week and prior to the class, I was excited and looking forward to what we were going to do as I have heard many positive reviews about this module.

To kickstart the class, our class lecturer, Claire, had us play a warm up game by firstly introducing ourselves and then having us call someone else name while moving towards them. In the midst of introduction, Claire stopped a few of us and had us introduce ourselves again stating that the way we introduced ourselves were “not impactful enough, not enough energy”. It was then did I realised how the way we introduced ourselves, solely with our voice, could set the impression of what others had of us. For example, Sherwin and Ben, introduced themselves with very clear and bright voices which caused everyone to actually turn their attention to them and listen to their introduction. While introducing ourselves, one of the issues I faced was the pronunciation of my own name. Given that my name, Vernetta, is a very uncommon and what people say “long” name, many people tend to call me Vern and that was what I grew to respond to. Hence when I had to introduce myself as Vernetta on the first day of class, it sounded a little funny and I could not pronounce it very smoothly and to quote Claire, it was “Ver-neh-ter!”, choppy and very gangster like, rather than – Vernetta as a whole.

Proceeding on to the warm up game, the purpose of the game was to call out the other party name, and with our voice, make an impact through the way we addressed them. Initially when the first few people started, Claire commented that many of us were calling out the names with “no energy” and it did not make the other party feel “wanted” which I thought was a very funny, but true way to put in. I could sense the difference when we started looking into each other eyes and really call the other person with more enthusiasm, energy.

After warming up, we then got into pairs, where we were instructed to talk to each other at the same time. Throughout the few minutes when we were talking, I felt that it was very hard for both me and Leon (my partner) to keep up the talking without being distracted and wanting to stop and listen to what the other person had to say. Through this activity, did Claire got us to realise how the way one person project his or her voice, can have an impact on the listener. If the voice is well projected, and full of enthusiasm, it would be much easier to capture the attention of the listener and ‘force’ them to listen to you. A good, impactful and well projected voice will ensure that your own voice will not be lost and blended into the background.

After which, we then had to talk to one another, this time not simultaneously, and get to know more about each other before presenting about the other party to the rest of the class. After I presented to the class, the comments I received from Claire was – “confident, balls-y voice but my mind processed slower than my mouth” and in order words, I was speaking a little too fast resulting in my tongue and lips to not be able to keep up with my mind, dropping important vowels and consonants, causing listeners to miss my meaning or resulting in myself tripping over words at the end especially when I find that I am running out of content resulting in me to start using fillers at the end. In this case, one way which I can improve is to plan pauses after each section instead of viewing my whole speech as a chunk. This will give me time to take a breather and process the content in my head prior to continuing my speech.

Takeaway from this lesson/Research findings:

“The manner of your speaking is full as important as the matter, as more people have ears to be tickled than understanding to judge.” — Lord Chesterfield

After listening to all my classmates present and hearing the feedback from Claire, I realised that generally, everyone had a very unique voice. Some people were relatively more soft spoken and the way they presented were surprisingly different from what I would have expected them to sound like based on first impression (looks). On top of that, through this first lesson, I felt that Sherwin stood out the most through the “introduce your partner” activity. The primary reason why many of us felt he stood out was because of the way he presented. It was different from everyone else given that he did it in a story form – making it very engaging and unique. On top of that, he had clarity in his voice and did the entire presentation very confidently. Hence, within the short time presentation, he managed to capture the attention of almost the entire class and left an impression solely based on his voice and presentation style.

I managed to better understand my own voice as well as Claire gave us very constructive feedback after each activity. It has came to my own knowledge that given the environment that I have been in (playing sports outdoor) and the way I have been projecting my own voice during conversations (shouting a lot), I may have slightly damaged vocal chords resulting in me to strain my voice a little when I talk normally. Hence through the period of this module, I hope to find ways to help myself improve the way I speak and put less stress on my vocal chord.