How to Speak Clearly, Loudly and Comfortably
by Jenna P and Tim R
We had an #ask that came our way this week about speaking vocal technique (in the context of monologues or Shakespeare) -- and it’s making our wheels spin!
Here’s what our client said:
“It’s hard to maintain vocal health when in an outdoor, dry space, un-Mic’d, trying to say Willy Shakespeare’s words to a crowd of 500. SOS!”
First thing’s first: Don’t panic!
Try employing the 3 A’s:
AIRFLOW
AMPLIFY
ANCHOR
AIRFLOW: One of the best ways to increase endurance and help sustain high intensity speaking is by effectively managing our breath. If you find yourself tired after speaking loudly for an extended period of time, it may be that your system is experiencing too much pressure. The antidote to pressure is flow. By increasing airflow, we reduce the traffic (the tension) in the Lincoln tunnel to allow for free passage of travel into Manhattan (through the vocal folds). For the science nerds out there, this means that the vocal folds un-press longer over their vibratory cycle.
In times when anxiety and uncertainty sublet space in our days, our breathing patterns may become shallow and disconnected to our lower halves. You may notice you’re breathing more from your shoulders than from your diaphragm. Floor breathing is a great way to reset and deepen our connection to the breath. Lie on the floor with your knees bent as if you’re about to do a sit up. Feel the natural rise and fall of the belly as you slowly inhale and exhale. Feel your lower back expand into the ground beneath you. This will allow our prominent breathing muscles to take over so that your smaller vocal muscles don’t need to work as hard. Think of it as distributing labor.
Good breathing is the foundation for healthy speech.
AMPLIFY: Turn up the twang. Have you ever noticed that babies can cry and scream for hours on end without losing their voices? It’s because they’re employing something known as twang. For the anatomy nerds out there, it’s employing the AES, the aryepiglottic sphincter, narrowing the top of your larynx to act as an acoustic booster. Think about an annoying kid on the playground teasing someone- “na na na na na na”...you want that annoying, bright, piercing sound to come through in your voice. Some people refer to this as “forward placement” or “resonant speech”.
You could also play with crying and yelling, which are two ways to shorten and thicken the vocal folds to increase vocal fold contact and increase the vocal fold closed quotient (aka the amount of time they are touching). Think about when you run to the grocery store with your mom to pick up something, and you decide to wait in the car. Suddenly, you open the window and shout out across the parking lot, “Mom! Don’t forget the meatloaf!”. This slight raise of your chin can also help amplify your sound. Use this tool sparingly (aka don’t do the entire show with your chin raised because that will cause excess tension in the Lincoln tunnel- see Airflow). With Shakespeare, we’d recommend trying it out when you have an “O!” exclamation in the text somewhere so that it is connected to the agony your character feels.
ANCHOR: Activate the head, neck, and torso. Use your larger muscle groups to support your smaller muscle groups aka your vocal folds. Widen your pharynx, aka the back of your neck, by flaring your nostrils, raising your cheek bones, and lifting your ears. Squeeze grapefruit in between your armpits to activate your serratus, lats, pecs, and QL muscles. Employing and engaging these auxiliary breathing muscles will help give you the “support” people talk about. If your body is a limp pasta noodle, the 26 suspensory muscles in your neck will have to work harder to help your voice create sound. If you activate your body below your vocal folds and above your vocal folds, you’ll keep that Lincoln Tunnel free of traffic (tension), plus the sound waves created by your vocal folds vibrating against each other will want to exit out of your mouth (moving from areas of high pressure to low pressure)!
Using the three As will activate your voice and help carry it to the audience.
In addition, please remember to hydrate (8-10oz of water per day, limiting alcohol and caffeine) and aim for 7-8 hours of sleep per night. Without sleep and water, your body will not be able to perform optimally in those conditions.