Home Leadership Five tools to achieve what you want with your voice

Five tools to achieve what you want with your voice

by forbes

The physical and symbolic meanings of «own voice» are deeply intertwined. Bea Palya is a musician, speaker, coach, Forbes Makers trainer on how to use your own voice to achieve your goals.

My students usually come to me with problems related to their physical voice: «my voice doesn’t sound the way I want it to, especially when the stakes are high», «I struggle when I present to my (male) boss», «I fall behind in verbal arguments with my husband», » I can’t say what I want», «I often fade away, become silent» or «I get tired of speaking in all-day meetings.

All of this leads to the self-awareness layer of finding our own voice. The physical and symbolic meanings of «own voice» are deeply intertwined. 

But what can be done specifically to solve the above problems? 

Here are five exercises by which you can use your own voice more consciously and give voice not only from your head, but from your whole body. If you talk like this, it’s easier to get what you want. What’s more, your energy level also increases in the meantime, and listening becomes an experience of freedom! 

1. Open your mouth

Why? Because when you open your mouth, the sound comes out! You can create with your voice and your words. It’s as easy to say as it is to do. And we have a reason for it! But we’re playing now! Let’s start this matter from the body: all you have to do is think about opening your lips twice as much as usual, especially moving your upper lips much more. Even if it is very strange at first, even if there is something foreign about it. Don’t worry, my series of Dancing Lips exercises will help you with this ( we will also do it at the Makers workshop: a series of funny, but very effective mouth exercises, so that your lips release the word from your body ).

2. Warm up your voice every morning 

You don’t even start an exercise in the gym without warming up. Your taste buds won’t work well, and the risk of injury increases. In the same way, sound and speech are also a series of movements.

We use our voices all day long, yet I know few people who warm up these muscles in the morning.

Be the exception! Don’t have time? I understand! I’ll tell you three places where you can start this early in the morning: morning shower, driving, bathroom.

You can hang out and hum to your heart’s content, and it doesn’t even take extra time. You can do the Horse-Apple-Honey exercise sequence , a favorite of my students. You can neigh like a horse, then put an imaginary whole apple in your mouth, or by pouring an imaginary big bottle of honey over yourself, you can relax all the organs that are needed to make sounds! You will hear the difference in no time. 

3. Every speech is like a song

Whenever you make a sound, from a short «Good day!» to a serious presentation, create with your voice. A series of sounds escapes between your lips, just like a song! The basic laws of sound also apply to speech. In fact, you can apply many useful things from music! I wrote a short poem to make you aware of the building blocks of sound. Just look: 

Fast and slow — TEMPO
High and low PITCH
Soft and loud VOLUME Soft
and hard TONE
Silence and sound THE PAUSE
Sound and silence (REPETITION) 
Melodious speech MELODOUSNESS (TO SPEECH)
Or monotonous trend MONOTONITY (TO SPEECH)

And now tell your day using these. You will find yourself somewhere in the sweet spot between singing and speaking . Kodály would also nod approvingly at this, because he believes that between singing and speaking, the so-called he also liked recitative genres. Maybe it will be strange, theatrical at first. It can be. Keep playing! It is also certain that this exercise will get you out of your head, as you bring your tone and speech closer to singing. And that brings me to the next idea. 

4. Speak from your body 

Did you know that your listener can decide in two seconds if they trust you or not?

You’ve got me at Hello

says the Englishman. Yes, you have such a short time to gain the trust of your interlocutor, manager, subordinate or audience with your voice. Your voice works on a visceral level — or it doesn’t. But how do you do it to make it work? Well, you have to feel your own guts, your own body! Moment by moment. The melody and music of your body, your voice, the emotions it expresses are much more important than the content and meaning of your words. 

It’s good if you make them aware that the speech is not a head-to-head action where we exchange information. No, it’s a full body connection , a deep human encounter, even if you’re not aware of it. Even if it’s a short dialogue, even if it’s a presentation in a crowded conference room or a tense meeting. 

5. Give voice to the most important part of your femininity

I work a lot with female leaders. A frequent question is: how can I have more power? How do my lips really hang when I perform in a crowded room? And how can I not be dead tired afterwards? And what if there are big father figures next to me, watching with angry eyes or listening while shaking their heads? Extroverted people often push up their energy at this time and then become very tired, or worse, burn out over the years. 

This is where the power of femininity comes in. Go mentally to the place inside your body where the most life cores are.


Feel free to use these five sound tools and you will feel the change! Your voice will have a better effect, because you are speaking from your whole body, and voicing can really become an experience of freedom! But, of course, I only showed a drop of the ocean’s worth of teaching material here.

Related Posts

Leave a Comment