50 How to Sell Yourself
Open: “Good
(^) mor
(^) ning.” Seems to say, “Welcome to a wonderful
world.”
I’ve always considered it
remarkable that voice is
taught as a separate course in
high school and college. I can
understand separating voice
as part of a drama or music
curriculum, but otherwise
voice has no business being
separated from the mind, the
face, and the body. In other
words, voice should never be
taught in a vacuum. Cer-
tainly, if you have vocal prob-
lems and tend to strain your
throat after speaking for a
while, or if your voice is
harsh, strident, shrill, nasal,
or whiney, then you should get help in the production of sound.
But barring a real problem, your voice will respond as it should
and be pleasant to hear if your face and body are open as you
speak.
Vocal tools
There are three vocal tools that you should be aware of as you
speak. They are:
- Volume is the decibel level: the loudness or softness of
your voice. - Pitch is the position of the sound on the musical scale:
the highness or lowness of your voice. - Rate is the duration of the sound: the length of time it
takes you to make it.
In stress, the muscles of the head and neck tighten and most
sounds tend to come out the same. That is, every sound seems to
take on the same volume, pitch, and rate, which is the definition
of monotonous. When your facial muscles are tight and you say,
The open face “good morning” says “I’m
glad to see you.”T
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