COMMUNICATION
IN EVERYDAY LIFE
Assertiveness skills
Body language
Communicating with
your children
Conversation skills
Difficult People
Emotional Maturity
Enhancing your marriage
Family Life
Interpersonal relationships
Speaking skills
Writing skills
BUSINESS
COMMUNICATION
Business ethics
Business etiquette
Business writing
Communication in
the workplace
Cross-cultural communication
Conflict resolution
Creative thinking
Crisis management
Customer relations
Effective meetings
Job-hunting skills
Management strategies
Marketing communication
Negotiating skills
Networking in business
Presentation skills
Team building
Technology and communication
Telephone marketing
|
UPDATES Sign up to receive updates by email of new articles added to this site. To subscribe, click on the button below:  We're proud of our ethical standards and take your privacy seriously SEE SAMPLE ISSUE |
and tired of it? |
Vocal Cosmetics: A New
Trend in Voice Improvement?
by Susan Berkley
Do you ever wish you could sound like someone else? Have a really great voice like a movie star or that colleague down the hall? Do you lament that your own voice is boring, lack luster or indistinct?
Some people have such a complex about the way they sound, they won’t even put their own voice on their answering machine! They choose the default message with the metallic guy that says: “The party you are calling is not here. Please leave a message.”
Reporters are talking about a trend in vocal makeovers, in cosmetically improving the sound of the voice. And if a “voice lift” were surgically possible, I bet people would be standing on line to have one.
After all, every other part of the body can be lifted, sucked or injected to achieve perfection. Why not the voice?
Of course the voice can be enhanced. Accents can be minimized and articulation improved so that your speech is clear and easy to understand. We can, and should, learn to find our optimal pitch, control our pacing and speak in a way that is pleasing to the ear.
But keep this in mind. When it comes to your voice, the thing you may need to change the most is your attitude.
When it comes to your voice, the thing you may need to change the most is your attitude The qualities we admire in others are often the qualities we fail to value or appreciate in ourselves.
Why? Because we got them for free. We didn’t create them. We don’t want to be grateful to the source.
Haven’t you ever seen a little kid trash a gift or break a shiny new toy? Many of us unconsciously do the adult equivalent with our inner gifts and that could be the gift of your voice.
It took me 5 years of getting paid for speaking as a voiceover artist and broadcaster before I realized my voice was probably okay. What a relief! I had been waiting for someone to call me up and say: “Susan, it’s all been a horrible, terrible mistake.”
So if you are trying to hide behind that mechanical man on your answering machine, if you are avoiding speaking opportunities or beating yourself up about the sound of your voice, please give it up.
Learn good speaking techniques and use these skills to enhance what you have been given. And maybe someday soon someone will say to you “I wish I could have a voice like yours.”
And then you’ll smile, thank them for the complement and say to yourself: “If they only really knew.”
Veteran voice coach Susan Berkley of The Great Voice Company is a former radio personality and a well-known voice on TV and radio commercials and phone lines. She is the author of Speak to Influence™: How to Unlock the Hidden Power of Your Voice and numerous magazine and trade journal articles. Subscribe to Susan's informative free ezines here.
Some Related Articles:
Help for a Shaky Voice
Avoid the Most Common Pronounciation Mistakes
Voice Too High? How to Safely Lower Your Pitch
For Better Body Language: Put First Things First
Slow Down Speed Talking!
Does Uptalk Make You Upchuck?
Six Sloppy Speech Habits
>