| To: "VOCALIST" <vocalist> Subject: Speaking voice (was RE: Speech-Level Singing) Date sent: Thu, 3 Feb 2000 13:20:39 -0800 Send reply to: VOCALIST <vocalist>
>Also, someone suggested maybe they should speak in mix rather than chest; I don't recommend that either. We're all born with >a different instrument; we can't really change the sound of it unless we start interfering with the normal phonation process >in the sense of lowering/rising the larynx, etc, but singing should be founded on the "unmanipulated", healthy speaking >voice in order to avoid later problems.
So now my question is what exactly constitutes a healthy speaking voice? Since I probably use my vocal cords more frequently for speaking than singing, I'd like to be doing it in the healthiest way possible. I find that I normally speak in the lower end of my range (that "sexy" voice that men seem to love), but depending on how excited I get, it can be quite high too (especially if I start laughing - call me a high coloratura). Since I have a wide variety of options as to where my voice sits, how do I figure out the best placement? I'm thinking, as well, that the current placement of my speaking voice may have been influenced by the many years I sang in a choir during elementary and high school as an alto only using chest voice. Now that I've had proper voice training, it's very apparent I'm actually a soprano. I'm in the process of developing a nice mix while singing, but there's still a bit of a break in my speaking voice.
Jennifer
A man should hear a little music, read a little poetry, and see a fine picture every day of his life, in order that worldly cares may not obliterate the sense of the beautiful which God has implanted in the human soul. -Johann Wolfgang von Goethe, German writer and scientist (1749-1832)
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