>>>>and all my problems stemmed from improper speaking techniques.<<<<
Improper speaking technique is so easily fixed! It isn't brain surgery but it does require a bit of discipline and effort.
Strangely I have had many friends and quite a few students who were/are full-time "classroom" teachers. Nearly all have had vocal problems of varying degrees sometime in their careers. The three who took the plunge and paid the money to work with a speech therapist or similar vocal professional who taught them how to "use their voice properly" I can honestly tell you have never had a days trouble since. My own students have had a good deal of success with the little I can impart but I do not pretend to be a speech expert, I am first and foremost a singing teacher.
My background invloves full time undergraduate study in both voice (at a conservatorium) and later, acting (at University) so I have had both vocal training for singing and speech. It has made all the difference for me personally and also the approach I take to my students epecially when dealing with vocal problems.
I really feel it is a major fault of education faculties in the universities that they don't train their teachers to use their voice properly at undergraduate level. Especially those who don't have natural resonance or authority in their tone to start with. When I think back, the teachers who engendered immediate respect from the class and maintained it, more often than not had resonant voices, even if quietly spoken, and an "authoritative" way of speaking. (Whatever that means! LOL) For some this must just come naturally, and for some others I am sure it can be taught. (Some others still will probably just never get it.) When you hear of the discipline problems teachers have these days, doesn't it make you wonder that, at the end of their training, if they just haven't got what it takes in their voice and body language, they just shouldn't be graduated as teachers? Ah, for utopia eh? Only in a prefect world. *smile*
Michelle
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