Your Public Best - Lillian Brown [45]
Practice reading aloud for ten minutes a day. Read your own speeches or newspaper editorials or read to your child before he or she falls asleep at night. Record a piece on the tape recorder and then do it over several times until it sounds right to you. Keep your audio tapes and play them back on a weekly basis to keep track of your progress.
About five years ago, one of my private pupils—a doctor—almost never pronounced a final consonant and resisted every effort to bring about a change. Finally I asked him who was his favorite singer. We bought some of her recordings, and he spent weeks repeating and emphasizing the final consonants just as she did. Now he gets compliments on the clarity of his diction.
You can explore textbooks in the library for helpful techniques. You probably have only a few habits to change, and you can zero in on them. See if you can find some audio tapes from your library or local university of famous speeches or speakers you admire. Listen to some “books on tape” at home or while driving and analyze what you like and dislike about each reader.
If you decide to go to a voice and diction teacher, you can find one to guide you, encourage you, and keep you from getting discouraged or making mistakes. (This is discussed briefly in an upcoming section.)
Or try a speech class at a university or an organized club where you can practice speaking in public. Seek out a speech seminar and ask for a critique by a professional.
Welcome opportunities to make public speeches and treat each appearance as a learning experience. Remember, most successful speakers or broadcasters study speech for years and continue to do voice exercises. In most cases, that lovely speaking voice didn’t just happen, it is the result of hard work and practice.
One Voice or Two?
As a professional, you should speak with only one voice. You cannot have two voices—one that you use for informal conversation and the other one that you trot out just for “on-air” public use. No matter what the situation, use your perfected voice techniques at all times.
You cannot alternate between a chest placement and a nasal placement. It has to be one or the other. You cannot revert to street talk or colloquialisms at will. Once you have changed your voice, you should never go back to the old habits, even momentarily.
I was once introduced to the amateur moderator of a radio show who used a very unprofessional voice in informal conversation. When he sat down in front of the microphone, he put on his moderator voice and did the mike check in what he hoped was a good imitation of a successful broadcaster. To the experienced ear, that voice was phony, obviously forced; even the technical people working with him commented on his two voices.
Once you have achieved a beautiful speaking voice, never deviate from it.
Speech Therapy
Do not hesitate to seek professional help if you need it. There may be some problems that you simply cannot handle without the help of a specialist.
Once you have identified your problem and perhaps read a book about it from the library, seek a speech teacher or therapist or voice coach. There are many qualified speech experts, and you should not have trouble finding one. Call universities for referrals, look in the Yellow Pages, make inquiries, and check references. Media consultants and drama or broadcasting departments of universities may be helpful.
If necessary, seek competent medical advice for certain speech defects. Avoid anyone with no training, credentials, or depth.
Be sure that what the teacher asks you to do makes sense to you. Find an instructor you can trust; one who has your best interests at heart with whom you can achieve concrete and lasting results.
If after one or two sessions with your speech coach you are dissatisfied with either what you have been told or how things are going, don’t get discouraged and give up. Simply find a different voice