Total Voice
Express Your Truest Self
by Kate DeVore
Filed Under: Being Heard, Breath Support, Powerful Speaking, Professional Speaking, Vocal health, Vocal Injury, Voice for Stage, Voice Therapy
Using drinking straws to enhance voice has become quite a trend. The exercise can have many benefits for voice, which we will discuss in future posts.
For now, I want to drop a short audio file here to get you started playing with the straw kazoo exercise, with more details to come. Enjoy!
If you’d like personalized instruction on working with the straw, or anything else relating to voice, speech, or presence, reach out for a session!
by Kate DeVore
Filed Under: Being Heard, Owning the Room, Powerful Speaking, Vocal health
Several people have asked me lately how to avoid hoarseness or voice loss at family gatherings, so I thought I’d share some tips for those who are prone to vocal fatigue or strain in festive situations.
continue readingby Kate DeVore
Filed Under: Myth Busters, Vocal health, Vocal Injury, Voice for Stage, Voice Therapy
When a pro athlete has a knee injury, fans don’t jump to the conclusion that they must have poor running technique. Yet when a professional singer gets a vocal cord injury, it’s a different matter. Let’s shed a little light about what a vocal injury does and doesn’t mean.
contine readingby Kate DeVore
Filed Under: Being Heard, Breath Support, Myth Busters, Owning the Room, Powerful Speaking, Professional Speaking, Vocal health, Vocal Injury, Voice for Stage, Voice Therapy
Being heard over background noise, or in a large or outdoor place, requires specific techniques. Surprisingly, loudness is only one component of projection. A well-placed voice can be heard better than you might think, with a couple extra tweaks.
continue readingby Kate DeVore
Filed Under: Being Heard, Breath Support, Myth Busters, Powerful Speaking, Vocal health, Vocal Injury, Voice Therapy
A friend recently messaged me saying her voice was changing, and had become raspy. She wanted to know if that was normal for someone in their mid-50s.
Nope.
continue readingby Kate DeVore
Filed Under: Being Heard, Myth Busters, Owning the Room, Powerful Speaking, Professional Speaking, Vocal health, Vocal Injury, Voice for Stage, Voice Therapy, Voiceover
It’s an old saw: Less is more. As with many clichés this one can sometimes be true, especially when it comes to how we use our voice.
Did you know it takes about 100 muscles to utter a phrase of speech? Given that many of these muscles are tiny and impossible to isolate, it’s shockingly easy to be using them with more tension than is necessary.
continue reading