Are you aiming to speak with power and clarity? If so, you might have discovered that more mouth movement can be a huge component of success. But at the same time, there are ways to add more mouth movement that not only don’t help with clarity or loudness, but might actually make it worse.
While there are many ways to move the mouth (did you know we use about 100 muscles to speak?!), there are two primary axes to consider: up/down and side-to-side.
“Open” doesn’t usually mean spread
I was working with a client recently who told me he had been working on moving and opening his mouth more when he talks, so he can be louder and easier to understand. Great idea!
Then he showed me what he was doing, and I was shocked to see it made him even harder to understand. That’s because he was almost clenching his teeth and spreading his lips as far as he could to the sides.
He knew he was supposed to move his mouth more, but he didn’t know in which direction. So he ended up muffling his sound and keeping is words locked inside his mouth.
Now there are definitely times when we deliberately add some horizontal spread to the mouth – some speech sounds require it, and some dialects definitely do (I’m looking at you, Chicago and upper midwest!). Various other vocally athletic or extreme tasks might also call for this action. But for normal speech, it’s usually not the goal.
For the most part, we want to…
Open the mouth by lowering the jaw
Do a little experiment. Hold your jaw relatively closed (almost clenched but not quite), and say the months of the year out loud. Notice how this sounds and feels. You might even record yourself.
Then repeat the months of the year and exaggerate the opening of your jaw on every syllable. In “Jan-u-ar-y”, for example, the first and third syllables can be said with a really open mouth (though not so much the second and fourth syllables). Same for Feb-ru-ar-y, and March is definitely open. You get the idea.
You might notice that the second (open) way is a lot louder. It might also be clearer, depending on how you did the exercise. You are literally letting the sound waves out of your body.
It probably isn’t more comfortable yet, and might in fact sound/feel unnatural or awkward at first. This is a normal part of learning any physical skill. First it’s slow and awkward and then eventually, with practice, it becomes quick and graceful.
So if you’re looking to speak with more power and clarity, play with the downward movement of your jaw when you talk.
If you’d like some personalized guidance on the topic, or anything else relating to voice or speech, reach out for a session!
