DISQUS

Gillian · 1 year ago

My voice nurtures, laughs, censors, comforts, awakens, sooths, reaches out, reasons, trips over words and asserts itself.

I had the pleasure today of doing a script reading where I was able to experience hearing my voice in a context I'd never heard before. I loved seeing the reactions people had, who heard not just my voice changing but it come alive within a different context. Manipulating and giving your voice power allows you to appreciate it within a new auditorium. The key to allowing your voice such power is to listen to it!

Kristin · 1 year ago

My voice sings. It's quieted down a bit, in pitch and volume, and slowed considerably since leaving America eight years ago. It's still learning that restraint and thoughtfulness should precede all noise. It knows that filling the world with voices isn't always necessary, and that silence can be more powerful than words.

Joannie · 1 year ago

My voice is laughter, delight, empathy, acceptance. My voice is sorrow, judgement, harsh, controlling. My voice is strong, knows how to read - where to put the spaces. My voice is easy on the ear and is raised in the presence of the hard of hearing. My voice carries to the back of the room. My voice is in my writing.

It took my years for me to find my voice.

Julia · 1 year ago

My voice is encouraging and urgent...I've been a cheerleader and salesperson my whole life!

Brenda · 1 year ago

My voice is like a hypnotic, low-croon, rhytmic melody that immediately puts people at ease.

Julia · 1 year ago

Brenda-your voice sounds soothing...a nice contrast to my sharp sound bites. I'd like to slow down and have the ability to put people at ease...

Brenda · 1 year ago

Julia, you put me at ease this morning by ignoring the fact that I mis-spelled 'rhythmic'! What's really funny is that I've wished for years that I could speed up a little. Recently, I've accepted that my way of speaking is consistent with my style statement: Comfortable Creative. Have you read Style Statement?

Julia · 1 year ago

No, Brenda, tell me more!

Marissa · 1 year ago

My voice can be resonant, clear, confident and confidence-inspiring. It can also be bold and certain. It may also be humorous and filled with laughter. It is nearly always genuine, and when it waivers from being genuine, that's when it loses its resonance, clarity and confidence. So simple, but such an important lesson to learn (and remember!).

Girl-WOman · 1 year ago

"Awwww": That's the sound of my voice. Compassion. My voice is a cameleon. It matches the person I'm focusing on.

Joanne · 1 year ago

My voice lets people know where I am from by my accent. It is quiet and fast. People often have to ask me to repeat myself.

Traci · 1 year ago

My voice sounds like I've got something to say. I'm not a talker (except with my Mom), and I usually only speak when I honestly have something to say. I'm the girl at the party who says 3 things all night, but can tell you exactly what each individual group is discussing. I'm always interested.

Lisa · 1 year ago

On a good day, it's the sound of love. Not "nice" love, but real love; deeply caring, honest, painful, insightful, supportive & challenging. And when I'm off, it's the voice of the preacher, up on her high horse!

colette · 1 year ago

Joyful enthusiasm!

Donna · 1 year ago

My voice is sometimes silenced by my actions, other than that I talk all day communicating in a fashion that meets the need of my clients or family. My voice has the power to uplight, encourage, and give compasion and confidence when meeting other peoples needs. When it comes to voicing my inner thoughts and needs it whispers or it is silenced with the fear of being weak.

Amy · 1 year ago

Acceptance...understanding...compassion...the voice of a friend.

Nia · 1 year ago

Very soft, gentle and soothing from what I have been told. I do not like the sound of my voice recorded, it sounds so different from the way I think I sound. I was raised in DC, and have a hint of a Southern accent. I have a tendency to monotone, so when conscious of it, I play with inflections.

Jamie · 1 year ago

My voice is smooth and sexy. It can become excited, anxious, calming, or breezey. Men are often very attracted to my voice on the telephone. I've recorded a few radio commercials and was offered a job at the radio station on the spot. I've often been asked if I've ever consider becoming a radio personality. I love NPR and imagine what the news would sound like if I were the one informing listeners. I could only do certain kinds of stories though. If I did a segment on the Iraq war, it would sound as though war was seductive and sexual. For the hope of world peace, I'll stay off the airwaves..

Jamie · 1 year ago

My voice is expressive. It hides nothing. It can invite you in or tell you to back the hell up. It is warm and it is strong.

Jamie · 1 year ago

(ps it's so funny having my answer after another Jamie - hi Jamie! - and Nia - hi Nia! - which is a movement practice I teach)

alligator_kate · 1 year ago

My voice is resonant from a lifetime of theater training, and years of living in Manhattan. I have to make sure not to speak too loudly. I always like to speak from my diaphragm, which gives my words weight and power. I have broken up fights on the streets of New York City with my voice. It also has some lilt and softness to it, like a weeping willow tree-- strong but flexible and enveloping. It can be harsh and brittle if my spirit feels dried up, but the voice prefers, above all else, to speak poems with nature in them.

Rushmi · 1 year ago

My voice carries the smile on my face. It commands attention when I speak to a large audience. It comfort and soothes when I am one-on-one. My voice seduces my husband when I am in the 'mood'. At times, my voice startels my daughter in to listening and paying attention - ecspecially when I say her name and nothingelse.

Ramona · 1 year ago

I LOVE these questions!!!

So, my voice strong, but it is often stronger than I feel. Sometimes I am loud when I want to be quiet. I have worked hard at modulation; I want my voice to convey a sense of seriousness, honesty, integrity and sincerity.

How do I do this?

~Ramona

Susie Hutchinson · 1 year ago

I think my voice to other people is full of humour and encouragement--my husband says it's comforting. Where this breaks down is in the voice I use for myself, it can be pretty negative at times, and it chills me to the bone when I hear it. Again, work in process.

eloquencecomm · 1 year ago

I've been thinking about voice lately. Interesting timing for me with this question. I notice that I, literally, have a different voice with different people. There is some consistency around it. As I left a message for a friend recently, I hung up thinking "Wow, my voice was so heavy, velvety... visceral in that message." Then I realized it is often that way with that person. I have noticed since that I am speaking from different places in my body when I talk with different people in my life. I am excited by this realization as it means I can explore how the place from which my voice comes relates to how I feel - and evolve my communications and relationships with that information.

Ngonzi Truth Crushshon · 1 year ago

I have a strong, confident voice...sometimes forceful and my voice can come off rough/mean because it is kinda deep.

Andrea Devis · 1 year ago

When I was three I heard my "voice" on tape. I was not me, it simply could not be me, I could never sound like that (something muddled between my mother's Northern and my father's Southern). After a few weeks of impressions of Lawrence Olivier, it was not me.
How I sound has been important to me ever since.
My voice has class and character and reflects my experience. It sounds passionate, interested, honest, carries depth, joy, sadness, excitement, love.

Dena · 1 year ago

My voice often sounds very wispy and low, from the mouth not the throat. Although several weeks ago I had laryngitis - I still had to be at work - one of my clients said I sounded like a 1-900-number . . . he kept calling back and asking what I was wearing! LOL

Keiko · 1 year ago

My voices is a big part of my identity, hinting at a tropical upbringing and revealing a certain sense of being an "outsider".

kerrymac · 1 year ago

When I am in a good place my voice is gentle and confident but it can easily become squeaky and hesitant if I let myself loose focus and let anxiety take control.
www.snickerdoodles.typepad.com

Vanessa Rae · 1 year ago

I have stuttered since the age of five and although I have my days of utmost frustration, thoughts of all the good points I could have made if I hadn't let this silly speech impediment slow me down, those thoughts are always overcome by gratitude, by courage and by my compassion for others. I've always believed that if I talk like everyone else, no one would listen and those who do, those who have been patient and kind are also the ones who always seem to have something worthwhile to say. When you speak from your heart your voice is your strongest instrument. And when I truly trust myself, the words just seem to flow.

Carrie McCarthy · 1 year ago

So happy your voice found you!

Danielle LaPorte · 1 year ago

i bet you'd really get a lot out of a few singing lessons -- uncork and modulate. and check out the resources we put up on our blog today.
xo
D

Danielle LaPorte · 1 year ago

great stuff. this is another great question for everyone, then:
"When you're speaking to...<insert person="person">, from where in your body is your voice coming?" Very interesting....</insert>

Danielle LaPorte · 1 year ago

wow. so inspiring. thank you.
keep trusting yourself.

Joannie · 1 year ago

Thank you Carrie. I never thought of my voice finding me. Just like love.

Dena · 1 year ago

I met a lady the other day at my doctor's - we started talking about the weather, etc., and I realized she was struggling with a bad stutter. But I still found her to be a lovely, ingelligent lady! We carried on a nice conversation and I am richer for it!

Kat the Drumming Diva · 1 year ago

my voice talks too much and too fast

i'm trying to learn to breathe more deeply, listen more, and stop filling silence with chatter

Luciaf · 1 year ago

My voice is Merlot. It used to be a tightly corked thin red blend. I went to The Canadian National Voice Intensive at UBC. It's not just for actors. Very cheap, one month solid of body, voice and work with text. Shakespearean. Life changing for me. Worth it.

JoeM · 1 year ago

The sound of my voice is two small whispers. One on the left shoulder that quietly urges me to 'go ahead and do it.' And, one on my right shoulder, that says; 'better not. It's really not worth it.' I'm always trying to figure out which one is the being the good voice. When I'm right, my real voice rejoices. When I'm wrong, my real voice cries.

Carrie McCarthy · 1 year ago

This course sounds amazing, thanks for sharing Lucia!

Traci · 1 year ago

Oh, heavens. I hear that!

Kate · 1 year ago

My voice sounds girlish yet authoritative and forceful. It is the method of telling stories, of convincing, or moving people. It can be gentle to the individual and booming to the crowd.

Jamie · 1 year ago

I highly recommend a book by the celebrity vocal coach, Roger Love. He has many, but Love Your Voice sounds like something you could make use of in your own time and addresses speech issues. It's a quick read with a vocal exercise CD, but you have to practice the techniques. It costs under $20 and is really fun. By the way, your name is fun to say!

Abbie · 1 year ago

My voice is fast and quiet and higher-pitched than I imagine it in my head.

I read somewhere that people who talk slower seem more calm and self confident, and in an effort to project both those traits(and leave intelligible voice mail messages), I've been trying to talk slower (especially at work on the phone).

My boyfriend called my work phone the other day, and said he almost didn't recognize my voice because I was talking slowly. I am amazed that my efforts to talk slower are working (!!) but it leaves me to wonder, should I work to talk more slowly in all situations? How would it change how I am perceived? Would I seem less excited and enthusiastic?

Hilma · 1 year ago

Unfortunately, not as pleasant as I would like it to be. I talk too fast, interrupt others, and don't listen well. I am in too big a hurry. This is one of the areas of myself that I want to change.

Nicole · 1 year ago

My voice carries strength and caring. My voice wants to be heard but knows when to let my ears take over.

Enid · 1 year ago

Julia, You said you have been a cheerleader and salesperson your whole life and have sharp sound bites. Yes, that may be true till now in your life. But for the rest of your life, if you want you can choose to change those sound bites to soft nibbles, gentle sounds to soothe and help others to know you as you really are. Are you using your voice at times to keep others away from really knowing you? You are a wonderful and enthusiastic person to do what you do. Soften it sometimes to let more gentle light shine through your voice. Wait till you see the rewards!

Julia · 1 year ago

To Enid: Your words have come at a good time. I am 39 years old, single w/o children...I'm in a different place than my contemporaries, and I've been feeling so anxious lately...work cannot be all there is in my life! I do want to meet someone and I can't for the life of me figure out why I'm not attached. I am going to pay more attention to my voice. Maybe I could try some restraint! I am the American Bridget Jones...I am ready for a change but I have no idea what that change is going to be...I must be still to listen to God's voice...but I am not very good at being still! Work in progress. Thanks, Enid, for your wise words...

Julia · 1 year ago

I completely understand! Where is the fire? Don't feel bad...there are many of us fast talker/interupters out there...I think our culture contributes to that...

Beth C. · 1 year ago

The voice I hear inside my head is a force of nature that is powerful, strong and confident. Something is lost for me though as the words are turned into sounds. My voice when I speak sounds like something less than it does when the words are in my head. I love your suggestion to work with a voice coach and plan to follow up on it. I am perfectly comfortable speaking in public but for the fact that I just don;t like the sound of my voice. I think this could unlock some great potential for me. By the way, the Dead Can Dance rock my core too! Try Joe Strummer and the Mescaleros singing Mondo Bongo or Incubus singing Aqueous Transmissions.

Ellen · 1 year ago

My voice is soothing. It softens and lowers as the sound intensity of the room increases.

bene · 1 year ago

My voice is warm and happy and bright like a summers night. My voice is comforting and musical, like a light melody. It is holding back a bit though, and sometimes it comes out in tumbles of laughter , especially with my girlfriends. We feel like teenagers again and no doubt sounds like them.It is fun and liberating!

Candace · 1 year ago

My voice is like a thunderous rain. Beautiful, solid, peaceful yet powerful.

Shannon Fitzgerald · 1 year ago

Passionate, loud, excited to share ideas but has to stop itself from talking overs sometimes when the thoughts spill over into a massive crescendo!!!