Speak easy

No, this post is not about Prohibition or bootlegging. (sorry to disappoint)

There is an old Italian, bel canto phrase that says, “Si canta come si parla” or “You sing as you speak.” The idea is that if you have bad habits in the way you speak, those habits will impact your singing voice. Conversely, if you use your speaking voice efficiently, that bodes well for your singing.

One of the negative practices we can fall into is speaking too loudly. Just as singing loudly uses more force and pressure than singing at a medium dynamic level, speaking loudly can similarly cause vocal fatigue.

We often get subconsciously tricked into speaking louder than is necessary. Try this experiment: get in a car and, before starting the engine, turn on the radio to an acceptable sound level. Then turn on the engine and start driving and notice how much louder you need to turn the radio volume in order to hear it (especially if you’re driving at interstate speeds). This tells us just how much noise our voices have to compete with when we’re in the car. This applies to any noisy environment (loud restaurants, music or sporting events, classes with theatre majors, etc.). We always have to be guarded about how loudly we are speaking but especially when we are competing with background noise.

Another pitfall is speaking below our optimal pitch level. We all love the sound of deep, radio-announcer voices and our culture definitely tells us that low voices are viewed as powerful, sexy, and authoritative. But the truth is that most of us speak at a lower pitch than is ideal for our voices.

As we all know, the vocal folds lengthen for high notes and shorten for low notes. Interestingly, one study I read pointed out that, when going from silence to speaking, most of us actually shorten our vocal folds. This means that when we speak, our vocal folds engage to take on a shorter position (using a lower pitch) than when they are at rest.

A common rule of thumb is the “uh-huh” test. When we say “uh-huh,” as if we are answering “yes” to a question, the pitch we use tends to be pretty close to where our natural speaking voice sits.

One other inefficiency is the use of glottal fry (also called vocal fry). This phenomenon usually happens when we drop in pitch or trail off at the end of sentences. In recent years, however, it has become an unfortunate trend in the way people speak—especially young women.

Watch this video to see what it is (and to see how annooooooying it is):

http://www.cbsnews.com/videos/faith-salie-on-speaking-with-vocal-fry/

While speaking in vocal fry is not necessarily harmful, per se, it is definitely inefficient and in no way benefits our singing. Author and Speech-Language Pathologist Karen Wicklund points out that vocal fry can play a role in some voice therapies, but in singing it may encourage imprecise onset.

There are lots of ways we use our vocal folds that can have negative impacts on our singing voices, like throat clearing, coughing, and sneezing. Given how much we speak throughout the course of a day, it’s a good idea to pay attention to “how” we speak as well.

Si canta come si parla.

Now go practice.