Harnessing Breathing Techniques for Vocal Mastery

In this episode of Unleashed, Melanie Espeland talks about the importance of using one's voice to make a powerful first impression. Melanie, an executive coach and life coach, shares her structure for building an executive presence. The structure includes two pillars: the literal (physical world) and the figurative (mental and emotional world).

Voice Is The First Impression

The literal pillar focuses on the speaker's voice, which includes nonverbal communication, posture, and body language. The figurative pillar includes authenticity, confidence, and vision. Authenticity is crucial as it involves being connected to oneself and having clarity about who they are and how they want to show up. Confidence is separate from executive presence as it involves believing in the effectiveness of their actions and their ability to connect with their audience. Vision is influenced by watching great leaders speak and media training work, and it involves articulating one's thoughts, needs, and future focus or thesis in a clear, consistent, and well-understood manner. In summary, Melanie emphasizes the importance of using one's voice to make a powerful first impression in various aspects of life. She provides a series of voice exercises that can be done at home and offers tips on how to use one's voice to make a powerful first impression. By understanding and practicing these techniques, individuals can build their own executive presence and improve their overall professional image.

Voice Exercises - Training the Tool

Melanie jumps into the exercises to demonstrate how they work. One important exercise is warming up the voice, starting with humming the sound as an H. This will help with projection and open up the mouth for the arm. The speaker also suggests doing a simple vocal warmup, such as a e Oh, ah, to start articulating around the mouth, tongue, and facial articulators. She compares the voice to an instrument, and the body is an instrument, and the voice is the sound it creates. To tune up the voice appropriately, the speaker suggests stretching beforehand to avoid injury or muscle hamstrings. Melanie also emphasizes the importance of giving the jaw and tongue muscles a little bit of love and attention. She suggests using a lion and mouse exercise to warm up the face and facial muscles, making them small and tight, and then expanding them. This helps the face constrict and expand, working those muscles and wake them up. The jaw needs a little bit of love, as the jaw and tongue are the most overworked muscles when it comes to speaking. To relax the jaw, the speaker suggests yawning or letting it relax naturally.

Melanie explains the importance of a vocal warmup, which can range from two minutes to an hour, depending on the individual's needs and skill level. She suggests building this routine into your daily or every other day routine, making it whatever length works for you. She also shares specific exercises that can elevate your voice, such as tongue placement. One of the most surprising exercises is the tongue placement exercise, specifically for American English. This exercise is specific to American English speaking and is not necessarily accurate for other languages.

Melanie  demonstrates different placements of their tongue, such as the back of the mouth, middle of the mouth, and front of the mouth. She demonstrates how different they sound with their tongue in different general placements and  encourages practicing these techniques over time to improve their voice and feel more confident and comfortable speaking. 

In conclusion, building in a vocal warmup is essential for both personal and professional success. By practicing these exercises, individuals can enhance their voice and become more confident and effective in their communication.

Developing The Mind-Body Connection

Melanie explains how to create a mind-body connection, using your fingers to direct your body and physically move your tongue where it needs to be. Practice at home by reading text with your tongue in different placements, especially forward, to gradually move your tongue forward. Use the TH sound to prompt forward placement, such as using a sentence like "They thought the thesis was thorough." This exercise is great for diction and tone placement. In American English, the TH sound is sometimes mistaken for the D or F sound, so be aware of this and differentiate between the two sounds. Use all three sounds in a sentence to make distinctions between them. For example, "The thoughtful dog dodged a fiery thicket" can help ensure you are working on tone placement and overall diction.It is also important to think about other ways to improve your sounds and diction, such as identifying and working on challenging sounds like W, S, and F sounds. This can be done by asking friends or family, listening to yourself or a recording of yourself speaking, or listening to yourself or a recording of yourself speaking.

Improving Vocal Range

Melanie shares her experience with a large vocal range, which can be quite low for a female voice. She attributes this to her proper training and attention to detail. However, if she is not properly using her body or breathing properly, she can sound very different. Melanie emphasizes that both genetics and practice play a role in her vocal range.In society, a lower-pitched voice is often considered more authoritative, but this can be achieved through proper breathing technique. Melanie suggests starting with more simple texts and gradually moving up to more challenging ones. She offers several tips to practice and improve one’s vocal range. Female voices tend to be higher, resulting in a more warmth and friendliness. This can be a secret weapon when used appropriately. To achieve this, exercises like tongue placement and breathing exercises can help. Tongue placement helps sound more precise and formal, making individuals more confident. Breathing exercises help deliver more grounded and authoritative sounds. The key is to use your feminine voice to your advantage and incorporate other tools to enhance your authority and sense of knowing. Using a quick breathing technique can help maintain a balance between warmth and authority.

Breathing Techniques

Melanie goes on to explain the importance of proper breathing technique in singing. She emphasizes the importance of using the diaphragm, a dome-shaped muscle that interacts with the ribcage and respiratory system, to create sound. Breathing deeper into the diaphragm allows for more air to be absorbed and expelled.

She suggests practicing by placing one hand on the belly and the other on the chest below the collarbone to double check if the diaphragm is engaged. This exercise helps build awareness of how to breathe and how much air is being brought in and out of the body. It may take some practice to feel comfortable with this exercise, but it is essential to understand how your body is working and how to engage the diaphragm. Over time, the goal is to get more air into the body, breathe slowly, and use more air when exhaling and speaking.

For those who have asked about pitch, speaking lower, or speaking more slowly, this exercise is a great way to start working on these aspects. Additionally, it is relaxing, making it an ideal practice for those with stressful days or big presentations.Melanie emphasizes the importance of proper breathing technique in singing, particularly in terms of utilizing the diaphragm. By practicing this exercise, individuals can become more aware of their breathing and control their breath to create sound. For exercises to avoid trailing off at the end of a sentence and to avoid raising your voice at the end of a sentence, she suggests working on breathing with your diaphragm to have more air to express yourself and move through sentences with the same emphasis and volume projection, and she explains the importance of improving breathing and voice quality to eliminate nasal quality.

Melanie Espeland, a former McKinsey consultant, is now a PCC ICF certified coach. She  has worked with Olympians, influencers, and executives on their speaking and executive presence. Espeland loves working one-on-one, as it allows for the biggest impact and value. 

Timestamps:

00:10 Using voice to make a powerful first impression

01:29 Voice and executive presence coaching

04:19 Improving executive presence through voice exercises

09:23 Vocal warm-ups and facial articulators

15:11 Yawning and jaw relaxation techniques

18:34 Vocal warm-ups and tongue placement for better diction, projection, and likability

25:19 Tongue placement for clear speech

30:49 Improving diction and vocal range through exercises

36:28 Voice coaching techniques and breathing exercises

39:07 Using breathing techniques to improve vocal authority

44:26 Breathing techniques for better speaking

50:35 Improving public speaking skills and breathing techniques

Links:

Website: https://www.melaniesespeland.com/

Email: melanie.espeland@gmail.com

Unleashed is produced by Umbrex, which has a mission of connecting independent management consultants with one another, creating opportunities for members to meet, build relationships, and share lessons learned. Learn more at www.umbrex.com.