Week 9 and 10

Prior to the main activity, we were told to execute the personal warm ups again. This time, it was clear that I needed to warm up my voice – and so ran through the sequence of breathing, humming, and warming up the articulators. I did manage to spread out the time evenly with regard to each exercise, but perhaps next time in other circumstances I should focus more on what my voice needed more – especially if I do not have the luxury of time.

For this week my group is tasked with presenting the question: What is more important and why: the visual or spoken aspects of a presentation? Share your top tips on how to improve one’s presentation skills. Our group focused on the usage of visual aids for this one – mainly how to use visual aids to enhance and not hinder our presentation. Generally, presentation wise, our group received good feedback – but sometimes we did not practice what we preach. For myself, because I wasn’t feeling tip top that week – tended to overcompensate the low energy level with more waffling – which was counterproductive (and rather ironic) as my part stressed on being concise and clear. HuiXiang also commented that I tend to have too many fillers – which is something I am trying to correct as well – I have to learn to be comfortable with inputting pauses in my speech and stop using fillers to punctuate it. Pauses can buy time for one to organize thoughts.  

I thought the group presentations were a good practice on negotiating group dynamics – and how order matters in a group presentation. Regardless of energy levels, loudness, styles – it is necessary to level out and balance each individual’s strong points. To me, it was not necessarily vital to “converge” to a particular speaking style, but it’s how we bridge and transfer this energy level from one speaker to another. This takes practice, as well as a high amount of trust amongst team members.

After which, we reviewed some of the video/webinars done by the class – the main points I’ve jotted down to take note of were the camera angles, environmental noise and clutter and varying of facial expressions. Camera angles needed to be adjust so that lighting on the face is appropriate – not harsh as well as not under lit. We should also pay attention to the environment we are recording our webinars in to ensure there are no distractions either in sound or in visuals (etc. other points of focus in the moving images), facial expression also had to mirror what was being said to show sincerity and engagement. For my own video, I remembered that I might have filmed it too close to the camera (this was confirmed by the Claire who complained about my nostrils and face being too close to the screen in the following week….)

 For Week 10, two other groups presented on how to deliver a good Webinar and the presentation of Steve Jobs. Similarly, we commented on the order of speakers, the quality of voice – but this time also talked about how the speakers utilized space in their presentations. I thought the last group that presented (Steve Jobs) had sort of a convergent style – whereby everyone exercised an amount of refrain to make sure that the presentation style stayed more or less constant throughout.

When going through the Webinars, mine came up and it was considered too “proud and patronizing” at parts – even if it wasn’t my original intention. My guess was that the eye contact and the tone of voice contributed to this. I should take note that I don’t sound or look patronizing during my final presentation.

Personalised Vocal Warm Up Routine – 20 mins

Adapted from Rodenburg, P. (1992). The Right to Speak: Working with the Voice. London: Methuen Drama, pp. 176-228

1.     Relaxation and Breathing –  10 mins

(a) Lie down on the back. Limbs at ease placed naturally at the sides of the body in corpse pose. Eyes closed and maintain a natural breathing rhythm. Clear thoughts. Check body for tension. Go through major joints (e.g. arms, legs, back) making sure that each area is relaxed after purposefully tensing up each part. Be aware of each of the tension points* that affect breathing and make sure to relax that part. 

*Any tension at any part of the body that affects the breathing patterns should be made aware. Physical activity might have caused unnecessary tension before this.

(b) Breathe in for 8 counts, andante, and breathe out for 8. Make sure there is no tension in any part of the body, and that the abdomen area is rising when breathing in – meaning that breathing is not into the chest but into the diaphragm area. Repeat 1-2 times for each set. 

If lung capacity allows, move on to 10 or even 12 counts on inhalation of exhalation.

(c) Decrease the counts of exhalation to 8, then 5 to energize the body with the quick exhalations

Roll sideways and slowly get up to a sitting position.

2.     Resonance and Vocal awakening – 5 mins

(a)  Massage the neck, and make sure all tension is released

(b)  Breathe in deeply, Hum. Repeat for 1-2 times and vary pitch.

(c)   Breathe in deeply, Hum and release into a series of vowels (Mah-Meh-Mee-Mai-Mou-Muu). Repeat for 1-2 times and vary pitch.

(d)  Massage neck to ensure no tension

(e)  Repeat (c), but this time in push up position, pushing into the cobra pose with the release. Repeat 1-2 times

3.     Articulators and pronunciation – 5 mins

(a)  Stretch face – eyes, nose, mouth, massage cheeks and ensure no tension. Blow lips.

(b)  Start with consonants, going through a series of consonants starting with the bilabial (b,p,m,w) in the rhythm (123 123 123 1), progressively towards the glottal. Do them only once unless there’s a trip. Refer to IPA chart for the consonants.

(c)   End with some tongue twisters.

“Red lorry yellow lorry, Red leather yellow leather, Irish Wristwatch, Peter piper picked… “

(d)  Power pose and final deep breath with fast exhalation.

References:

Rodenburg, P. (1992). The Right to Speak: Working with the Voice. London: Methuen Drama,

5. Besides cultivating good habits of voice and speech production, how can we actively care for and maximise the use of our voices in terms of modifying our lifestyle and environment?

Bunch (1997) has written a chapter on the prevention and care of vocal problems. Firstly s/he looked at general health and nutrition and the first thing mentioned is sleep. “A tired body means a tired voice” and so sleep and rest is needed to maintain a healthy body and voice. Eating wise, a balanced diet is advocated to “combat wear and tear of tissues”. (p. 124) Physical activity is also encouraged – mainly cardiovascular exercises – to increase lung capacity and support I presume. In terms of emotional well-being, as mentioned in the previous entry, the mind reflects its state on the body – and so it is good to handle problems in a calm manner and not let it take its toll on the emotions. Personally, I do use strength training with a little bit of cardiovascular as physical exercise , as well as an outlet to manage stress – and I think it does maintain lung capacity. During periods which I do not exercising, I find it slightly harder to sustain a good tone when singing or playing the flute.

It is also hard to avoid the occasional cold/flu or respiratory illness (which I also get several times a year). Any vocal activity should be minimized when we are plagued with respiratory ailments. Plenty of rest and fluids is needed if one is sick. We also need to avoid clearing our throats too often as it harms the vocal folds. For singers or speakers, make use of the time to do some internal audiation (imagine your singing/speech) if we truly cannot pull away from practicing. For myself, I refrain from speaking unless absolutely necessary and stop practicing on the flute as well – this is to ensure that I recover in a shorter period of time and to prevent further damage to the vocal cords.

 Also, there is a tendency to overstrain or overuse our voice sometimes – and that leads to problems such as hoarseness or vocal nodules. We need to ensure that the right technique of voice production is utilized – and that we do not strain or overuse our voices. Conversely Bunch also mentions there is “hoarseness of psychogenic origin” (p.130), where it is the nerves that causes this hoarseness instead. Even more so we should be aware of our own mind/bodies.

The usage of drugs and cigarettes should also be minimized. Even if personally I don’t use either, I avoid places where I could take a whiff of the latter. However, I am guilty of drinking occasionally – and more often than not I wake up with a really dry throat due to a crazy night out. It is wise to exercise control and know when to enjoy and when to exercise refrain. Drugs impair the emotional sensitivities and may alter how we perceive our own voices. While not advocating for everyone to be entirely drug-free – it is good to know what each vice does to one’s body and voice.

 In addition to Bunch’s advice, I find humming to be particular helpful in relaxing the voice and restore mental clarity. As teachers, we often have to speak louder than 30-40 chattering students in the class in order to be heard – and that can really take a toll on the vocal cords. Perhaps a better method would be to use non verbal communication for classroom discipline; or to use an amplifying device in class to make sure my voice is not strained. In the long run, this might be a good idea as it conserves the voice that we teachers need to use all the time – even more important as I would be a music teacher – so singing is also inevitable. The air-conditioned environment in classes or the staff room can get drying at times – so I would establish the habit of frequent hydration or even place a humidifier nearby to ensure that the vocal tract/throat is always hydrated.

References:

Bunch, M. (1997). Dynamics of the Singing Voice (4^th ed.). Wien: Springer-Verlag