Reply #33: That, and the shrill and tearful voice, bug me

[UncleSepp]

I cringe when I hear a woman get up to speak before a demonstration, and out comes this tearful, shrill voice that sounds like "Save the puppies! Won't someone think of the puppies!" What should be a voice showing anger and resolve instead comes out sounding petulant, and whatever it is the speaker's trying to say just comes out as a foot-stamping tantrum.

Reading aloud is one of the best things to train a speaking voice. Pick a book, pick an article, pick anything and read it out loud like you mean it. Practice modulating the voice to be soft at times and hard at times, and to travel over its natural range. Know where your voice can go so that you can hear it in your mind several words ahead of where your mouth is. Find a recording of a good speech, and practice that speech. If you go to a religious service where there is group praying out loud, try saying the prayers as if the words were your own them instead of just shuffling through what you've memorized - it feels less weird than talking to yourself. In the car, try speaking the lyrics to a song that's playing instead of singing them. Get used to the sound of your own voice. It is your instrument.