Cannot project my voice!

[solobiker]

I am very soft spoken too. Ioften have to repeat myself and even then people often do not hear me. To me..when I am speaking at a "normal" level I feel as though I am shouting. My husband picks on me a lot saying that he sees my lips moving but does not hear anything. I have been trying harder but it is something I have to focus on. I will work on some of the above mentioned advice. Sorry to hijack this thread for a bit.

[snowroo]

I'm a speech path.

Sf is right. Volume is achieved by increasing subglottal pressure, which is the fancy way of saying supporting the breathe from your belly. Don't suck inyour gut. Relax it. Think of the little kids who wail and you can hear them from across town. Nice relaxed potty bellies. Stand tall, breath down, belly should move out as breath comes in.

Taking a big breath from your chest isn't as effective. You can get volume by increasing muscle tension at your vocal folds. This runs the risk of slamming the folds together (like clapping really hard -ouch). Like yelling. Or talking over loud music at a party. You go hoarse from doing this and over time can stay like that from little callouses that form.

The throat puke posture is affecting resonance. Makes a bigger space fore the sound to resonate. Makes for a fuller sound.

In general, to Increase volume, work on breath support. To work on clarity, speak at a slower rate, which will make it easier for your listeners to hear, discriminate and process your speech.

To get the hang of belly breathing, try it lying down. Lace your fingers over your belly and breath in. Your fingers should move.

[snowroo]

Sf is right. Volume is achieved by increasing subglottal pressure, which is the fancy way of saying supporting the breathe from your belly. Don't suck inyour gut. Relax it. Think of the little kids who wail and you can hear them from across down. Nice relaxed potty bellies. Stand tall, breath down, belly should move out as breath comes in.

Taking a big breath from your chest isn't as effective. You can get volume by increasing muscle tension at your vocal folds. This runs the risk of slamming the folds together (like clapping really hard -ouch). Like yelling. Or talking over loud music at a party. You go hoarse from doing this and over time can stay like that from little callouses that form.

The throat puke posture is affective resonance. Makes a bigger space for the sound to resonate. Makes for a fuller sound.

In general, to Increase volume, work on breath support. To work on clarity, speak at a slower rate, which will make it easier for your listeners to hear, discriminate and process your speech.

To get the hang of belly breathing, try it lying down. Lace your fingers over your belly and breath in. Your fingers should move.

[snowroo]

Sf is right. Volume is achieved by increasing subglottal pressure, which is the fancy way of saying supporting the breathe from your belly. Don't suck inyour gut. Relax it. Think of the little kids who wail and you can hear them from across down. Nice relaxed potty bellies. Stand tall, breath down, belly should move out as breath comes in.

Taking a big breath from your chest isn't as effective. You can get volume by increasing muscle tension at your vocal folds. This runs the risk of slamming the folds together (like clapping really hard -ouch). Like yelling. Or talking over loud music at a party. You go hoarse from doing this and over time can stay like that from little callouses that form.

The throat puke posture is affective resonance. Makes a bigger space for the sound to resonate. Makes for a fuller sound.

In general, to Increase volume, work on breath support. To work on clarity, speak at a slower rate, which will make it easier for your listeners to hear, discriminate and process your speech.

To get the hang of belly breathing, try it lying down. Lace your fingers over your belly and breath in. Your fingers should move.

[malkin]

A drama school voice teacher told us to imagine our voice coming from deep in the pelvis, then radiating up and out.

This image helps me keep more upright posture and keep my throat (etc.) relaxed.