148. Caroline Goyder: Find Your Voice

Caroline Goyder’s global reputation as a speaker and voice coach is built on her warm, engaging, relaxed and highly practical style, and her expertise honed by her work with actors, teachers, broadcasters and the corporate sector. She worked for many years at Royal Central School of Speech and Drama as a voice coach. Her skill is to take ideas previously known by performers and broadcasters and to make them immediately usable for the audience in their personal and professional challenges. She is regularly sought after by the media as an expert in her field and her work has featured on television and in numerous national and international newspaper articles. Her TEDx Talk on speaking with confidence has had many millions of views. She has just released a new book “Find Your Voice” (2020). Find Your Voice Caroline wrote this book on her own experience, how having been a voice coach she struggled for many years: her voice didn’t have enough resonance, she was “in her head.” She spent time to learn in depth how the voice really works and with more and more practice she found her voice. How the voice works As in her TEDx talk, Caroline used the analogy with a guitar to explain how the voice works. The human voice is an instrument. The strings are your vocal folds; the hitter is the air/breath that comes out of your lungs (primarily pushed by the diaphragm); and the resonator is your body. When people are in “text neck” position (leaning towards their phones), they don’t allow the diaphragm to bring the force and push air. If you want a good voice, hold a good posture. How to get a deeper voice It’s not about lowering the notes at the bottom of your range, it’s about getting the body aligned and relaxed so the sound drops to the body. Think of a yawn or laugh, those are natural deep voices. Getting a deeper voice is about having resonance on your voice, and being at ease (relaxed). If your voice gets dry The most important thing is that you warm up before the event, both your voice and body. Also, make sure you’re breathing through your nose, as breathing from the mouth dries your throat. As a warmup, singing is good too. Related: 5 Quotes About Your Powerful Voice Favorite quotation “Fear is excitement without the breath.” — Fritz Perls  Recommended book Voice and the Actor ...