You now have a really solid basis for your Better Voice, and in this unit you will be building on that.
Now’s a good time to start bringing into your life what you are practising and learning. As a first step, just try out a few things with any family or friends who will be supportive.
If you are saying a word beginning with a good hummy consonant such as ‘m’, ‘n’ or ‘w’, take a moment before you speak to focus the sound in your head as you have been doing in the exercises.
Also, while you talk try to keep in mind the sound-generating machine in your head from which your voice flows, and of the on/off switch behind your forehead. Keeping your focus here will deter any tendency to slip back to controlling your voice from your throat.
Think of some of other ways that would help you start getting your Better Voice into your life where it belongs.
Just by doing the Better Voice course and incorporating its techniques into your life you are helping your learners and your colleagues: you’ll need less time off with voice problems and will be developing a more effective teaching style. But you may want to start thinking about introducing its benefits to others more directly.
Healthy voice use, though rarely taught directly in school, is very relevant to that part of the curriculum that promotes learners’ health and well-being and that recognizes and examines behaviours conducive to, or harmful to, health.
The Better Voice technique is excellent for children and young people, and you’ll be doing your classes a life-long favour if you can implant just the one simple message: When you use your voice imagine it coming down from your head and not up from your throat.
Because the young meet a new idea with less baggage than an adult – and have had less time to develop bad habits – they often grasp the fundamental technique quickly and easily. The concept of the voice flowing down from an on/off switch in their forehead often appeals too, and placing a finger on your own forehead is an easy visual reminder that can be given at any time.
If you teach singing or drama you are obviously best placed to introduce Better Voice in class directly. But there are other opportunities too, such as informal end-of-term or post-exam lessons, for example.
Science is another way in. The role of the head sinuses in voice, accompanied by suitably grisly pictures of the inside of a skull, can be an interest-grabbing introduction.
Other ways to incorporate Better Voice techniques in your teaching will present themselves if you’re looking for them.
You will probably also want to share your experience of Better Voice with your colleagues. You might give a staff talk about it. Think what a tremendous difference it would make if the whole school got involved.
Q: What plans do you have for introducing Better Voice to others?
You now have a really solid basis for your Better Voice, and in this unit you will be building on that.
Now’s a good time to start bringing into your life what you are practising and learning. As a first step, just try out a few things with any family or friends who will be supportive.
If you are saying a word beginning with a good hummy consonant such as ‘m’, ‘n’ or ‘w’, take a moment before you speak to focus the sound in your head as you have been doing in the exercises.
Also, while you talk try to keep in mind the sound-generating machine in your head from which your voice flows, and of the on/off switch behind your forehead. Keeping your focus here will deter any tendency to slip back to controlling your voice from your throat.
Think of some of other ways that would help you start getting your Better Voice into your life where it belongs.
Just by doing the Better Voice course and incorporating its techniques into your life you are helping your learners and your colleagues: you’ll need less time off with voice problems and will be developing a more effective teaching style. But you may want to start thinking about introducing its benefits to others more directly.
Healthy voice use, though rarely taught directly in school, is very relevant to that part of the curriculum that promotes learners’ health and well-being and that recognizes and examines behaviours conducive to, or harmful to, health.
The Better Voice technique is excellent for children and young people, and you’ll be doing your classes a life-long favour if you can implant just the one simple message: When you use your voice imagine it coming down from your head and not up from your throat.
Because the young meet a new idea with less baggage than an adult – and have had less time to develop bad habits – they often grasp the fundamental technique quickly and easily. The concept of the voice flowing down from an on/off switch in their forehead often appeals too, and placing a finger on your own forehead is an easy visual reminder that can be given at any time.
If you teach singing or drama you are obviously best placed to introduce Better Voice in class directly. But there are other opportunities too, such as informal end-of-term or post-exam lessons, for example.
Science is another way in. The role of the head sinuses in voice, accompanied by suitably grisly pictures of the inside of a skull, can be an interest-grabbing introduction.
Other ways to incorporate Better Voice techniques in your teaching will present themselves if you’re looking for them.
You will probably also want to share your experience of Better Voice with your colleagues. You might give a staff talk about it. Think what a tremendous difference it would make if the whole school got involved.
Q: What plans do you have for introducing Better Voice to others?
