Yesterday I commented on lighter, higher voices having an advantage because they traveled further. This morning is a ‘brain off’ morning and I’m sitting, vegged out, in front of the TV. Which is fine, ‘cos it’s showing “BATMAN; the brave and the bold”. (Cultured? Me?)
Batman, of course, is calm, powerful and brooding. Well, as much as a cartoon can be, and one of the main ways they do this by doing using an appropriate voice. Diedrich Bader has just the right amount of ‘weight’ behind it to give Batman the credibility he needs (do you think I’m taking a kids’ cartoon too seriously?).
So, to go with the tips for helping get a lower voice to carry further yesterday, here are a couple of tips for people with higher pitched voices to get more ’emotional weight’ to what they say….
- Drop your shoulders, relax the muscles of your bottom and waggle your jaw before you start to speak; sigh; stand still for a few seconds
- Hum for a second (at whatever pitch your voice naturally starts at) and then let your voice drop ever so slightly (not too much!); continue to hum at the lower pitch for as long as you comfortably can on one breath
- visualise your voice coming not out of you mouth but out of your navel
- swing your arms a little to loosen up your chest and allow resonance to develop there
Okay, so on their own these things aren’t going to change your voice over-night (they’re only tips, not training! :) ) but they’ll certainly help.
