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The Passionate Speaker
"Trust, which is the glue of business, is created by dependability, quality content, and intimacy with clients.
Of those elements, intimacy is the hardest to achieve."
- George Forrest Colony
of Forrester Research, Inc.,
in Fast CompanyA Newsletter for Speakers By Michael Landrum February, 2004 - Number 60 The Poker Voice Trust depends on intimacy. We trust those who are willing to show us their feelings, to let us come close to them. We trust those who trust us enough to show us their authentic face and speak with their whole genuine voice. There is little of dependability, quality content or intimacy in the communications around a poker table. Anyone who plays poker will know the important value of a “poker face.” Poker is a game of risk and secrecy. A poker face is a stony mask that the best players develop to prevent the opponent from deducing what cards are being held by reading the emotions of the face. Inscrutability is the watch-word. Normally, the human voice can be an even better window into one’s emotional life than the face. Our voices betray the subtlest nuance of feeling, and picking up these signals is well within the capacity of most people with normal hearing. For actors and speakers, this emotional element is one of the most important parts of the message. A free, flexible vocal instrument is a great asset to a speaker wishing to move and persuade a listener. But there are some people who need to hide their feelings when they speak, people whose business requires the keeping of secrets. Diplomats, spies, negotiators, and many business people develop a “poker voice” that betrays no emotion. Henry Kissinger is perhaps the most obvious example. Mr. Kissinger scarcely opens his mouth when he speaks, and even then seems unwilling to allow his voice to get past his Adam’s apple. While this trait may be essential in sensitive negotiations, it renders his voice stiff and wooden when addressing an audience. Voice coaches call this a “back-focused” or “clamped” voice. The sound is stuck in the larynx where it drones away in an irritating monotone. John Wayne, the cowboy actor, also had a back-focused voice, though not as severe as Kissinger’s. Women sometimes use this vocal tactic - Tallula Bankhead, an actress in the 1940's, had a unique baritone throatiness. A back-focused voice will have little stamina, and for a professional speaker it can be a real problem. Under the stress of a political campaign for example, an improperly focused voice will soon tire and fail. There are exercises that will overcome this problem and, for a motivated speaker, it is fairly easy to adjust the voice. One obstacle is that many back-focused speakers like their voice that way. They like growling in their throats and the deep rumble of chest resonance, so it is difficult to persuade them that they need to lighten up. The drawbacks to a poker voice are lack of power and lack of expression. Because the voice is centered in the back of the throat, there is a tendency to be lip-lazy and mumble. The tension required to maintain a poker voice robs the speaker of energy and volume. A properly focused voice will pass through the larynx with little sensation or effort. The ideal placement of the voice is in the front of the mouth, just behind the upper front teeth. Each vowel occurs in a different place in the mouth; the ‘a’ in ‘father’ being the furthest back and lowest in the throat; while the long ‘e’ in ‘meet’ will be placed furthest forward and highest in the mouth. This is why singers usually warm up by singing scales using the syllables ‘mee’ and ‘ma’. You might want to try it yourself using ‘mi-mi-mi-mi’ and ‘ma-ma-ma-ma’ up and down a short scale. Experiment by moving the sound to various places in the mouth. Where does it have the most power? Where does it require the least effort? Some singing teachers encourage their students to imagine the sound emerging from the bridge of the nose, spiraling out in a high arch that sets the resonators of the face to ringing. Actor Richard Burton built his powerful trumpet of a voice by reciting Shakespeare to his teacher out in the windswept mountains of his native Wales. The teacher would stand fifty yards away and tell him “make me hear you, but do not shout.” Many people resign themselves to their voices thinking they have no choice in the matter. Actually, the voice can often be shaped and molded just as the body can, by a dedicated regimen of exercises and attention. There are limits, of course - it would be foolish to think you can become an opera star in your middle years. But if you understand that your voice is the result of unconscious imprinting, poor habits and inertia, you are well on the way to correcting many problems. A free, well-focused voice is one of the most powerful tools a leader can possess. With such an instrument, a leader will always be able to make his or her thoughts and reasons understood. But even more importantly, through such a voice the speaker’s feelings, strong or subtle, tender or filled with intense determination, will be able to work their magic on the listener. . . and in most listeners reason justifies, but emotion decides. Can we trust this speaker? That’s a question often answered by something in the voice. A Thought to Ponder "The mark of a good salesperson is that his customer doesn't regard him as a salesperson at all, but a trusted and indispensable adviser, an auxiliary employee who, fortunately, is on someone else's payroll." - Harvey Mackay, Swim with the Sharks ©2001-2003 Michael F. Landrum |
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