Speech Coach

What exercises are best for learning to SLOW DOWN one's speech? I've been told that I talk too fast ever since I was young.

Asked by Darren.T almost 11 years ago

In all likelihood, if you speak quickly, you feel as if you cannot do anything about it. However, we assure you something can be done! Factors contributing to fast-paced speech include nervousness, self-consciousness, a self-imposed sense of urgency, and one that most people don’t realize - inefficient breathing technique. The insecurity that results from your fast speech or being misunderstood causes an anxious or nervous feeling, that in turn causes you to feel more self-conscious. It’s a vicious cycle that can be stopped!

Many people speak quickly because they’re enthusiastic about what they’re saying and feel like they need to get the words out as soon as possible (the aforementioned urgency). The key is to find a balance that we describe as “relaxed enthusiasm.”

Per your request, we have a few tips for you. The first is to get in the habit of filming yourself. You can do this for as little as 30 seconds then watch the video back. Filming is the best way to monitor your speed more objectively. If it sounds like you’re speaking too fast, try a video where it seems as though you’re talking entirely too slow. Go at a snail’s pace. When you watch back did you notice you were speaking at a more average or normal rate? The trick is to reconcile your perception with reality.

The second exercise is performed with a partner. Try articulating your thoughts one word at a time. Each time your partner opens his or her hand, say a word. Each time the hand closes, pause. He or she should vary the tempo of opening and closing to keep you on your game. Your partner is there to ensure you don’t say more than one word at a time. As soon as you’ve mastered this, try full sentences using punctuation marks to pause for breath.

Another thing that may be making you speak quickly is the rate of the words themselves. You can consider this as you might the act of singing. For example, try singing “America the Beautiful” (or any other legato song) and stop at the punctuation. Do you see how the words themselves last a beat or two? Then try speaking the phrase as a sentence, drawing out the vowels as you would while singing, just not quite as long. Elongating the vowels will inherently slow your speech.

If you work through these exercises diligently, they should help you speak slower. It’s also useful to work with a coach that can help expedite this process.

What's required in order to be able to TEACH speech? Obviously not everyone who has a good voice could teach that to others, so how do you know if you'd make a good teacher of it?

Asked by Lauren over 10 years ago

"While having a "good voice" can be an indication of one's potential to teach speech, having a strong ear and a keen eye might count for even more. In order to be an effective speech teacher, one must possess the ability to specifically identify subtle features of others' voices, articulation, and physicality. These features, unique to each individual, will contextualize, and serve as the starting point, for the collaborative work between teacher and student.

In order for development to occur, the teacher must expertly guide the student through the appropriate adjustments that enable a shift from the old habit, to a newly established habit. It is a thorough understanding of the appropriate functioning of the breath, voice, and articulators that will ensure the teacher’s efficacy is developing new habits for the student. Having a “good voice” to begin with just might mean that understanding is already in place.”

How much do you think you can tell about someone's personality just from hearing their voice? If you heard different people read the same passage, you think you could make reliable guesses about their kindness, stubbornness, leadership skills etc?

Asked by Ruff about 10 years ago

As a voice and speech coach it is certainly imperative that you possess the ability to draw conclusions from the sound of a person’s voice.  For example, one would want to be able to identify tension in a variety of specific locations based on the quality of the voice production.  In this regard, there are correct assumptions to be made. A tight, gripped, or pressed voice will almost always mean a speaker is dealing with unnecessary compression in the larynx, hyper-nasality will indicate a tight, or inflexible soft palate, etc. However it is important to separate judgment based, or subjective conclusions from the actuality of the physical habits of the speaker.  It is not necessarily the place of the Voice/Speech Coach to understand how or why that tension came to be in the first place.  Our job is merely to offer the speaker new habits with which to replace the old, and to facilitate a healthier, more sustainable speaking voice. That being said, we as a society have, for whatever reasons, cultivated associations to myriad sounds that are accepted as true by large swaths of the population.  Deeper voices tend to be regarded as more authoritative or aggressive, whereas a breathy voice, more seductive. Nasal voices get a bad wrap for how it feels to hear them, and so on.  Furthermore, inflection plays a huge role in how we perceive a speaker.  So though there is undoubtedly information to be gleaned from the quality and implementation of one’s speaking, I would caution that to draw too strict a conclusion about an individual’s character based solely on the sound of their voice could be misleading.  Remember what’s always been said about books and covers.

-Doug Paulson, Associate Instructor

What's your favorite or biggest client success story?

Asked by Harry about 10 years ago

My goal as a Speech Coach is to not only teach people but also reach people. Therefore, my greatest success story would have to be giving public speaking instruction to a gentleman whose goal was to run for public office in his native country, India. In all honesty, our initial session left me skeptical about his ability to reach such a lofty goal. His career as a tax auditor and accountant rarely afforded him the opportunity to speak in the public, political arena. His lack of comfort in communicating was apparent due to his stilted speech pattern and his constant use of filler words like “um”, “uh” and “OK”. It turned out that he had enough determination for the both of us.

I suggested that we take the usual approach of scheduling weekly, one hour sessions to address his speech issues. He countered with a request for two hour sessions twice a week! It soon became evident that my client took his training and daily practicing very, very seriously. It was during our nine months together that I built up an enormous library of quality speeches. His weekly demand for newer and better material was astounding!

After several months of both public speaking practice and articulation drills, my client was ready for the subtle nuances of body language and the utilization of varying intonation. He took to both of these with amazing ease. His comfort and confidence were at an all-time high. We both knew he was ready for the challenge of returning to his native country and making changes for the better. I am proud that I was able to help him reach so many others.

-Paul Geiger, Associate Instructor

You may know that children that grow up in dysfunctional families often times have modulation control problems when speaking that last a lifetime. Is this something you treat or can it be "unlearned"....Thanks.

Asked by mcmjuly about 10 years ago

Most modulation problems have to do with lack of adequate breath support. Lack of breath support can lead to physical compensation by the muscles surrounding the larynx and vocal cords. The sensation and the sound can be described as a “tight voice”. The stress of growing up in a dysfunctional family can cause additional raising of the larynx and additional tightness. The goal of the speech coach is to relax the stressed voice. This can only be achieved by recognizing and ultimately regulating your diaphragm muscle and reconnecting to your ability to speak on breath. As the old speech behavior is modified, the speaker’s confidence in their well supported voice will increase. Modulation control comes from developing a vowel centric speech technique with a strong foundation of breath support. Changing behavior of any kind requires diligence, time and good guidance. Speech behavior is no exception.

-Paul Geiger, Associate Instructor

What do you think is the hardest speech difficulty to fix (ex: lisps, stutters, anxiety, etc)?

Asked by Sauvignee almost 10 years ago

What causes people to "lose" their voice? If a Broadway performer loses her voice an hour before showtime, are there last-minute emergency exercises to get it back quickly?

Asked by Diane in SF about 10 years ago