When we think of the ideal court herald, we envision one who can be heard throughout the noisy court, whose voice commands the attention of all in a room. They speak clearly, their words cutting though the din of rustling cloth and weary children and the inevitable bustle of a hundred people at the end of the day.
You might think that it takes a special kind of person to have that sort of voice, and while it's true that certain bodies have a natural pre-disposition toward being heard over a crowd, every person can learn how to project their voice to be heard clearly, if they practice good vocal projection techniques.
There are many things you can practice to help your vocal projection improve. Annunciation, breath support, and relaxation of the body are the primary ways that you can improve the sound you make to fill a room and carry your message clearly.
First, Relax!
It's easy to be nervous when you're standing up in front of a large crowd, with every eye trained on you, but do try to put that out of your mind. If you need to, pick someone in the back of the room, and pretend like you're trying to get your message to that one person.
Remember, vocal projection is not yelling. Yelling is a strident, constricted sound that lacks the fullness of a well-projected voice, and it will not carry with clarity and authority through a large room. When you yell, your vocal cords are tight, and the vibrations from pushing that much volume through tight vocal cords will stress them, which can cause you to lose your voice. If you do it enough, you can permanently damage your voice.
To help you relax, wiggle out your whole body. Shake your limbs up, stretch your body out into BIG postures. Stand in the Superman pose (studies show that boosts your confidence!). Activate your parasympathetic nervous system to convince your body that you're not in any danger. Purposely tense up all your major muscle groups, and then let them out to relax. Take in a big deep breath, and then think about yawning, and let that yawn get big and wide. Stretch. Make a silly noise with your mouth, and then laugh at yourself.
Support your breathing!
You can't make a big noise if you don't have big air to push it! Sit or stand up very straight, shoulders back, and breathe in the deepest breath you can. Feel it fill up your lungs, all the way down to your belly. Your diaphragm, that muscle that supports and fills your lungs, needs to stretch, too! Take a few big deep breaths, and then forcefully push them out through loosely pursed lips. Focus on making the biggest whoosh noise that you can with only your breath. Your belly should move the most, that's how you know that your diaphragm is supporting your air, instead of the smaller, more delicate muscles in the upper part of your ribcage.
Vocal exercises designed for theater students or cheerleaders can help you learn how it feels to have well supported breath. When I was a cheerleader, we used to lay down in pairs, with one laying their head on the other's belly, and practice our cheers with the goal of making our partner's head bounce with each word or syllable. You can practice this at home by yourself with a heavy book, though! Some people say it's like talking from your belly button. Remember, that if you're making a loud noise and your diaphragm isn't pushing that air, your vocal cords are supporting that noise instead and that's not good for them.
Here's a very good video from the National Theatre in England to help you practice your vocal support techniques. They lead you in ways to make sure that you are keeping your resonance in your chest, instead of in your sinus cavities or throat.
Articulation!
There's no use being loud if you're not clear! Vowel sounds carry very well, because they are made with your mouth open, but without consonants, your proclamation sounds like "AY AY OR EH OW UH EH IREL!" instead of "Make way for the Crown of the Midrealm!"
Practice making your consonants nice and crisp. Give them a little space in your speech, so that they don't squish together and get lost in the room. We instinctively stress most first consonants when being intentionally loud, but make sure not to swallow the ends of your words. This will help each word reach its intended audience clearly.
Also try to break up your sentences so that you don't try to make too many words with one breath, that will help ensure that your volume isn't trailing off near the end of a sentence. Most sentences have some natural moments when you can take a breath, so take advantage of them! Try this! First, read the whole first sentence of this paragraph in one breath. Then, try to read the same sentence again here with your big voice, but by stopping after each capitalized word.
"Also try to break up your SENTENCES so that you don't try to make too many WORDS with one BREATH, that will help ENSURE that your volume isn't trailing OFF near the end of the SENTENCE."See how much easier it is to get all those words out when you are able to support them all fully? Remember that. Take your time reading scroll texts and proclamations, so that each sentence can be fully supported by the full strength of your lungs.
Fill the space!
Remember how I advised you at the beginning of this post to pick a person at the back of the room and focus on just them? That's not just a good technique for calming yourself. That's also a way to trick your mind into filling the room. Most people instinctively modulate their volume to fit just the space they are trying to communicate across. By focusing on someone at the back of the room, you're also tricking your mind into making your voice bigger. Even better is to remember to lift the top of your head so that your eyebrows are pointed at the corner of the ceiling and the back wall. This points your mouth above the crowd, and encourages you to drop your jaw and open your mouth fully. Remember, your mouth is the megaphone that amplifies your voice. OPEN YOUR MOUTH.
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| That's right. Show me your herald face! |
The Big Voice is a skill that you can develop, even if you aren't naturally loud. Practice at home. Take a walk in the woods and bounce your voice off the trees if you're self-conscious practicing where people can hear you. But practice!
