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I've been working with professionals who use their voices as an integral part of their daily routine for a lot of years...salesmen, singers, actors, lawyers, teachers, TV and movie personalities and many others; and I'm constantly amazed to find that most of these people do not know how to use their vocal instrument correctly, so it never gets tired or wears out no matter how often or how long they have to use it. And many of these students carry degrees from major universities, or have studied with reputable singing and speech teachers. Tom, a TV anchorman was referred to me by his speech therapist because he was in danger of losing his highly lucrative position due to constant hoarseness. When I asked him what his university professors taught him about speaking with good vocal quality, he said: I was told to project my voice....to speak deeply from the diaphragm. Really? That's all? Here is a guy who holds two full degrees in speech and theatre from a major university, and he knows little or nothing about how to protect his voice from serious damage. Singing and speech both require the use of the exact same physical equipment: the vocal chords, and lungs, diaphragm and other breathing muscles, plus the resonators. And... both singing and speech are communicated by the exact same elements of vowels, pitch, emphasis, or volume, and durations. So, as a singer, you need to be very aware of how you are using your speaking voice. Let's face it, even though you consider yourself a singer, you still use your speaking voice so much more. Most of the time you are a speaker who sings...not the other way around - and you may be damaging your singing voice when you speak. To state the obvious: If you go to a ball game or a rock concert you're probably going to do some damage to your vocal cords. If you have a heated argument, or lose your temper your volume goes up, and the vocal cords are in danger. Heavy coughing and clearing the throat cause trouble if you are a singer. A positive help for loud concert sounds is to wear some ear plugs made specifically so the quality of the sound isn't changed, only the extreme volume. This not only saves your hearing, but also saves your voice since the loudness will be dampened, so you will usually not yell when you talk. THE SAME PHYSICAL EQUIPMENT WHICH MAKES THE SINGING VOICE ALSO MAKES THE SPEAKING VOICE. The only basic difference between speaking and singing is in the use of pitch and sustained vowels. Learn to speak well and your singing will greatly improve. Sessions one and two of my complete comprehensive course, THE SINGER'S BIBLE, will set you on the right track to good vocal quality, singing or speaking. Al Koehn has spent over 30 years working with top professionals in all aspects of their careers; voice development, performance, recording, producing and managing. His powerful new FREE ebook called SINGING IS SERIOUSLY SIMPLE: Important Tips, Tools and Techniques for All Singers is now available for downloading. Access the Ebook FREE here http://vocalvision.com/ad1.html
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