I once did an interesting experiment to ascertain the power of the human voice. Closing my eyes and putting my head down on the desk, I asked the students to come in one-by-one and say something so that I could recognise their voices and indeed, I could easily identify them by their voice alone. Students often wonder if their teachers have eyes at the back of their heads. Even while facing away when writing on the blackboard, a teacher seems to be able to tell who said what without looking at the person. You have probably also had a similar experience of guessing who you were speaking to on the phone without seeing them first because you recognised the voice. So what is in the voice that makes one stand out?

Several aspects go into creating the complex production of a unique voice. How and what you stress can easily influence what is produced as your voice. Also, the resonance, relaxation, rhythm, and pacing significantly determine if you will have the command of presence that you desire in front of your students. Children all over the world have an interesting habit of mimicking their teachers’ voices depending on how they sound and those which are exceptionally high pitched getting more attention than the ones within the normal range. Educators, politicians, and generally people who speak in public, have wondered how to improve their voice presence and the great news is that this is possible.

With careful practice, one can moderate the pace of their words by deliberately enunciating or pronouncing them fully. This, not only slows you down to a reasonable pace, it also enables your listeners to clearly hear what you are saying. Coupled with taking short breaths between the short sentences that you speak will ensure that you speak reasonably well.

How your voice resonates will determine its output sound. Simply put, resonance is how deep or full your voice is.

Above all, keep hydrated lest the surrounding muscles of your vocal cords dry up, crack and loosen before their time.

editor@newtimesrwanda.com