A certain percentage of people are coming
to us for speech development sessions, often
followed by the vocal lessons. Usually that
category of people is comprised of shy
individuals who are very soft spoken without
any projection of their voice or the message
they are trying to convey. Some of them have
damaged voices. Often they mumble and there
is no clarity in their pronunciation, kind
of like they have marbles in their mouths.
Some of them are actually inquiring about
singing lessons without having any idea that
if they hardly could speak, how in the world
would they have their singing voice
delivered?!
In the first place, the voice is the
spirit and, if the voice is shut down, the
spirit of that individual is also hidden and
not present. The voice is a reflection of
the state of one's being, an identification
of who this person is. Quite often the
people conducting themselves that way are
dying to be more loud, more expressive, more
emotional and more passionate, but do not
know how to call it out of themselves. That
is where my skill comes into play.
By using a set of certain speech
exercises and specific scripts which are
aimed towards the person's self esteem and
self worth and that require a loud and
exclaiming voice, which naturally "force"
one's emotion and, thus, the projection of
that emotion via voice and sound. Before you
know it, while in a course with me and
playing with their improves, these people
are turning into somebody who even they are
not familiar with. Yes, it is scary, but
also very exciting.
Often their loved ones are a little
shocked and confused, as my clients become
very talkative, quite loud and very
expressive. The wife of one of my clients
from the past was ready to file for divorce,
as she was claiming that her husband became
a stranger and a very "aggressive" one. What
happened was that my client undertook a very
substantial voice repair and was kind of
whispering before he came to me and, thus,
being quite withdrawn for the past 10 years.
All of a sudden he became vocal and started
reaching out. Moreover, he was suggesting to
go to a Karaoke Club on a Saturday night to
try his new voice and embark on some singing
as well, which was a complete shock to his
wife. I had to give him some advice to slow
down a little, as I did not want the family
to break up.
So the question is -- is there change
without change? Evidently not. In other
words, watch out what you are wishing for,
because you just might get it, as well as
some other changes along with it. The
conclusion of it is that these kinds of
changes are definitely not for the faint of
heart.
