Voice Training for Public Speaking

Barbara McAfee : Full Voice: The Art and Practice of Vocal Presence

Review: Vocal expression is a part of nearly everyone's workday, yet most of us are unaware of how much influence our voice exerts over our effectiveness. McAfee's work shows how we can deliberately marshal the power of our voices to support our intentions, aspirations, and relationships. What is your voice saying about you? Your voice matters. Based on your tone and expression alone listeners make up their minds about you before they even process the meaning of your words. And if what you say is at odds with how you say it, they can miss your message altogether.Barbara McAfee offers a fun, tested method to harness the power of your voice to become a more effective and flexible communicator. She identifies five distinct vocal sounds--earth, fire, water, metal, and air - explaining how to cultivate each one. You'll learn how to use your voice to support the meaning and message you want to convey. Using this book along with her free online practice videos you'll experience an authentic shift in how you express yourself - and how you listen to others as well. You'll discover how opening your full voice connects you to sources of untapped potential, power, and aliveness.

David Blair McClosky : Your Voice at Its Best - Enhancement of the Healthy Voice, Help for the Troubled Voice

Review: Freedom, ease, and power in song and speech for singers, public speakers, executives, and actors! Now in the Fifth Edition, this straightforward, clearly written guide presents David Blair McClosky's highly acclaimed techniques for developing and mastering a more perfect voice as well as rehabilitating voices that have suffered abuse. McClosky's methods, proven effective for more than 50 years, have been used by voice teachers, voice students, and speech pathologists as well as singers, actors, public speakers, executives, salespeople, ministers, broadcasters, and others whose voice use is significant in their life-including the late President John F. Kennedy. Practicing McClosky's full range of techniques ensures that individuals can be the caretakers of their own voice and achieve maximum quality and fitness. David Blair McClosky graduated from the New England Conservatory in Boston and had a career in opera and oratorio performance. He subsequently dedicated over 50 years to studying the complexities of the vocal instrument and the treatment of voice disorders in singers and speakers. In collaboration with eminent otolaryngologists at Syracuse University and the Massachusetts Eye and Ear Infirmary in Boston, Mr. McClosky developed techniques to resolve vocal problems without surgery. He was Clinical Voice Therapist at the Massachusetts Eye and Ear Infirmary and treated people from all over the United States and beyond. Mr. McClosky was Professor of Voice at Boston University and taught at the Boston Conservatory of Music. He

Songlist: The McClosky Technique: Posture and Breathing, Preparing for the Relaxation Techniques, Six Exercises in Relaxation, Exercises for Phonation, Finding Your Pitch, Additional Practice Techniques, Reminders for Good Voice Use, Articulation of Consonants in Detail, Vibration of the Vocal Folds, Vocalizing Exercises, Resonance and Color, Expressiveness and the McClosky Technique, Care of the Voice, Common Disorders of the Voice, Rare Disorders of the Voice, Illustrations of the Anatomy and Physiology of the Vocal Mechanism

Janet Rodgers (Edited by) : The Complete Voice & Speech Workout

Review: Potent and empowering voice exercises by the master teachers who devised them! One of the constants that any actor, director or theatre teacher needs is a strong vocal warmup. This valuable, first-of-its-kind resource contains 75 exercises for both solo and group work, contributed by some of the best professionals in the world. There is a brief description of the history and purpose of each exercise followed by the exercise itself. The Voice & Speech Workout comes with a training CD that will be especially helpful to the student or theatre professional working alone. Here master teachers run through each exercise in real time (leaving enough time for response). Among the contributors are such important voice teachers as: Frankie Armstrong, Mary Corrigan, Marian Hampton and Dorothy Runk Mennen. Editor Janet Rodgers is past president of the Voice and Speech Trainers Association and an associate professor of theatre at Virginia Commonwealth University.

Songlist: Introduction, Getting To Know Your Voice, Stretching, Centering, Releasing, And Aligning, Breathing And Supporting, Resonating, Articulating, Exploring Pitch, Projecting And Calling, Integrating Voice, Breath, And TextIntegrating Voice And Movement, Exploring Character Voices And Dialects

Joanna Cazden : Everyday Voice Care

Review: The human voice expresses more than words, more than music. Vocal expression links the listener directly to another person's inner feelings, body, and soul. Keeping the voice healthy used to be as mysterious as the power of voice itself. Modern science has revealed much about the vocal mechanism and its health requirements, but simple information for the average voice user has remained hard to find and harder to trust. In Everyday Voice Care: The Lifestyle Guide for Singers and Talkers, respected voice therapist Joanna Cazden brings together a wealth of practical tips and advice to help keep your own expressive voice in top working order. Drawing from her experience as a singer, theater artist, and a licensed speech pathologist who has treated more than 1,000 voice patients, Cazden integrates up-to-date medical information with common-sense suggestions and sympathy for the demands of contemporary life. Chapters on food and drink, cold remedies, loud parties, travel, fitness routines, and when to see a doctor are complemented by notes on alternative health care and the spiritual dimension of vocal rest. This invaluable resource for voice and speech professionals, students, and teachers will answer even the age-old question of whether to put lemon or honey in your tea.

Songlist: Foundation: About Your Voice, How Voices Grow and Why They Suffer, Quick Rules for Vocal Wellness, Prevention: Basic Voice Care, Intervention: Vocal Health Care, First Aid for Hoarseness, Therapy for Voice Problems, Coping with Colds, Convention: Real World Challenges, Extension: Your Vocal Future, Training, Intangibles, Warming Up The Voice

Judy Clark : Speech & Diction for Professional Speakers

Review: This book and CD set was created to help those working in the public speaking arena. It can also be an effective tool for those desiring to strengthen and improve their speaking voice. The lessons consist of breathing exercises, vowel/consonant study, tone/resonance, diction/enunciation, projection, and overall voice production. All exercises were developed and practiced by the late Maestro David Kyle, renowned teacher of both singing and spoken voice.

Songlist: The Diaphragm - Exercises for Perfect Breath Control, Abdomen - Exercises for Perfect Breath Contol, Coordination and Projection - More Exercises for Perfect Breath Control, Jaw - Tongue - Lips - Mouth - Improving Breath coordination and control, Vocalization - Vocal Exercises, Instruction on Letters N and NG, Resonance, Vowels, Consonants, Recap

Pamela Lewis : Talking Funny For Money

Review: Talking Funny for Money is a two-CD voice-over workshop (which includes demonstrations by professional voice-over performers), with an exercise manual and companion text. If you're a person gifted with vocal variety, a hard working actor who needs to expand your casting potential, or just someone who's been told, 'You have an interesting sound,' you may want to consider a career in the cartoon/character/looping area of voice overs. Pamela Lewis, an accomplished voice-over artist and coach, has developed a CD workshop for people who are curious about breaking into the exciting world of 'talking funny for money.'

Songlist: Why a CD Workshop?, How to Use this CD, Exercise Manual, Audition / Session Supplies, Professional Tips, List of Terms, Industry Professionals Speak Up, Pamela's Players, Highlights of the CD-Revisited, Marketing Ideas, Lists of Business Contacts in the Three Major Markets, SAG Franchised Agents, AFTRA Franchised Agents, Casting Directors, Advertising Agencies Involved in Radio and TV Commercials

Renee Grant-Williams : Voice Power

Review: Both at work and at home, almost every encounter in life depends on your ability to capture and hold the attention of others. From client meetings to interactions with coworkers and important phone conversations, often it's not just what you say, but how you say it that makes the difference. The gap between people simply hearing your thoughts, and actually remembering and acting on them later, is the result of having a dynamic, evocative voice - one that ensnares the listener the way a Broadway star or any world-class entertainer would captivate an audience. To get the results you'd like in life, you need to become the star of the show!

Songlist: Your Voice Speaks Volumes, Just Keep Breathing, A Sound Foundation, The Amazing Power of Consonants, Silence Is Golden, Themes and Variations, Speeches That Make People Listen, Turn Up The Sales Volume, Voice Mail Theater, Success Appeal at Work, In Tune With Your World, Rx For The Healthy Voice

Robert Blumenfeld : Acting with the Voice

Review: The author of the hugely successful Accents: A Manual for Actors here turns his attention to another aspect of acting in which the voice is again of crucial importance but in which the medium requires a different message. Robert Blumenfeld convincingly argues that the basic techniques of acting apply whether the actor is performing on a stage or in a sound studio, whether he or she must memorize lines or read them, and the whether an "entrance" means opening a door or breaking into another character's speech. Numerous practice exercises help the actor to speak the words of a text that can be illustrated and enhanced by the varying sounds of a human voice. In addition to the practice exercises, the book is generous in supplying sample literary texts that the actor may choose or be asked to read. Mr. Blumenfeld analyzes and interprets these texts at length and prepares the reader to do the same for material they are unfamiliar with. Finally, Mr. Blumenfeld takes a hard look at teh business of recording books and provides substantial information about the employment opportunities available to those who have mastered the ability to "act with the voice".Robert Blumenfeld lives and works as an actor, dialect coach and writer in New York City. He has been on the faculties of both the Stella Adler and the National Shakespeare Conservatories and has recorded more than 280 Talking Books for the American Foundation for the Blind. In 1997 he received the Canadian National Institute for the Blind's Torgi Award for the Talking Book of he Year in the Fiction category for his recording of Pat Conroy's Beach Music; and in 1999, the Alexander Scourby Talking Book Narrator of the Year Award in the Fiction category.

Songlist: Foreword: The Art and the Business of Recording Books, How to Use This Book: a Note About the Phonetic Symbols and the Illustrative Texts, Introduction: Getting Started in the Book Recording Business, What You Need to Get Started, The Resume / The Demo Tape or CD, Getting an Agent, The Casting Process, Auditions: What a Director Expects, The Recording Session: What a Director Expects, Publishers of Recorded Books in the USA, UK and Canada, Chapter 1: The Voice, The Nature and Care of the Voice, Some Advice about Vocal Technique, Finding Your Voice, Placing and Supporting the Voice, Breathing and Breath Control, Developing Variety and Flexibility, Paralinguistics: How to Do Different Voices, How to Change Your Voice, Vocal Exercises, Chapter 2: Diction and Pronunciation, Guide to Correct Pronunciations, Positions of Vocal Apparatus, Stress Patterns: Rhythm, Pitch (Intonation, Music), Some Sounds to Avoid, Some Difficulties with English, Some Words with Two Pronunciations, Practice Exercises for Good Diction, Chapter 3: Microphone and General Recording Techniques, and more

Rocco Dal Vera : Standard Speech

Review: Standard Speech is an anthology of essays from VASTA (the Voice and Speech Trainers Association) on a variety of topics of interest to actors, voice and speech teachers. Exploring the idea of what should be the standards for good speech this volume offers views from more than 40 top experts on the subject. Also essays on Coaching, Singing, Vocal Health, Verse and Dialect Accent studies. A must for the serious student of voice and speech.

Songlist: Pedagogy and Coaching, Applying Theories of Learning Styles and Modalities to Teaching of Voice, Voice Coaching in Professional Theatre, Towards a Career in Voice Teaching, Zeami Breathing, Science for Voice and Speech Training, Issues of Vocal Health, An Otolaryngologist's Retrospective on Vocal Study, Coaching the Business Client, Holistic Singer Empowerment, Physical Tension, Awareness Techniques, and Singing, Moving Towards Vocal Center, And many more

Roger Love : Love Your Voice

Review: Most people hardly ever think about their voice - but that needs to change! Why? Because if your speaking voice actually sounded better, you could dramatically improve the quality of your life. Internationally-renowned vocal coach Roger Love has proven that thousands of times over the years with some of the most famous and successful people in the world. He says, "Life is all about communication - the things you say to yourself and others. You can talk to yourself without making a sound, but when other people come into the picture, you eventually have to open your mouth and let sound come out. That's where I come in. I want to help you learn what sounds are working for and against you." In Love Your Voice, Roger takes you step by step through the same techniques he teaches his celebrity clients, and the accompanying CD will make it crystal clear exactly what sounds you should be making. It's time that you learned the secret sounds leading to success - and how to truly Love Your Voice!

Songlist: Diaphragmatic Breathing, Vocal Range: Chest, Middle, and Head Voice, Voice Types, The Building Blocks of Voice, Vocal Profiles, Physiology, Hand Gestures, and Body Movements, What to Eat and Drink