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Attention is the ultimate commodity today.
And the ultimate skill?— holding someone’s attention.
And what holds the power to hook your audience?
Your voice! Yes.
And what loses your audience?
Your monotone voice.
In this guide to vocal variety, you will learn how to break the monotony in your voice.
With expert techniques to improve your voice aspects, you’ll be skilled in engaging your audience. Mastering vocal variety will help you leave a lasting impression in the workplace, whether you're delivering a presentation, negotiating a deal, or leading a team.
So, let's dive in and discover the power of your voice:
Monotone Voice Meaning:
A monotone voice is when you speak without any variation in pitch, tone, or pace.
It’s like a robot speaking. Without any emotion and life.
A monotonous speech sounds dull, boring, and uninteresting. It’s the easiest way to tune out your listeners.
Recall what made you reach out to your phone while attending a presentation. The answer is most likely the poor vocal delivery of the presenter.
Your voice has different aspects to it, like tone, pitch, volume, etc.
And you require a decent balance of all to command the attention of your listeners.
That’s where vocal variety comes in.
Let’s understand what vocal variety means:
What is Vocal Variety In Speech?
Vocal variety means changing your voice in different ways.
It is simply the variation in the elements of your voice.
It is the changes in pitch, pace, tone, and volume used in a speech. And also the use of pauses, emphasis, and inflection.
Vocal variety is the punctuation of your voice.
Vocal variety adds depth and emotion to your speech. And helps you connect with your listeners on a personal level.
Here’s a little exercise for you to understand this better.
Take this sentence: "I am really excited to be here today.”
First, read it in a normal tone (flatly). And notice how did it sound.
Now, read it again.
But this time, emphasize the word "excited" by increasing your volume. And speak it more slowly.
Like, *“I am really **EXCITED (*↗️) to be here today!!!”
The difference in energy you just felt is because of vocal variety.
But what makes vocal variety in your speech so valuable?
Let’s understand:
"Vocal variety is like the icing on the cake. It adds flavor and interest to your message and helps to keep your audience engaged." - Patricia Fripp
Here’s how varying your voice helps you:
1. Increased engagement: 📈
Using vocal variety keeps your audience interested.
With your voice filled with emotion, you’ll have the attention of your listeners.
Your speech won’t be boring and hard to focus on.
2. Makes the message memorable: 🧠
Vocal variety helps you emphasize the most important parts of your message.
By adjusting your tone, pitch, volume, and pace, your points become easy to understand for the audience. And remember them later.
Your message is retained better if delivered effectively.
For example, the pause below emphasizes the message.
The garbage dumped in the ocean every year is roughly around 14 billion pounds. (Pause)
14 billion pounds! (Pause)
Adding the pause lets the audience feel the gravity of this information.
3. Conveying emotion: 💭
Humans are emotional creatures.
We respond strongly to vocal cues, conveying feelings. Vocal variety lets you effectively communicate your emotions.
For example, by speaking louder and faster, you can convey urgency and excitement.
And empathy and sadness by speaking more softly and slowly.
In short, it improves your storytelling.
Modulation in your voice creates a relatable listening experience. And motivates the audience to make a change.
4. Building trust: 👥
A lively voice helps you appear more invested and passionate.
A passionate delivery shows how you care about the subject.
Naturally, your listeners would find you more trustworthy. They are more likely to believe in your message.
Your conviction will persuade the audience easily.
For example, a salesperson who speaks with passion will better emphasize the benefits of the product.
The salesperson will establish a rapport with the customer and build trust in the product's value. He is more likely to convince a customer to make a purchase.
5. Better Clarity: 🗒️
The audience tunes out if your content is hard to follow.
To engage the audience, you need clarity.
You need to reduce their cognitive load. Complexity invites friction.
Variations in your voice make your message clearer.
This is crucial while conveying complex ideas.
By varying your volume and pace, you break up long stretches of information into smaller pieces. And it’s easier for the audience to process the information.
Vocal variety also signals transitions between different parts of your message.
Your speech becomes easy to follow.
These benefits are not only helpful in a professional setting but also in the personal life.
Remember, your voice is an integral part of your personality. And the way you project your voice impacts your perception of people.
Now, let’s look at different elements of voice.
When we speak, we're not just conveying words.
We're conveying emotions, attitudes, and nuances.
The human voice is complex and diverse.
And many elements contribute to its meaning and impact.
Let’s look at the key elements of vocal variety:
Pitch refers to the highness or lowness of your voice.
In simple terms, the pitch determines the sharpness of your voice.
The high-pitch voice sound sharper (piercing), like a whistle. While the low-pitch voice sounds deep, like a bass guitar.
For example, Lata Mangeshkar has a high-pitched voice. And Amitabh Bachchan is famously known for his low-pitched voice.
Function: Changing the pitch conveys your emotional state & nuances in meaning.
For example, if you say "Hello" in a low pitch, it sounds serious or somber. However, if you say "Hello" in a high pitch, it sounds cheerful or excited.
The tone of voice is the way you speak to someone.
It’s the expression of your voice.
Function: Your tone adds attitude to your words, such as being happy, sad, or angry. It greatly affects the way your message is perceived by your listener.
For example, a friendly and warm tone can convey openness. While a cold and formal tone can convey distance and formality.
There are different types of tones in speech.
Tones in speech include formal, informal, authoritative, friendly, sarcastic, angry, excited, and sincere.
Each tone conveys a different emotion or attitude.
The volume in speech refers to how loud or quiet you speak.
The variation in your volume conveys different emotions. It also helps you emphasize certain words or phrases.
For example, a soft, gentle voice might convey comfort or sympathy. While a loud, forceful voice might convey anger or frustration.
Changing the volume breaks the monotony in your voice.
And it keeps the audience interested.
The pace of voice refers to the speed at which you speak.
It is either fast, normal, or slow.
The speech with a consistent pace becomes monotonous.
Variation in the pace helps create a sense of urgency or importance. It also adds emphasis to important points. And it makes the overall message more memorable.
For example, you may slow down while saying an impactful statement.
And speed up to build excitement around a topic.
Voice inflection is the way you change the tone or pitch of your voice.
The same sentence said in different inflections will convey different meanings.
For example, a rising inflection at the end of a sentence indicates a question. While a falling inflection indicates a statement or assertion.
Look at the below examples with different vocal inflections:
"I didn't say she stole the money." (Someone else might have said it.)
"I didn't say she stole the money." (Maybe she borrowed it without permission.)
"I didn't say she stole the money." (But I implied it or hinted at it.)
A pause refers to a brief break or silence in your speech.
Pauses are helpful to convey emphasis and indicate a change in topic. And also to allow the listener time to process information.
The strategic use of pauses breaks up the monotony. And make a speech more engaging.
For example, consider the sentence:
The most important thing in communication is hearing what isn't said (PAUSE).
The pause at the end creates a moment of reflection for the audience to consider the deeper meaning of the statement.
Here’s an example that uses all the elements together. Say it loud to notice the vocal variety it has:
"I can't believe you did that!" I exclaimed, raising my voice with increased volume to convey my surprise and shock. With a quickened pace and varied inflection, I continued, "Why would you do something like that?" Pausing for a moment, I lowered my voice and added, "I really thought you knew better."
Being aware of these elements will help you use them to improve your vocal variety.
Your vocal variety is a well-balanced mixture of speech elements.
However, each person would require a different proportion.
And that proportion would depend on your vocal pattern.
Let’s understand how to identify it:
Your vocal pattern is the way you use your voice to communicate.
It's the way your voice sounds when you speak.
Your vocal pattern is unique to you and can be influenced by factors like your mood, personality, and cultural background.
Identifying Your Current Vocal Pattern
To identify your current vocal pattern, you can try the following steps:
By following these steps, you will gain valuable insight into your current vocal range.
You’ll identify areas for improvement.
Let’s now see how you can improve your vocal variety.
Improving vocal variety requires careful control of your voice.
It’s all about tweaking different elements as per the context and needs.
Here are the 08 tips to better your vocal variety and break a monotone voice:
1. Practice breathing exercises: 🧘🏻
Breathing exercises are an effective way to improve your vocal variety.
By controlling your breathing, you’ll control the pitch and tone of your voice.
When you speak, your vocal cords vibrate to make a sound.
By controlling the amount of air passing through them, you may adjust the tension in your vocal cords. And change the pitch of your voice.
When you breathe deeply and release air slowly, you create a steady flow of air that can help you to speak longer and more expressively.
Deep breathing also helps you sound more relaxed and natural.
And this will allow you to vary your pitch and tone more easily.
2. Humming: 🎶
Humming is a fun and easy way to improve the way you talk.
When you hum, you create a vibration in your throat. It helps you warm up the muscles you use to speak.
This makes it easier for you to produce different sounds, like high or low pitches, and different tones, like happy or sad.
Humming also helps you practice breathing.
It’s great to have a humming session before a long speech.
It will help you speak for a long time without getting tired or out of breath.
To practice humming, find a quiet place. Take a deep breath and start humming at a comfortable pitch.
Then, gradually increase the pitch, and experiment with different melodies.
With consistent practice, you'll notice improvements in your vocal range, tone, and overall speaking confidence.
3. Contrast Technique: 🌗
Using contrast means deliberately varying the pitch, tone, volume, and pace of your speech.
It means creating a clear difference between two voice elements.
This helps you create a more engaging speaking style.
For example, let's say you are talking about the benefits of exercise.
Here’s how to create contrast:
First, start by speaking in a quiet, slow voice, describing how you feel when you don’t exercise. Then, suddenly increase your volume and speak more quickly to describe how energized you feel after a good workout.
Such a contrast makes your point more impactful and engaging for your audience.
Your vocal variety will instantly improve.
The contrast technique is a great help in storytelling.
4. Practice tongue twisters: 🗣️
Tongue twisters are designed to be difficult to say.
They often contain a lot of alliteration (words with the same sound at the beginning).
Saying tongue twister correctly requires your mouth and tongue to work hard. It strengthens your muscles. And it helps you speak with more expression.
Practicing tongue twisters also enhances your vocal range.
For example, let's say you're practicing a tongue twister:
"Red lorry, yellow lorry, red lorry, yellow lorry.”
You might naturally vary the pitch & tone of your voice slightly each time you repeat the phrase.
This is because your brain is trying to keep up with the challenge of saying the words correctly.
And it may unconsciously adjust your pitch and tone to help you do this.
This way, you’ll develop greater control over your vocal range. And you’ll become more comfortable using different inflections.
5. Read Out Loud: 📖 📢
Reading out loud is the simplest and the most effective way to improve your overall vocal performance. (Especially the fictional content)
It benefits multiple aspects at once.
Any story would have different characters, emotions, and situations.
The writing tells you how you should sound while reading it.
So, you naturally pay attention to the tone, pitch, pauses, pronunciation, emotion, emphasis, inflection, pacing, etc.
Also, by hearing yourself, you become more aware of your voice.
As you read out loud consistently, you’ll hardly speak in a monotone voice. You may become habitual in speaking with vocal variety.
6. Monitor Your Audience (Distance): 👥
Monitoring your audience allows you to adjust your voice and delivery to match the needs and preferences of your listeners.
For example, if you notice that your audience is getting bored or distracted. Then, you might try speaking more loudly or with more energy to re-engage them.
Or if you notice that they are having trouble understanding you. Then, you might slow down your pace and speak more clearly.
Similarly, monitoring your distance can be helpful too.
Knowing the distance between you and your audience allows you to adjust the volume and projection of your voice.
If you're speaking to a small group in a quiet room, you might not need to project your voice. But you will vary your voice while speaking to a large crowd in a noisy auditorium.
7. Listen to Great Speakers: 🎙️
Listening to great speakers is a highly effective way to improve vocal variety.
Skilled and engaging speakers are valuable examples to learn from.
Notice how they vary their tone, pitch, and volume to add emphasis to certain words or ideas.
Or how they use pauses and inflection to make their speech more engaging.
By observing different speakers, you’ll learn what works well and what doesn't.
And adapt their techniques to fit your own personality and style.
Check out this YouTube channel for great English speeches.
8. Attend Public Speaking Classes: 🧑🏻💻
Private classes provide a safe place to practice your speaking skills.
There’s no fear of judgment or criticism.
You may experiment with different pitch patterns, tones, and inflections without feeling self-conscious. And this develops your vocal variety more quickly.
Plus, you receive feedback from professionals. They help you to identify areas for improvement and make adjustments.
Also, practicing in front of others boosts your confidence level too. You’ll overcome anxiety or nervousness related to public speaking.
If you are looking to practice your speaking skills, check out BBR English.
BBR offers live 1:1 sessions with a personal mentor. These personalized sessions help you target your specific problems and goals. Daily practice helps you build your confidence and feel more comfortable expressing your thoughts.
Book a counseling session today and get a detailed assessment of your English level as well as a customized learning plan.
Practicing vocal variety is essential to see tangible improvements.
Over time, you’ll start noticing changes in your vocal variety.
Here are some key takeaways from our post:
💡Your voice has the power to hold the attention, the ultimate commodity.
💡A monotone voice tunes out your listeners.
💡Vocal variety adds emotion to your speech and helps you connect with your listeners.
💡Vocal variety increases engagement, builds trust, conveys emotion, improves clarity, and makes your message memorable.
💡The key elements of vocal variety include Pitch, Tone, Volume, Inflection, Pace, and Pauses.
💡Record and listen to your speech to identify Your Current Vocal Pattern.
💡To improve the vocal variety, focus on breathing exercises, Contrast techniques, Practicing tongue twisters, Reading Out Loud, Monitoring Your Audience, and Listening to Great Speakers.
Thank you for reading.
Let us know your thoughts in the comment section below.
