0211 - Your Actual Natural Voice Pitch

0211 - Your Actual Natural Voice Pitch

Now you are stress-free, and belly-breathing, simply say your name, as though you have been asked it by as new acquaintance. The pitch you use when you say that in a stress-free state is your natural pitch.

Another technique is to agree with me, yes? “Uh-huh” you reply and the pitch at which you say that is likely your home note. Another is to sigh.

All of these should produce a note that is comfortable and natural for you to start your ‘pitch range’ from. It’s as simple as that! Now, hum a long note with that same pitch and put a couple of finger tips on your lips and nose and you’ll feel a ‘buzz’, (this area is often called the ‘facial mask’).

This is the usual pitch from which you will vary up and down in your conversation or presentation, for example when you express surprise (or excitement or asking a question) it will go up, and it will go down in pitch for a more serious, sad or sensual tone.

If you speak above this optimal pitch for a length of time, it will sound lighter and thinner, with less resonance. It will give the impression of being unsure or ‘continuously surprised’ and will be unpleasant to listen to. Conversely, using your natural pitch will allow you a greater range and more confidence to you and those who listen to what you’re saying.

Think of a scale of 1-10. If your natural pitch is at 5, then you are likely to vary your pitch during a conversation between say 3 and 7, and an animated, colourful conversation in a range of say 2 and 8. But if you force your pitch to start at 3 you are restricting your ‘pitch floor’, and if you start at 7 you will restrict your ‘pitch ceiling’ (and are veering into dog-whistle territory). Either way you will not only sound strained but also have less range.

Through these around-5-minute episodes, you can build your confidence and competence with advice on breathing and reading, inflection and projection, the roles played by better scripting and better sitting, mic techniques and voice care tips... with exercises and anecdotes from a career spent in TV and radio studios. If you're wondering about how to start a podcast, or have had one for a while - download every episode!

And as themes develop over the weeks (that is, they are not random topics day-by-day), this is a free, course to help you GET A BETTER BROADCAST, PODCAST AND VIDEO VOICE.

Look out for more details of the book during 2021.

Contacts: https://linktr.ee/Peter_Stewart

Peter has been around voice and audio all his working life and has trained hundreds of broadcasters in all styles of radio from pop music stations such as Capital FM and BBC Radio 1 to Heart FM, the classical music station BBC Radio 3 and regional BBC stations. He’s trained news presenters on regional TV, the BBC News Channel and on flagship programmes such as the BBC’s Panorama. Other trainees have been music presenters, breakfast show hosts, travel news presenters and voice-over artists.

He has written a number of books on audio and video presentation and production (“Essential Radio Journalism”, “JournoLists”, two editions of “Essential Radio Skills” and three editions of “Broadcast Journalism”) and has written on voice and presentation skills in the BBC’s in-house newspaper “Ariel”.

Peter has presented hundreds of radio shows (you may have heard him on BBC Radio 2, BBC Radio 4, Virgin Radio or Kiss, as well as BBC regional radio) with formats as diverse as music-presentation, interview shows, ‘special’ programmes for elections and budgets, live outside broadcasts and commentaries and even the occasional sports, gardening and dedication programmes. He has read several thousand news bulletins, and hosted nearly 2,000 podcast episodes, and is a vocal image consultant advising in all aspects of voice and speech training for presenters on radio and TV, podcasts and YouTube, voiceovers and videocalls.

The podcast title refers to those who may wish to change their speaking voice in some way. It is not a suggestion that anyone should, or be pressured into needing to. We love accents and dialects, and are well aware that how we speak changes over time. The key is: is your voice successfully communicating your message, so it is being understood (and potentially being acted upon) by your target audience?

This podcast is London-based and examples are spoken in the RP (Received Pronunciation) / standard-English / BBC English pronunciation, although invariably applicable to other languages, accents and dialects.

Music credits:

"Bleeping Demo" Kevin MacLeod (incompetech.com)

Licensed under Creative Commons: By Attribution 4.0 License

http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/

Link: https://incompetech.filmmusic.io/song/7012-bleeping-demo