0860 – Tight Clothes, Tight Voice

2023.05.10 – 0860 – Tight Clothes, Tight Voice

What else will affect your vocal performance?

Clothes

What won’t help, anything that causes constriction or discomfort

Tight dresses, trousers, blouses and shirts. Belts done up a notch or two more than absolutely necessary

Tight shoes worn more for style than comfort. That could be footwear that pinches your toes or heel, the height or slope of a heel, or simply wearing a style that you are not used to (for example, the heeled shoes that are super-comfy yet you totter around because you rarely wear them). If you feel unstable literally, you may feel ‘unstable’ emotionally too

Going without socks or tights to look smart or trendy, but having shoe-rub on your heel or sticky soles.

What will help:

Looser clothes (A woman I once worked always turned up very smart and trim, but she struggled to read. It turned out that her blouse was so tight it restricted her diaphragm, and so created tension in her neck for her to produce sound. She was buttoned-up literally and metaphorically. She never wore that blouse to work again and was fine.)

Clothes that make you feel confident about the way you look

Clothes that won’t make you too hot or too cold so you are worried more about sweating or shivering than about communicating

Shoes that you don’t give a second’s thought to. Lower heels that help you stand upright. Shoes that pinch, or heels that are too high, will cause problems either in the foot or elsewhere in the body as your posture tries to compensate. (High heels can affect your voice if you are standing up, because they cause you to change your posture, and so how your ribcage sits. Your body works really hard to support you: you contract various muscles, pitch forward and overcorrect in your back to keep yourself from falling forward.)

Pain causes distraction and that will affect your performance. Many TV presenters who sit behind a desk will be smartly attired above the waist, but wear comfortable soft shoes that they know will never be seen. 

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