0948 – The ‘Forced Pitch’ Voice

2023.08.06 – 0948 – The ‘Forced Pitch’ Voice

Forced pitch voice (also see: unnatural pitch)

Symptom: Some people force their voice to produce sound at a different pitch than is normal or comfortable for them. Men and women may artificially lower their pitch in the belief that it gives them more gravitas or presence. (Raising the pitch is less usual.)  This results in an inauthentic delivery which the listener can usually detect. At the very least a listener may be concentrating more to the voice than the content, the speaker having created an obstacle to clear communication. Using one’s natural ‘home tone’ voice, a speaker has the ability to more-easily intonate in the range above and below it. Starting from a (usually) lower point gives the speaker less room for manoeuvre: they have increased their ‘ceiling’, but reduced their ‘floor’ which limits their expressive range.

Prescription: Re-read the section on finding your ‘home tone’ (listen to episode 290 onwards) to discover your natural expressive range. You can help lower your voice in less damaging ways:

·        Feeling confident for example in your surroundings and content will reduce your stress and so change your voice.

·        Your posture will give better breath support and will open up your chest resonator to give your voice a fuller sound.

·        Holding your head up and opening your mouth properly when you speak will make full use of the resonators in your throat and oral and nasal cavities.

·        I give a case study of a student who did this, in episode 217.

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