so when I was 19 years old a young girl
came into my singing studio and she
actually gave me my very first window of
understanding of what a voice really is
now by that time I’d actually already
been coaching for three years my singing
teacher came to me when I was 16 years
old and she thought it might be time for
me to begin coaching and I was a little
reluctant but I ended up following her
lead and I have actually been a voice
and performance coach ever since with an
amazing privilege to work with so many
different people and so many different
voices in many different capacities so
at first I just worked with recreational
singers and then as my career advanced I
started to work with individuals more
professionals to help them prepare for
stage performances in studio recordings
tours as well as big on-camera
performances but my career evolved a
little bit to work not just with artists
but also with professionals to help them
when they’re delivering something to
sort of take their game from this level
up to this level and I love also working
with people to rehabilitate their voices
so when somebody has lost their voice or
has been compromised in some way to help
bring it back but back then when I was
19 and this little girl came in she had
a beautiful little voice but it was
little meaning she was so quiet and so
shy but I knew it was nothing we
couldn’t fix with a few really great
exercises the usual vocal cord reduction
exercises and good strong physical
presence a nice proper use of air but no
matter what exercises I gave this young
girl and I gave the same ones to
countless others and they had always
worked but this young girl always ended
up standing singing and speaking in a
way that was very quiet extremely timid
and because I had such different results
with other singers I decided I might
take a different approach so instead of
addressing what was missing in her voice
which was what I was doing I decided I
would just stand back and listen and
allow just allow her to be yourself with
no feedback and no fixing and as you
might imagine that didn’t lead to
results right away but it did allow me
to shift my focus
off of her physical voice which was what
I was listening for to help her
obviously and allowed me to pay
attention to another layer of
information that seemed to be
communicated somewhere other than the
voice I was hearing and so with that
approach I ended up noticing a pattern
an inherent hesitation and when I tuned
in the sense that I had and it was a
very strong sense was that this little
girl she was acting in a way that was
pointing to herself and her voice
actually being muted so I stood with
that for a bit and then I actually took
this information back to my mom who has
shared in confidence I thought that
maybe something might be happening in
this little girl’s life where she wasn’t
able to speak up and my mom said well I
guess all you can do is give her her
voice back sounds simple enough I guess
to my mom but for me I did not know how
to do that all I knew is I wanted to
free her voice and so I began taking the
approach of helping her to not feel like
a student you know somebody who feels
like there’s right things to do and
wrong things to do instead I wanted to
encourage her to feel like an artist
somebody who was freely expressing
somebody who had something inside that
wanted and needed to get out and be
acknowledged and to do that i nurtured
qualities in her of independence and of
course freedom and above all courage and
with this approach I was quite surprised
we were getting results right away her
tone was coming out more freely she was
holding herself with a lot less
hesitation and you know she was really
so much louder and I was so happy with
these results what I realized was that
there was something behind her physical
voice that was actually causing her
physical voice to be affected but I
didn’t really know what it was so then
when I worked with this girl for about a
period of a year I found that I heard
through the grapevine something really
exciting this little girl in fact did
something extremely independent freeing
and courageous she spoke up to say that
her father had been molesting her that
was big for me in that moment it was a
moment of realization and
proof that our voice the one that we
believed to be living here in our lyrics
that’s physical voice that we sing speak
and express ourselves with is so much
more and I’ve come to know the voice so
intimately when I get to work with
people to bring their voices back
sometimes a voice is lost because of a
physical reason overuse misuse illness
or injury in that case I’ve come to
understand the physical voice where it
really has certain things that it
requires to build it up to restore it
and to optimize it and sometimes like
this little girl and countless others of
individuals have come into my studio
their real voice is the one that is
being affected and I have found that in
that case when somebody’s real voice is
affected their real power is sort of cut
off from them and that’s how I come to
know this real voice and to me this
little girl she did not speak up with
her physical voice she actually spoke up
with this bigger voice the actual voice
her real voice the one that I call the
capital V voice and it is this voice
that is so powerful beyond belief in
fact whether you’re a speaker or a
singer you could be a trailblazer a
professional parent a friend it doesn’t
matter who you are or what you do this
voice that I’m talking about that
doesn’t have a physical side to it may
just be the most powerful thing that we
have to access your greatness to live
your purpose and to get what’s inside of
you out and make your most impact in the
world so do we know that this voice
exists already I think we do when we are
in the in the protec if when we hate
when we see somebody in a silent protest
when people are coming together to
create one United unified voice that
comes to share with no words and no
sounds at all and no physical voice this
is the voice that I’m talking about it’s
the same one that I believe the most
influential speakers and leaders have
spoken about in history to help protect
empower acknowledge and reclaim when
they talk about the voice of a nation
the voice of a people who have been
neglected
underserved and under heard this voice
is so powerful it is so much more then
the sounds it makes than the words its
it says and the emotions it carries that
being said your physical voice is a very
powerful communication tool in fact you
may have seen this stat that your
communication is actually made up of 55%
body language
38% words which are carried by the voice
and 7% voice now for me these three
things are not your communication they
are simply the vehicles for your
communication and the physical vehicle
itself is obviously made up of physical
factors in fact there are three main
parts to vocal production we need a
power source so that’s our lungs which
supply air required for formation we
also need something to vibrate so we’ve
got our vocal cords right here in our
voice box and then we need a resonator
so that’s our nose our sinuses are our
mouth our throat and all of these things
come together to create a sound kind of
like a guitar if you think of a guitar
string they’re very much like the vocal
cords that somebody speaks with but they
require a power source somebody to pluck
them and they also require a resonating
source so they require a body which
allows that sound to be shared and
depending upon the size and the shape of
this body as well as the materials it’s
made out of that comes together to
create the own you know its own unique
signature sound just like our own voices
so we’re walking around with our own
very unique voices and depending upon
the size and the shape of your
instrument the one you were born with
you know the size and the shape of your
vocal cords of your resonators the
length of your neck the shape of your
tongue how wide you can open your mouth
and how much air you bring to your vocal
cords all of these things affect your
own signature sound I think that’s so
cool it’s like your own vocal
fingerprint and when sound is created
vibrations and frequencies are also
created which alone are also extremely
powerful you know they can carry
emotions and trigger feelings in the
people receiving them um have you ever
been around somebody who’s speaking in
another language
and you have no idea what they’re saying
but somehow you get a sense of what
they’re saying that’s partly the tone of
a voice but also in the vibrations it’s
all being carried in fact our voices are
so powerful I can even change the sound
of my voice to affect how you receive me
I can hike up my larynx I can adapt my
vocal cords and I can even throw the
sound into my nasal cavities and you get
a completely different experience of my
voice even though the content and the
sentiment are exactly the same so the
sound of a voice is powerful it can
agitate it can soothe and it can like a
baby’s cry being a frequency that
elicits you into a physical reaction who
has had that reaction so our frequencies
of our voice are very very very powerful
but the voice itself can do so many more
things think of your most favorite
speakers and leaders and singers their
physical voice is very powerful one that
comes to mind for me is Martin Luther
King he had an incredible command over
his physical voice mastering the three
main ways that I believe a person can
adjust their voice for greater impact
the first one is your sound so that’s
what I just adjusted you can adjust the
intensity the volume the character in
the tone of your voice the second one is
the spacing the speed at which you speak
the pattern you use your voice the lilt
and the melody as well as the pacing you
use and lastly is the subject
so that’s your content your messages
your words as well as the intent and the
authenticity authenticity that drives
these messages but Martin Luther King’s
physical voice was only one reason why
he was so compelling his messages were
so powerful and his reach was so wide
because he was actually able to access
this bigger voice that I’m talking about
the one that holds all of his greatness
and his truth and his his Ness that only
he has access to and then he used the
physical voice as a communication tool
to bring that out in fact you could use
any one of those communication tools to
bring out that of Capital V voice that
I’m talking about if you’re a dancer you
may not want to use your physical voice
but you want to access your great
and you’re gonna share that with your
body if you are an artist you might
access this capital V voice the speaker
voice that I’m talking about by creating
amazing works of art and as a speaker
and a singer and a leader you’re
probably going to be accessing this
voice and using the vehicle of your
physical voice now your favorite singers
can do this
in fact when I was around 4 L I heard
him say something that I thought was
really really interesting when he was
asked why he didn’t take action on a
singer who was incredible they were
incredibly technically adept and they
were able to a Moute I think think those
two things together are incredible but
he just simply said I’m looking for
somebody’s personality to scream out of
their tone I love that what I took from
that was he wasn’t just looking for
somebody to be great he was looking to
know them better at the end of the
exchange he was looking to in knowing
them better feel enriched touched or
transformed you know if you’re a
professional and you’re trying to take
your game to the next level or you’re a
leader and you want to be heard if
you’re a singer and you want to get you
know noticed by people to have fans to
share you and have people talk about you
you can’t just bring better to the table
you can’t just bring more skill you have
to bring more you and the only way to
bring more you is to access this voice
I’m talking about and the only reason I
know about this voice is because I see
it countless times in my studio I can
coach I can train the physical voice but
I absolutely need to coach this bigger
real voice if I want somebody’s them
nest to come through so this voice is
absolutely incredibly powerful so if you
want to access your greatness your
greatest high peak performance even
under high pressure or if you want to
get something inside of you and get it
out in a way that allows others to
receive you in a way that you feel is a
good representation of yourself or maybe
you want to be more authentically
compelling or influential persuasive
captivating
if you want to reclaim your voice if
your real voice feels like it’s been
taken away by somebody bullying abuse
trauma if you want to reclaim this voice
you have to know how to access this
bigger voice it is the only way to do it
so how do we do it well one of the first
things that we can do is find it so in
order to find your voice one thing that
you can do is stop talking your real
voice if you want to find your real
voice
stop talking and you might be one of
those amazing people who just feels a
silent sense of power and a real sense
of knowingness if you go there you are
accessing your capital V voice but if
not you’re probably hearing little
thoughts inside of your head little
whispers in the form of words that might
be positive they might be negative this
is your inner voice not to be confused
with the voice I’m talking about the
voice I’m talking about is so much more
powerful and you can’t hear it in fact
the only way that I’ve come to be able
to describe where this voice lives is it
live somewhere before your thoughts and
your words and how do you access that
well the last time you felt a spark of
inspiration where did that live before
it became thoughts and words and ideas
what about when your motivation was
fueled and ignited or how about when
something beautiful you witness
something beautiful and it took your
breath away to me this is the space that
great athletes go to to get their best
performance to that great artists go to
create works of art beyond their
capacity we’re great singers and
speakers go to give you something like
Pharrell set that is more than just
great
this capital V voice is worth protecting
and if you are in the spot in your life
where you want to reclaim your voice or
you want to help somebody reclaim their
voice please know that while you may
decide to use your fees
voice it alone cannot for you you
absolutely need to be able to access
this bigger voice not so long ago a
woman came in and she was working with
me and she had no boys at all it was
completely gone over several months her
ENT reports her scope showed no vocal
pathology no redness no edema no
swelling no vocal cords no polyps
nodules vocal cord oscillations working
right no physical reason at all
for her voice not to be functioning and
yet it wasn’t and when she spoke she had
this sense of like a gasp and I really
felt that trauma must be the result of
this physical voice loss and sure enough
this woman had been raped and was about
to testify in court where she really
needed to access her power and use her
physical voice to speak up when you work
with a voice in this capacity you begin
to know that your voice is not this
physical thing that you speak with it is
something bigger that we all have access
to no matter who you are we all have
access to this voice it is so much more
than we might think it is in fact if you
are reminded of who you are and what you
aspire to be you are in the place of
this capital V go here as long as you
can so to find this voice simply go
before the thoughts and the words if you
want to free your voice then start by
nurturing qualities in yourself or in
others that you’re leading coaching
working life appealing to that help free
and liberate the real voice you start
with independence freedom and above all
courage and know always that your real
voice can never be taken away your
greatness is never shaken it cannot be
taken in fact it is always there for you
to access just like it was for that
little girl who came into my studio when
I was 19 years old and she gave me my
very first window of understanding of
what a voice really is and maybe she
also has just given you yours
because your voice is so much more thank
you [Applause]
came into my singing studio and she
actually gave me my very first window of
understanding of what a voice really is
now by that time I’d actually already
been coaching for three years my singing
teacher came to me when I was 16 years
old and she thought it might be time for
me to begin coaching and I was a little
reluctant but I ended up following her
lead and I have actually been a voice
and performance coach ever since with an
amazing privilege to work with so many
different people and so many different
voices in many different capacities so
at first I just worked with recreational
singers and then as my career advanced I
started to work with individuals more
professionals to help them prepare for
stage performances in studio recordings
tours as well as big on-camera
performances but my career evolved a
little bit to work not just with artists
but also with professionals to help them
when they’re delivering something to
sort of take their game from this level
up to this level and I love also working
with people to rehabilitate their voices
so when somebody has lost their voice or
has been compromised in some way to help
bring it back but back then when I was
19 and this little girl came in she had
a beautiful little voice but it was
little meaning she was so quiet and so
shy but I knew it was nothing we
couldn’t fix with a few really great
exercises the usual vocal cord reduction
exercises and good strong physical
presence a nice proper use of air but no
matter what exercises I gave this young
girl and I gave the same ones to
countless others and they had always
worked but this young girl always ended
up standing singing and speaking in a
way that was very quiet extremely timid
and because I had such different results
with other singers I decided I might
take a different approach so instead of
addressing what was missing in her voice
which was what I was doing I decided I
would just stand back and listen and
allow just allow her to be yourself with
no feedback and no fixing and as you
might imagine that didn’t lead to
results right away but it did allow me
to shift my focus
off of her physical voice which was what
I was listening for to help her
obviously and allowed me to pay
attention to another layer of
information that seemed to be
communicated somewhere other than the
voice I was hearing and so with that
approach I ended up noticing a pattern
an inherent hesitation and when I tuned
in the sense that I had and it was a
very strong sense was that this little
girl she was acting in a way that was
pointing to herself and her voice
actually being muted so I stood with
that for a bit and then I actually took
this information back to my mom who has
shared in confidence I thought that
maybe something might be happening in
this little girl’s life where she wasn’t
able to speak up and my mom said well I
guess all you can do is give her her
voice back sounds simple enough I guess
to my mom but for me I did not know how
to do that all I knew is I wanted to
free her voice and so I began taking the
approach of helping her to not feel like
a student you know somebody who feels
like there’s right things to do and
wrong things to do instead I wanted to
encourage her to feel like an artist
somebody who was freely expressing
somebody who had something inside that
wanted and needed to get out and be
acknowledged and to do that i nurtured
qualities in her of independence and of
course freedom and above all courage and
with this approach I was quite surprised
we were getting results right away her
tone was coming out more freely she was
holding herself with a lot less
hesitation and you know she was really
so much louder and I was so happy with
these results what I realized was that
there was something behind her physical
voice that was actually causing her
physical voice to be affected but I
didn’t really know what it was so then
when I worked with this girl for about a
period of a year I found that I heard
through the grapevine something really
exciting this little girl in fact did
something extremely independent freeing
and courageous she spoke up to say that
her father had been molesting her that
was big for me in that moment it was a
moment of realization and
proof that our voice the one that we
believed to be living here in our lyrics
that’s physical voice that we sing speak
and express ourselves with is so much
more and I’ve come to know the voice so
intimately when I get to work with
people to bring their voices back
sometimes a voice is lost because of a
physical reason overuse misuse illness
or injury in that case I’ve come to
understand the physical voice where it
really has certain things that it
requires to build it up to restore it
and to optimize it and sometimes like
this little girl and countless others of
individuals have come into my studio
their real voice is the one that is
being affected and I have found that in
that case when somebody’s real voice is
affected their real power is sort of cut
off from them and that’s how I come to
know this real voice and to me this
little girl she did not speak up with
her physical voice she actually spoke up
with this bigger voice the actual voice
her real voice the one that I call the
capital V voice and it is this voice
that is so powerful beyond belief in
fact whether you’re a speaker or a
singer you could be a trailblazer a
professional parent a friend it doesn’t
matter who you are or what you do this
voice that I’m talking about that
doesn’t have a physical side to it may
just be the most powerful thing that we
have to access your greatness to live
your purpose and to get what’s inside of
you out and make your most impact in the
world so do we know that this voice
exists already I think we do when we are
in the in the protec if when we hate
when we see somebody in a silent protest
when people are coming together to
create one United unified voice that
comes to share with no words and no
sounds at all and no physical voice this
is the voice that I’m talking about it’s
the same one that I believe the most
influential speakers and leaders have
spoken about in history to help protect
empower acknowledge and reclaim when
they talk about the voice of a nation
the voice of a people who have been
neglected
underserved and under heard this voice
is so powerful it is so much more then
the sounds it makes than the words its
it says and the emotions it carries that
being said your physical voice is a very
powerful communication tool in fact you
may have seen this stat that your
communication is actually made up of 55%
body language
38% words which are carried by the voice
and 7% voice now for me these three
things are not your communication they
are simply the vehicles for your
communication and the physical vehicle
itself is obviously made up of physical
factors in fact there are three main
parts to vocal production we need a
power source so that’s our lungs which
supply air required for formation we
also need something to vibrate so we’ve
got our vocal cords right here in our
voice box and then we need a resonator
so that’s our nose our sinuses are our
mouth our throat and all of these things
come together to create a sound kind of
like a guitar if you think of a guitar
string they’re very much like the vocal
cords that somebody speaks with but they
require a power source somebody to pluck
them and they also require a resonating
source so they require a body which
allows that sound to be shared and
depending upon the size and the shape of
this body as well as the materials it’s
made out of that comes together to
create the own you know its own unique
signature sound just like our own voices
so we’re walking around with our own
very unique voices and depending upon
the size and the shape of your
instrument the one you were born with
you know the size and the shape of your
vocal cords of your resonators the
length of your neck the shape of your
tongue how wide you can open your mouth
and how much air you bring to your vocal
cords all of these things affect your
own signature sound I think that’s so
cool it’s like your own vocal
fingerprint and when sound is created
vibrations and frequencies are also
created which alone are also extremely
powerful you know they can carry
emotions and trigger feelings in the
people receiving them um have you ever
been around somebody who’s speaking in
another language
and you have no idea what they’re saying
but somehow you get a sense of what
they’re saying that’s partly the tone of
a voice but also in the vibrations it’s
all being carried in fact our voices are
so powerful I can even change the sound
of my voice to affect how you receive me
I can hike up my larynx I can adapt my
vocal cords and I can even throw the
sound into my nasal cavities and you get
a completely different experience of my
voice even though the content and the
sentiment are exactly the same so the
sound of a voice is powerful it can
agitate it can soothe and it can like a
baby’s cry being a frequency that
elicits you into a physical reaction who
has had that reaction so our frequencies
of our voice are very very very powerful
but the voice itself can do so many more
things think of your most favorite
speakers and leaders and singers their
physical voice is very powerful one that
comes to mind for me is Martin Luther
King he had an incredible command over
his physical voice mastering the three
main ways that I believe a person can
adjust their voice for greater impact
the first one is your sound so that’s
what I just adjusted you can adjust the
intensity the volume the character in
the tone of your voice the second one is
the spacing the speed at which you speak
the pattern you use your voice the lilt
and the melody as well as the pacing you
use and lastly is the subject
so that’s your content your messages
your words as well as the intent and the
authenticity authenticity that drives
these messages but Martin Luther King’s
physical voice was only one reason why
he was so compelling his messages were
so powerful and his reach was so wide
because he was actually able to access
this bigger voice that I’m talking about
the one that holds all of his greatness
and his truth and his his Ness that only
he has access to and then he used the
physical voice as a communication tool
to bring that out in fact you could use
any one of those communication tools to
bring out that of Capital V voice that
I’m talking about if you’re a dancer you
may not want to use your physical voice
but you want to access your great
and you’re gonna share that with your
body if you are an artist you might
access this capital V voice the speaker
voice that I’m talking about by creating
amazing works of art and as a speaker
and a singer and a leader you’re
probably going to be accessing this
voice and using the vehicle of your
physical voice now your favorite singers
can do this
in fact when I was around 4 L I heard
him say something that I thought was
really really interesting when he was
asked why he didn’t take action on a
singer who was incredible they were
incredibly technically adept and they
were able to a Moute I think think those
two things together are incredible but
he just simply said I’m looking for
somebody’s personality to scream out of
their tone I love that what I took from
that was he wasn’t just looking for
somebody to be great he was looking to
know them better at the end of the
exchange he was looking to in knowing
them better feel enriched touched or
transformed you know if you’re a
professional and you’re trying to take
your game to the next level or you’re a
leader and you want to be heard if
you’re a singer and you want to get you
know noticed by people to have fans to
share you and have people talk about you
you can’t just bring better to the table
you can’t just bring more skill you have
to bring more you and the only way to
bring more you is to access this voice
I’m talking about and the only reason I
know about this voice is because I see
it countless times in my studio I can
coach I can train the physical voice but
I absolutely need to coach this bigger
real voice if I want somebody’s them
nest to come through so this voice is
absolutely incredibly powerful so if you
want to access your greatness your
greatest high peak performance even
under high pressure or if you want to
get something inside of you and get it
out in a way that allows others to
receive you in a way that you feel is a
good representation of yourself or maybe
you want to be more authentically
compelling or influential persuasive
captivating
if you want to reclaim your voice if
your real voice feels like it’s been
taken away by somebody bullying abuse
trauma if you want to reclaim this voice
you have to know how to access this
bigger voice it is the only way to do it
so how do we do it well one of the first
things that we can do is find it so in
order to find your voice one thing that
you can do is stop talking your real
voice if you want to find your real
voice
stop talking and you might be one of
those amazing people who just feels a
silent sense of power and a real sense
of knowingness if you go there you are
accessing your capital V voice but if
not you’re probably hearing little
thoughts inside of your head little
whispers in the form of words that might
be positive they might be negative this
is your inner voice not to be confused
with the voice I’m talking about the
voice I’m talking about is so much more
powerful and you can’t hear it in fact
the only way that I’ve come to be able
to describe where this voice lives is it
live somewhere before your thoughts and
your words and how do you access that
well the last time you felt a spark of
inspiration where did that live before
it became thoughts and words and ideas
what about when your motivation was
fueled and ignited or how about when
something beautiful you witness
something beautiful and it took your
breath away to me this is the space that
great athletes go to to get their best
performance to that great artists go to
create works of art beyond their
capacity we’re great singers and
speakers go to give you something like
Pharrell set that is more than just
great
this capital V voice is worth protecting
and if you are in the spot in your life
where you want to reclaim your voice or
you want to help somebody reclaim their
voice please know that while you may
decide to use your fees
voice it alone cannot for you you
absolutely need to be able to access
this bigger voice not so long ago a
woman came in and she was working with
me and she had no boys at all it was
completely gone over several months her
ENT reports her scope showed no vocal
pathology no redness no edema no
swelling no vocal cords no polyps
nodules vocal cord oscillations working
right no physical reason at all
for her voice not to be functioning and
yet it wasn’t and when she spoke she had
this sense of like a gasp and I really
felt that trauma must be the result of
this physical voice loss and sure enough
this woman had been raped and was about
to testify in court where she really
needed to access her power and use her
physical voice to speak up when you work
with a voice in this capacity you begin
to know that your voice is not this
physical thing that you speak with it is
something bigger that we all have access
to no matter who you are we all have
access to this voice it is so much more
than we might think it is in fact if you
are reminded of who you are and what you
aspire to be you are in the place of
this capital V go here as long as you
can so to find this voice simply go
before the thoughts and the words if you
want to free your voice then start by
nurturing qualities in yourself or in
others that you’re leading coaching
working life appealing to that help free
and liberate the real voice you start
with independence freedom and above all
courage and know always that your real
voice can never be taken away your
greatness is never shaken it cannot be
taken in fact it is always there for you
to access just like it was for that
little girl who came into my studio when
I was 19 years old and she gave me my
very first window of understanding of
what a voice really is and maybe she
also has just given you yours
because your voice is so much more thank
you [Applause]
Please follow and like us: