The theatre voice coach says:

Warm up your body. Runners stretch and jog lightly before a race to avoid injuries. Similarly, actors warm up their voices. The rich tradition of theatre offers a collection of effective techniques to get the voice ready to go. Do warm-ups daily. Think of these warm-ups as other routines you follow because personal health is important to you: like flossing your teeth or taking a multi-vitamin each day. Actors stretch their bodies mainly to release unnecessary tension. Excess tension impedes the free flow of breath and interferes with optimal functioning of the muscles used for speech. Stretching also gets blood flowing to your rib muscles; these muscles will work hard in your teaching day. As you warm up your body, remember that good body alignment is essential to good voice use. Exercises prepare your muscles to bring you to an upright relaxed posture so you are ready to speak.

Ready, set, breathe. Breath is the generator that powers the engine of the voice. Full and effective breathing gives the voice power, energy, resonance and flexibility. All actors work with the body and breath before moving onto other areas of voice development. What are earmarks of a voice-friendly inhalation of air? Breathe in through the nose to warm and moisten air. Shoulders should not move upward, and upper chest remains still.
Diaphragm (area just above the navel) expands. Abdominal muscles (around and below the navel) relax. Your intercostals (or muscles between your ribs) in your sides and back expand as the lungs fill with air. Allow your breath to do the work of speaking. In other words, let your words float on air. Don't push from the throat.

Hum your folds to life. Mmmm, your vocal folds are buzzing to life. To warm up your folds, try this:

• Hum at middle pitch or slightly higher.
• Use good breath support; feel the throat open.
• Take new breaths to keep your hum going.
• Think of humming as a vocal fold massage.
• Once you've hummed a minute or so, glide your hum up in pitch, then back down to a low-pitched hum.
• Imagine a silent "m" bouncing off your diaphragm like a trampoline. Once your "m" has bounced, visualize it coming up your trunk and around the bend at the back of your throat to just behind your closed lips.

Warm up your articulators:  Articulators — the tongue, lips, soft palates, jaw, and others — shape your sounds into words. To get the most out of these parts, it's important to remember one thing: BREATHE. For example, release the lower jaw by saying, "ouch." Did you breathe before you spoke? Disconnecting your speech from your breath forces you to "push" words out from the throat. Articulator warm-ups relieve tension, but don't over-do them. "Little, but often" is a good motto. Your articulators get a strenuous workout in your teaching day. Unnecessary tension only adds to their burden.

Become a master of breath management: Take a small puff of air: just enough to say "one" at your usual volume. Try a bit more - say "one, two," making the sound continuous. Repeat up to 10, 15 and 20. How much breath did you need to produce each amount of speech? As you counted higher, did your lower rib cage intercostals expand to take in large reservoirs of air? If you ran out of air before words, did you force your speech from the throat? Be careful, that's how you get vocal damage. To avoid this, take a quick breath when needed, or use shorter sentences. Learn to manage your breath well.

Each one teach one

Select a poem or a paragraph from a work of literature. Read the selection aloud to a friend or co-worker, and have your partner evaluate your speech according to this checklist:

• How's your posture?
   
• Do you prepare your body to speak (by settling into a voice friendly position), or do you mill around as you talk?
   
• Do rhythm, pitch and volume vary?
   
• Does the last word or two of every sentence "drop off?"
   
• Do your words float on your breath, or do they sound pushed out?
   
• Where do you pause?
   
• Are you relaxed?
   
• Are you emphasizing the important words?

Finishing touches: 10 tips to better speaking

1. Vary your rhythm. Have you ever noticed that former president George W. Bush tends to read three words and then pause? The rhythm is not unlike a waltz. While this may sound soothing, is it effective for motivating people to action?

2. Don't drop off the last word or two of every sentence. This is a common but ineffective speaking pattern. Add energy to your thought. The difference is HUGE.

3. Pause at important points. When you do, your audience will absorb your thought.

4. Don't clench your lower jaw. Sometimes, people "speak through" their back teeth, trapping their speech. Instead, make the most of your voice production power, and let your words flow easily through the mouth.

5. Breathe, using the airspace from your belly, sides and back effectively. If you don't, you'll run out of air before the end of a phrase and force out the final words using your throat muscles, causing a strained quality and possible damage.

6. Practice good posture. This will help you breathe properly and maintain your confidence.

7. Don't over-emphasize non-essential words. How often do we hear something like, "…wasted time, energy, AND resources." The speaker is missing the point; "and" is the least important word of the sentence. Why emphasize it?

8. Vary pitch. When you use your full range of pitches throughout the day, your speech sounds alive. It's also healthier for the vocal folds.

9. Vary your sound levels. The unexpected works: when students expect a shout from their teachers, soft voices may be more effective.

10. Give vocal clues: vocally emphasize important points. The critical word of a thought isn't necessarily at the beginning of the sentence. Nor is it always the noun or the verb.