Did you know your voice can listen? Think about it – your vocal cords, larynx, pharynx, mouth, tongue and lips act to create sound that communicates messages, right? So how do they learn what to do? Your brain connects your ear to your voice and enables it to listen for directions. It may further surprise you that you can magnify or numb out this connection.
Active listening
…to listen or not to listen; that is the question.
To enable more active listening, I’ve actually used bone on bone to conduct sound from my voice to a student’s ears. I put my forearm firmly against my student’s forearm, then I make a vocal sound and ask them to ‘listen with their larynx’. It can be amazingly and quickly effective in helping them hear more closely and do something new.
What the ear can hear
- articulation
- tone quality
The colors of vocal tone or timber can turn articulation of the same words into very different, specific messages. The phrase ‘I’m sorry’ spoken in a dark tone can deliver a threatening omen, a bright tone can indicate sarcasm, a breathy, tight tone can indicate authentic remorse. Your ear hear messages from vocal tone even from articulation you don’t understand, such as foreign languages. All types and combinations of emotion can be indicated by infinite
depths and shades of tone colors a voice can create.
- volume
- pitch
- phrasing and rhythm
How the ear directs the voice
Practical advice for the listening and learning voice:
- Remember it’s Ear to Brain to Vocal Cords!
Don’t just listen and then speak or sing. Give your brain time to process the aural information before sending directions to your vocal apparatus! Then…
- Practice miming what you hear
To learn a song, vocal lick, articulation, language, phrasing, rhythm or other subtle vocal nuance, do the mime exercise while listening actively to a voice that has mastered what you want to do. This also works tremendously for gaining more accurate pitch. And it works for speakers as well. Listen deeply, listen with all your attention, and let your eyes, jaw, tongue, soft palate and larynx silently try to copy what your ears are picking up.
- Don’t listen to what you don’t want your voice to do!
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