Voice Therapy
Geiger Voice Clinic
For Specialised Voice Therapy services, please refer to the Geiger Voice Clinic webpage.
Back to School: Vocal Warm up for Teachers
Technically, teachers are classified as professional voice users, using their voices for up to 8 hours plus per day.
In fact, arguably, you may use your voice more as a teacher than a singer.
If the singer’s daily regime always includes a vocal warm up, then why shouldn’t teachers warm up to0?
Vocal warm up is critical to preventing voice damage, maintaining vocal coordination and enhancing vocal efficiency.
Try this quick drill daily before classes to prime your voice for better function and coordination.
1. Hydrate
Make sure your water intake has been sufficient after your long sleep the night before. We tend to wake with dehydrated tissues, so it is important to replenish the water in our system. Vocal folds get dehydrated too, so make sure that you start each day with some fluid intake. You will require considerably more water intake to hydrate your voice if you are a known mouth breather while sleeping, if you are sleeping with AC or heating or if you are allergic to dust particles.
2. Stretch it out!
Your voice is generated from the power source of your lungs before it is created in the throat (larynx). As you breathe, it is important that the musculature surrounding your lungs is mobile, dynamic and not tensed. Stretch out your body on the floor for 1 minute, focusing on getting your breath to generate from low down in the abdominal / diaphragm region. Once your breath is settled move onto the next steps.
3. Good vibrations
Do some lip or tongue trills to bring the focus of your voice to its optimum location. This is easy to do. If you are not sure what a lip trill is, imagine blowing a raspberry with your lips but on a sustained note. A tongue trill is similar, just focus on sustaining the italian “rrrr” on a tone. Make these sounds at a comfortable vocal pitch. You can add some vowels after you have done a few strings of trills. Check in a mirror to make sure no tension is visible in your neck region. Maintain the trills as long as you can comfortably without completely exhausting your breath supply.
Lip trill set
1. bbbbbbbbbb (trilled) x 5
2. rrrrrrrrrr (trilled) x 5
3. bbbbbaaaaa/ bbbbbeeeee/ bbbbbiiiiii/ bbbbbooooo etc. (be sure to insert the vowel smoothly and in the same position as the trill)
4. Sentence set
Read the following sentences at a slow, smooth rate paying attention to anchoring and suspending your breath flow from your diaphragm & abdomen. Try to make a real buzz on your lips on the words that start with “m” and vibration in your nose on those that begin with “n”. Never speak at the point where your breath feels like it is at its last. Instead, take time to refuel your breath supply each time you need to.
1. My mother in Manhattan makes muffins most Mondays.
2. Not many mountains have nearly as many ice caps.
3. Make your way through your notes and notice the corrections.
4. This meeting is for like minded individuals.
5. Mary is mindlessly filling her folder with needless information.
BRAVO! You have successfully primed your voice for your day in the classroom.
Please note, these exercises should not be completed with a hoarse, sore voice. Hoarseness, tension and voice loss can be signs of a voice pathology. Consult a speech pathologist if you suffer from prolonged periods of voice loss, voice cracks, tense/tight/hoarse or sore voice or the sensation of pain or a lump in your throat region.
For further information on voice coaching and optimization programs for teachers please do not hesitate to contact Sarah Geiger Speech Pathology.
Sarah Geiger Speech Pathology is also available for Group Professional Development and Vocal Training days for Educators in Schools.
Words: Sarah Lobegeiger (MA Speech Pathology, MA Opera, pending, BMus, BAEng, TESOL cert IV)
Can you change your speaking voice?
Most of us may cringe at any play back of our speaking voices. Even when captured with a sophisticated recording device, most speakers will be alarmed at hearing something very different to what they perceive while speaking. Why is this?
When we produce voice, the output that we hear is shaped by the tissues of our throat, mouth and nasal cavity. Sound vibrates within these chambers rather like sound in a cave. What your listeners hear, is the outcome of this internal vibration that you feel and perceive, which we call the acoustic output of your voice.
By altering the positioning, tension and coordination of the structures used to produce your voice, a different acoustic output will be achieved. This is why, if you try, you may accurately impersonate your favourite actor or mimic a different dialect or speak with a more nasal tone or even higher pitch.
Voice coaching deals with the balance between the structures used for voicing. Through careful assessment and planning, a speech pathologist can remediate and enhance the quality of your acoustic output.
The brightness, nasality, pitch and colour of your voice can be altered drastically, even with a few simple adjustments. Additionally, vocal stamina, endurance and carrying power can also be enhanced.
For further information on voice coaching and optimization programs please do not hesitate to contact Sarah Geiger Speech Pathology.
Words: Sarah Lobegeiger (MA Speech Pathology, MA Opera, pending, BMus, BAEng, TESOL cert IV)
Sarah Geiger Speech Pathology 