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Re:Breathing and Exercise: Strength Training for Your Diaphr... by WalterBright on Sunday March 22, 2020 @11:36PM (#22661032)
I went looking for a voice coach. All I could find were singing coaches and autistic speech therapy ones. Nobody who could coach me at giving presentations. How did you find yours?
Re:Breathing and Exercise: Strength Training for Your Diaphr... by sriram_malhar on Monday March 23, 2020 @02:50AM (#22661793)
You could look for coaches who train actors AND singers. But my coach trains singers primarily, and it seems to me that the techniques are the same.

I wanted to work on my enunciation as well, in addition to loudness, cadence, nasality etc. My speaking style is staccato, and I emphasise too many words. That she corrected by telling me to read from a fully prepared script if I could help it, which is useful for recordings in these times! That got rid of the staccato, because my low-bitrate brain was freed from having to figure out what clever thing to say next :)

Then to work on the cadence, I had to underline at most two words per line, which would most effectively deliver the import of that line.

Finally, breath control. "Speaking from the diaphragm" is a real thing. There's a daily regimen of vocalization and breathing exercises that I do. My neighbors look at me oddly. But these exercises do help. Good breath control allows you to deliver a long line, with appropriate pauses and cadence, without feeling your tank is going to empty soon.

Re:Breathing and Exercise: Strength Training for Your Diaphr... by WalterBright on Monday March 23, 2020 @02:39PM (#22667189)
Here's the thing. I often listen to recorded voices at 1.25x or 1.50x speedup. Some people can be easily understood faster, others not. A commonality in those that can be understood are they are professionals, and ones that can't are lay people. Clearly (!), the professionals enunciate in a way that's much more understandable.

I've also noticed when listening to a presentation that some presenters are a lot easier to listen to. I'd like to improve my presentations in that way - that means tone, pacing, enunciation, etc.

Re:Breathing and Exercise: Strength Training for Your Diaphr... by thijsc on Monday March 23, 2020 @03:18AM (#22661880)
Did one session with an acting coach once which was very useful.

Most useful tip he gave me: in between sentences focus on breathing out, instead of breathing in. If you clear your lungs they will take care of filling up automatically.

Re:Breathing and Exercise: Strength Training for Your Diaphr... by gingerlime on Monday March 23, 2020 @05:01AM (#22662242)
Also curious. I tend to strain my vocal chords when I talk and can’t talk very loud. Normal conversations are fine but even reading to my son I feel like I’m straining my voice.

Would definitely be interested in some coaching and zero interest in singing. I wonder if it’s something you can do via zoom? Especially these days ...

Re:Breathing and Exercise: Strength Training for Your Diaphr... by alialghamdi on Monday March 23, 2020 @01:33AM (#22661492)
I didn't take courses, but as far as I know proper breathing techniques are also taught by singing coaches, if that's what you are looking for.
Re:Breathing and Exercise: Strength Training for Your Diaphr... by WalterBright on Monday March 23, 2020 @02:21AM (#22661687)
I was looking for coaching to enunciate clearly.
Re:Breathing and Exercise: Strength Training for Your Diaphr... by thomasrognon on Monday March 23, 2020 @02:33AM (#22661739)
I'm interested in this also. Would love to hear if you find something/someone good.