I recently had someone confide in me that their speaking voice is just not what it used to be.  That it stays “grovelly” for longer stretched throughout the day, and is missing the “quality/brilliance”  that it used to always have.  He was telling me that he has noticed this in the past year or so and was concerned that he just had to resign himself over to his voice aging, (he is 37).

You know, the voice does age.  But our lifestyles also change that contribute to that “aging”.  Their is a lot we can do to keep our voices fresh and buoyant.

Speaking, like singing, when done properly takes support of muscles in the body, mainly abdominal, to be done correctly. As we get older, our lifestyles become more sedentary and so does the activation of the proper support muscles.  If you are sitting at your computer all day with weak posture, and then you go to your car, and then your couch, and then your bed… You are probably not getting good vocal support.

My voice exercises, Voice Lessons To Go, which are made up of singing vocal warm-ups, if done regularly can help your voice become alive again, bringing back the vibrancy and luster of your supported sound.  Regular vocal warm-ups will activate your abdominal muscles to dissuade your larynx from taking over alone which can cause lazy speaking.

Just like anything that takes muscles tone, the voice needs to be worked out as well.  If you are uncomfortable singing and still want to improve your speaking voice.  You can do regular breathing exercises to workout your diaphragmatic muscles and help your use your air flow properly.  There are great breathing exercises on my first volume, Vocalize and Breath, of Voice Lessons To Go.

Yoga and swimming also provide great workouts for both breathing and muscle strength which is great for your vocal upkeep.

Another tip, if you catch yourself speaking lazily, stop.  Put more energy and effort into producing a quality sound every time you speak.  Try and stay low on the whispering and yelling, which both can be tough on the speaking voice as well.  Speaking over loud noise is also very harsh to your vocal chords.

written by: Ariella Vaccarino creator of Voice Lessons To GO, and author of Vocalize!

www.voicelessonstogo. com- bringing quality healthy vocal instruction to the masses…