We speak as we sing.
12 September 2013
Read by 1836 persons
Singing the Traviata at a meeting or during a seminar presentation might seem out of place. However, speaking as if you were singing opera ensures that you will be heard and that you will communicate effectively.
Why do we sing?
For pleasure.
This answer comes spontaneously because singing is associated with a very positive feeling. It is based on our vital need to express emotion and, moreover, to use the expressive power of the voice to this end. In short, singing is feeling alive.
Speaking, like singing, is above all about expressing emotion. Speaking without emotion generates boredom and nonsense, just like hearing a singer perform without expressing emotions.
What does "singing well" mean?
Singing well is above all about creating a relationship between the singer and those who listen. Certainly, one can sing alone, in the shower, just as one can speak alone. But solitude is not always good company. We need encounters, listening to exchange, express ourselves, enrich ourselves and unite.
When we sing or speak, the primary objective is "the other": the audience, the listeners, the interlocutor. Although rarer when listening to a singer, we often say in meetings or interviews: "He is listening to himself speak, he is too long". The person who speaks is not focused, he speaks for himself. This is the difference between exhibition and oral transmission. Singing, speaking, is therefore, in the first place, to create this feeling in the person listening to you: "He speaks to me, he sings to me".
Our capacity for oral memorization is often limited. Writing was invented to recall factual information (data, figures, ideas...). What is the point then of using the voice vector to communicate? For its specificity, which is to transmit in the immediacy of speaking: emotion. At the end of an oral presentation, we mainly retain the energy (that is to say, the whole set of emotions) of the person who spoke. Being effective orally is therefore being expressive and transmitting one's energy to one's interlocutor or audience.
Singing, speaking is to create the feeling that one is addressing someone, and simultaneously supporting one's words with clear emotional intentions.
Experiencing presentations as an opera
"I have an appointment with a client", think rather: "I am singing a duet with my client".
"I have a speech to give at a congress", think rather: "I have a performance at a congress".
"I am chairing a meeting", think rather: "I am in concert with my colleagues".
To speak, as to sing, you still need to have something to say or a score to sing.
In Opera, the stories are often relatively simple: "I love her - She loves me - But another loves her - Besides, her parents don't want me to marry her..." There is little factual information to memorize. The most important thing is the emotional expression and transmission through the genius music of a Mozart or a Verdi.
However, transmitting and having factual information memorized in a professional environment requires work on synthetic, intelligible, even pedagogical writing. But if we have such a text, it must still be said with emotional performance. For example, good or bad news does not depend only on a figure, but it is the expressiveness of the voice that will make it possible to understand the nature of this figure. Thus, it is essential to prepare the content to be transmitted orally.
Capturing the attention of your audience and maintaining that attention requires speaking with a projected and expressive voice to make the emotions transmitted understandable. Ultimately, it is to ensure that those who listen think: "I feel that he is speaking to me. He was interested in me. He gave me his energy. I understand his emotions." But also: "I trust him. I place an order with his company..."
The singer, the speaker, the same treasure: the voice!
"Sing opera? Never in my life! I sing badly, my voice is horrible when I hear it recorded. I have a small voice and it gets tired quickly. I don't like it!"
What beliefs inhibit our vocal abilities! Knowing how to sing is mostly perceived as a gift. Having a beautiful voice would be associated with the innate. Why? Because we ignore how the voice works, thus losing the ability to use its multiple potentials. We give up the pleasure of singing. We have difficulty expressing ourselves in front of an audience. Yet, singing is within everyone's reach and simply requires appropriate technique, just as speaking well requires specific and very easily accessible vocal techniques.
The functioning of the voice can be compared to a musical instrument. By analogy, it works like a violin. The strings of the violin vibrate according to the vocal cords. The bow of the violin is the breath. The wooden body of the violin is the face. What we hear from our voice when we speak is the vibration of the resonators of our face, like the wooden body of the violin vibrating under the action of the bow on the strings. We are all our own instrument whose potential we can quickly develop!
So, get involved in speaking and enjoy your voice!
Jean-Jacques Lapierre.
Etre-bien-au-travail.fr
Posted on September 12, 2013.
Why do we sing?
For pleasure.
This answer comes spontaneously because singing is associated with a very positive feeling. It is based on our vital need to express emotion and, moreover, to use the expressive power of the voice to this end. In short, singing is feeling alive.
Speaking, like singing, is above all about expressing emotion. Speaking without emotion generates boredom and nonsense, just like hearing a singer perform without expressing emotions.
What does "singing well" mean?
Singing well is above all about creating a relationship between the singer and those who listen. Certainly, one can sing alone, in the shower, just as one can speak alone. But solitude is not always good company. We need encounters, listening to exchange, express ourselves, enrich ourselves and unite.
When we sing or speak, the primary objective is "the other": the audience, the listeners, the interlocutor. Although rarer when listening to a singer, we often say in meetings or interviews: "He is listening to himself speak, he is too long". The person who speaks is not focused, he speaks for himself. This is the difference between exhibition and oral transmission. Singing, speaking, is therefore, in the first place, to create this feeling in the person listening to you: "He speaks to me, he sings to me".
Our capacity for oral memorization is often limited. Writing was invented to recall factual information (data, figures, ideas...). What is the point then of using the voice vector to communicate? For its specificity, which is to transmit in the immediacy of speaking: emotion. At the end of an oral presentation, we mainly retain the energy (that is to say, the whole set of emotions) of the person who spoke. Being effective orally is therefore being expressive and transmitting one's energy to one's interlocutor or audience.
Singing, speaking is to create the feeling that one is addressing someone, and simultaneously supporting one's words with clear emotional intentions.
Experiencing presentations as an opera
"I have an appointment with a client", think rather: "I am singing a duet with my client".
"I have a speech to give at a congress", think rather: "I have a performance at a congress".
"I am chairing a meeting", think rather: "I am in concert with my colleagues".
To speak, as to sing, you still need to have something to say or a score to sing.
In Opera, the stories are often relatively simple: "I love her - She loves me - But another loves her - Besides, her parents don't want me to marry her..." There is little factual information to memorize. The most important thing is the emotional expression and transmission through the genius music of a Mozart or a Verdi.
However, transmitting and having factual information memorized in a professional environment requires work on synthetic, intelligible, even pedagogical writing. But if we have such a text, it must still be said with emotional performance. For example, good or bad news does not depend only on a figure, but it is the expressiveness of the voice that will make it possible to understand the nature of this figure. Thus, it is essential to prepare the content to be transmitted orally.
Capturing the attention of your audience and maintaining that attention requires speaking with a projected and expressive voice to make the emotions transmitted understandable. Ultimately, it is to ensure that those who listen think: "I feel that he is speaking to me. He was interested in me. He gave me his energy. I understand his emotions." But also: "I trust him. I place an order with his company..."
The singer, the speaker, the same treasure: the voice!
"Sing opera? Never in my life! I sing badly, my voice is horrible when I hear it recorded. I have a small voice and it gets tired quickly. I don't like it!"
What beliefs inhibit our vocal abilities! Knowing how to sing is mostly perceived as a gift. Having a beautiful voice would be associated with the innate. Why? Because we ignore how the voice works, thus losing the ability to use its multiple potentials. We give up the pleasure of singing. We have difficulty expressing ourselves in front of an audience. Yet, singing is within everyone's reach and simply requires appropriate technique, just as speaking well requires specific and very easily accessible vocal techniques.
The functioning of the voice can be compared to a musical instrument. By analogy, it works like a violin. The strings of the violin vibrate according to the vocal cords. The bow of the violin is the breath. The wooden body of the violin is the face. What we hear from our voice when we speak is the vibration of the resonators of our face, like the wooden body of the violin vibrating under the action of the bow on the strings. We are all our own instrument whose potential we can quickly develop!
So, get involved in speaking and enjoy your voice!
Jean-Jacques Lapierre.
Etre-bien-au-travail.fr
Posted on September 12, 2013.
