Partner Article

Stressful pitching

With Simon Raybould of Curved Vision

We live in a high stress society. To prove it, drop your shoulders: if you can drop them, you’ve probably got a bit of a tension issue – unless you’re in a situation that justifies stress, of course. One of the things that goes wrong when you’re stressed is that your voice shifts up in pitch. In short, it gets higher than it “should” be. What’s worse, we get so used to this that we think this is our “normal” voice!

Stewart Pearce is a voice coach of considerable reputation and he suggests that one way to find your “true” voice’s pitch is to say “uh-huh”. If you say it as though you’re confirming something you probably go down on the second syllable and if you’re using it to ask a question you probably go up on the second.

Either way, he says, the higher of the two is typically the pitch you usually use - and think is your voice – but the lower of the two is the ‘true’ voice you should be using… the one you’d use if you weren’t anxious about something or stuck in a bad habit.

Check it out and see if you shouldn’t be making your presentations at a different pitch… it’ll make you sound (and feel!) a lot less anxious about whatever you’re saying.

As always, questions and comments to me at sme@curved-vision.co.uk.

This was posted in Bdaily's Members' News section by Ruth Mitchell .