Harnessing the Power of Singing to Improve Your Public Speaking Skills

Public speaking freaks a lot of us out. Sweaty palms, quickening heart rate, dry mouth etc., the nerves can sneak up and sabotage us, even when we're really prepared. Singing can make us even more nervous! It's such a vulnerable thing to do in front of a crowd, particularly if you don't consider yourself a singer. So then, why would I put together a program of singing- arguably a more vulnerable thing than talking, to help improve speaking?!

Well, let me explain. First of all, there's a lot of things that singers practice every day that to use their voices more effectively and safely. Ever find your voice getting tired and raspy after a day of meetings or phone calls? Or have you been told to "speak up" and find it difficult to do consistently? Our vocal chords work in a very specific way to produce the sound we use to speak, and to sing. Using our air efficiently and supporting correctly will greatly improve the speaking voice anditss stamina.

Learning the basics of how to use the instrument we all have, our voice, as applied to singing, exaggerates the way we need to use it for speaking and therefore "gets us there" faster. Warm ups designed to improve our stamina for singing are really helpful when we need to use our voice for speaking over long periods of time.

The pitch and inflection of our voice plays an important role in our communication skills. Things like speaking in a higher pitch and inflecting up at the end of sentences can make us sound less confident, less experienced and less credible. Pitching too low can give the impression of being over bearing or can even be difficult to understand. Singing helps speakers to explore different pitches in their voices and to start figuring out how to find that sweet spot.

The final aspect I want to touch on today is performance, and the role it plays in communication. As singers we have specific lyrics that we're trying to communicate to listeners. We're in essence telling someone else's story. How do we communicate that story to our audience? To start, we need to annunciate the lyrics clearly so that our listeners can understand the literal side of our story. Next, we to convey the meaning of those lyrics, both the literal and deeper meaning we're trying to express through the song.

As singers we spend a lot of time analyzing the lyrics, figuring out what the composer was trying to say, and then deciding what we want to say within the context of the specific song. The story as told through the lyrics will have slightly different meanings depending on the context it's presented in and on the storyteller. For example, a song from a musical theatre show will have a very specific meaning when sung in the show, however if it's sung out of the context of the show, we have some flexibility on the interpretation.

When speaking to an audience, whether it's 2, 200 or even 2,000 people, we need to be clear on what our story means, how we're telling it and why we're telling it. Just like a song is written to tell a story in an interesting and engaging way, our speeches, lectures and sales pitches should do the same! Trying to sell something? You really need to keep your audience engaged and interested to make that sale.

Learning some of the tools and techniques that singers use is really useful for improving public speaking- plus it's really fun!

Contact us to find out more about how we can help your time become more effective speakers- while having a great time.