Written by: Katarina Hornakova, Executive Contributor
Executive Contributors at Brainz Magazine are handpicked and invited to contribute because of their knowledge and valuable insight within their area of expertise.
Your voice makes first impressions. According to research, even one simple word like “hello” and the way you say it can tell people something about your personality. Everyone is born with their own distinct voice, but many people don’t know that they can improve or even change their voice completely by doing simple vocal exercises. If your voice sounds breathy or weak, you can make your voice last longer and get strong by doing regular vocal exercises.
These exercises don’t have to be complicated or fancy. They can be very simple and you may already know how to do them. In fact, these exercises are so easy that anyone can do them. You don’t have to have any experience singing or doing any type of “voice work.”
The most important factor in strengthening the voice is consistency. It’s like going to the gym. If you want to build a six-pack, you don’t go to the gym once or for a week. If you really want to build muscle strength, you need to commit to lifting weights regularly. If you go once a week, you get stronger slowly over a long period of time. If you go three times a week, you will see results faster. But if you go to the gym every day, even for a short time, you will gain muscle strength fairly quickly.
And the same applies to your voice. Doing an exercise once will not do anything for your voice. Regular practice will and the more frequent the exercise, the better results. For example, doing a short 5-minute vocal routine in the morning and before going to bed every single day will give you better results than an hour-long voice practice once a week.
You can strengthen your voice with many vocal exercises that you already know how to do. Do you know how to hum? Great, use it to build a strong voice. Do you know how to do lip trills, you know, a raspberry kind of sound with your voice? Even better! Use it to build vocal endurance. If you have never heard about any of these sounds or exercises, here is a simple one to learn: say the word SING and prolong the last NG sound. It’s an easy nasal sound, often used for vocal practice.
Strengthening Vocal Routine
Here are two very simple exercises to include in your voice strengthening routine. By making these sounds on a regular basis, you strengthen the muscles that bring the vocal folds together and keep them together, as well as the muscles that stretch and shorten the vocal folds. These are very important functions of your voice required to make loud and strong sounds with good intonation.
Exercise No.1 Sustaining a Sound
Choose a sound in your comfortable speaking range. Inhale through the nose and make the NG sound for as long as you comfortably can. Avoid pushing the last bit of breath at the end of the sound. Repeat one more time. Then choose two more notes (or pitches) from your comfortable speaking range and repeat this exercise on those two notes. (You can find demonstrations of this and similar exercises on my YouTube channel.)
Exercise No.2 Sirens
Start at the bottom of your speaking range. Make the NG sound. Imitate the sound of a siren, taking your voice for a spin really slowly from low notes to high notes and back. Avoid pushing air or squeezing inside your throat to make high notes. Keep this exercise in your comfortable range. Siren for 2 to 5 minutes a day.
These are two very simple exercises that anyone can do. If you do them consistently, your voice will get a good workout. You improve your vocal endurance and power. The whole routine with these exercises takes less than 10 minutes. There is no reason not to do them. If you really stick to regular practice, you should see results in a couple of weeks.
Have fun!
Katarina Hornakova, Executive Contributor Brainz Magazine
Katarina Hornakova is a licensed speech-language pathologist, vocal health coach, and educator with 20+ years of experience working with diverse groups of people from all corners of the world, including speakers, singers, musicians, teachers, presenters, voice-over actors, entrepreneurs, yoga instructors, health educators, and others. She has published several books and articles on speech, language, and voice disorders. Katarina is most passionate about helping people who experience vocal tension, strain, or even pain when speaking find more vocal ease and confidence to share their message with the people around them. Her mission is to give voice to those who have lost it. She continues to develop her deep fascination with the human voice through the Estill Voice System model, which formed her belief that “every voice is beautiful”. Katarina has helped hundreds of people discover their true vocal potential. She is a curious life-long learner herself who loves to meet new people, cook, and travel.
