The Feeling of What Happens is the title of a book by the Portuguese-American neuroscientist Antonio Domasio. In this book he examines the question of where our feelings come from and what it means to be conscious. Consciousness, he believes, comes from our being fully present to the response of our physical body to whatever is going on around us, and to what we are experiencing in the present moment.
Being fully present and in the moment, is a necessary state for an actor and performer and a desirable one too, for the non-performer, enabling communication that is both truthful and meaningful. The Feeling of What Happens inspiresan approach to working with the voice that teaches us to feel our voice rather than listen to it.
Many of us listen to the sound of our own voice, and may also enjoy the sound of it. This not only takes us out of the present moment, it also gives us a false impression of how our voice might actually sound. It is important to understand that we do not hear ourselves as other people hear us. We hear our voice through our bones and blood, and the perception we have of our sound is very different to that which the listener hears. We also hear ourselves after we have spoken. The sound has already begun to travel, and by the time it reaches our ears, it is already around 1,000 feet away from us.
Listening to themselves, an actor will fall behind the flow the text, and a singer’s entries will be a fraction off the beat. And in conversation, we will not entirely be with the person we’re talking with. Listening becomes a distraction. When we feel our voice, on the other hand, we hear it rather than listen to it, and we hear it as we produce it in the present moment.
So how can we feel our voice? We certainly feel it when we have a sore throat or a cough, but do we notice at all in our day to day verbal interactions with others? We tend to take it for granted until something goes wrong with it and forces us to think about it. But by learning to recognise the physical response of our body to breath and sound, it is possible to connect to our voice in a way that will not only bring about our best vocal quality when we speak, but will also change the way we communicate with others.
The first thing we need to do is to become aware of the natural physiological progression of events that take place when we speak. At its most basic level, our voice is simply a coordination of breath and muscle and at each stage of this progression, it is possible to sense different kinds of muscular and vibrational activity going on. We can use this sense to ascertain how well our voice might be sounding as we speak, but from within, rather than without. Let’s have a look at this progression.
The first thing that happens is that we have a thought we wish to communicate. This signals a need for breath and a breath is taken. Our breath then meets our vocal cords and initiates a vibration, and a sound wave is released into our throat. This sound wave then resonates in our throat, gaining power and substance, before being shaped by our tongue, teeth and lips, into the words we wish to speak.
Let’s make a list, and then look at what we can feel at each stage:
- Thought
- Breath
- Connection of breath to sound
- Resonance
- Articulation
Thought and breath work together. Our thought inspires a breath which is taken as a result of our diaphragm muscle contracting and moving downwards into our abdominal cavity. Our diaphragm attaches to the bottom of our ribcage and the impulse received from the brain, as we prepare to voice our thought, causes the diaphragm to contract and move downwards into our abdominal cavity. This movement pushes our abdomen outwards, along with the three layers of muscle which form the abdominal wall. Our ribcage also opens. It is important to know that we can’t feel the movement of our diaphragm directly. But we can learn to feel the movements of other muscles that contract and release in response to it. So the first physical activity we can learn to feel, is this forward movement of the abdomen and the opening of our ribcage. This tells us our lungs have taken in the breath we need.
Once we have taken our breath, the diaphragm starts release upwards, and the abdominal muscles contract and move inwards. This is the second movement we need to become familiar with because it tells us we are supporting the outflow of breath which, once it meets our vocal cords, will become our voice. These coordinated movements of the diaphragm and the abdominal muscles provide what is known as ‘support’. The muscular pressure of these movements beneath the lungs propels and effectively ‘spins’ our breath upwards and out of the lungs into our windpipe, where it flows up towards the vocal folds housed within our voice box which sits on top. These muscular responses of our body to our breathing can be very tangibly felt, and by becoming fully aware of them, we begin to feel our voice working. At the end of this post, you will find an exercise to help you develop your awareness of this coordination.
The next thing that happens is the connection of our breath to sound. Our breath meets our vocal folds and causes a vibration which can be felt if we gently place two fingers on our larynx and hum – mmmm. The vocal folds draw together and close when we speak, and it is also possible, with time and practice, to sense this movement. To begin with, however, a sense of vibration here, around and within our voice box, is more immediately grasped. And by learning to feel the vibrations here as we speak, we can begin to trust that our breath and vocal folds have connected.
This vibration is then released as a sound wave which begins to resonate in the air containing spaces of our throat, mouth, nasal passages, and sinus cavities. The air molecules already contained within these spaces are activated by our sound wave, creating further vibrations, which can be felt sympathetically in the bones of our ribcage, face, and skull.
We can also feel vibrations in our throat and mouth spaces as well. Try placing the palms of your hands on the side of your throat whilst you say: MAH-MOR-MOO-MOR MAH. Can you feel the vibrations here?. Now see if you can sense how they shift into the mouth space when you say: MAH-MAY-MEE-MAY MAH.
The first sequence of vowels are shaped by the back of your tongue towards the back of your mouth space, and will naturally draw upon the resonances created within the lower throat, which are darker and richer in colour. The second sequence uses vowels shaped by the front of the tongue towards the front of the mouth space, and draw upon the resonances created here, which are brighter and sharper in colour. They also bring the feeling of our voice forward, where we can start to feel sympathetic vibrations from our bones. The roof of our mouth (the hard palate) is made of bone as is the ridge of our upper teeth, and as the voice resonates, we can learn to feel how the vibrations almost penetrate the roof of the mouth and bounce off our cheekbones and nasal bone .
These vowel sequences, taught at RADA during the 1950’s and used by many voice teachers before and since then, are excellent for balancing the resonators to achieve a mixed blend of these different resonances. Try speaking the whole sequence through several times, and notice how the vibrations begin to flow through the sounds as you speak.
MAH-MOR-MOO-MOR-MAH-MAY-MEE-MAY-MAH.
We come now to the final stage of the progression where our voice is shaped and articulated into the vowel and consonant sounds of speech and language. At this stage, we can become aware of the tongue, which is our main muscle of speech. As it works to shape our speech, the movements of our tongue can be felt strongly. Note how it feels when the tongue tip taps against the front upper teeth ridge to articulate t and d, for example, or makes contact with the roof of our mouth to pronounce sh or ch.
Consonants can be either voiced or unvoiced. Unvoiced consonants are produced purely with breath while voiced consonants involve a vibration of the vocal folds, providing us with further kinaesthetic feedback. Try speaking this sequence of voiced consonant sounds and see if you can feel the vibrations produced by your vocal cords. The th sound in this sequence is the voiced th that comes at the end of words such as ‘with’ or ‘breathe’: th-v-b-d-g-z-zh-ch. Now notice the difference when you speak this sequence of unvoiced consonants produced purely with the breath. Here we begin with the unvoiced th that starts the words ‘thought’ or ‘think’: th-f-p-t-k-s-sh.
Try reading a poem or short text aloud and focus on articulating the consonants. Exaggerate them and make sure every single sound is articulated fully – especially the consonants at the end of words. By becoming aware of physical sensation of speaking words, we can begin to experience and enjoy the physicality and muscularity of speech. This is our pleasure when speaking. It is the process of speech we should enjoy, rather than the perceived sound we make. Our sound is for our listeners to hear and enjoy. Moreover, if the process feels good, then it is likely our voice sounds good too.
Here is a breathing exercise to hep you become more aware of the coordination between our diaphragm and abdominal muscles.
- Lie on the floor in the semi-supine position – the soles of your feet are on the floor and your knees point towards the ceiling. Place a couple of books behind your head to support it and prevent it pulling back. If you’re on a hard floor, a rug or yoga mat is a good idea.
- Breathing in through your nose and out through your mouth, pay attention to your breathing. Place one hand on your abdomen and notice how your hand moves UPWARDS and AWAY from your body as you breathe in, and DOWNWARDS towards the floor as you breathe out. This is the natural coordination of the diaphragm and the abdominal muscles for breathing.
- Keeping your hand on your abdomen, place the other on your upper chest. Make sure that only the hand on your abdomen moves as you breathe. The upper chest should remain still, but you can feel the sides of your ribs open.
- Round your lips into an whoo shape, so you can channel and feel the outflow of breath.
- Continue breathing in and out in this way for a few minutes, monitoring the upwards and downwards movement of the abdominal muscles. Become very familiar with these movements and the feeling of this muscular activity beneath your lungs.
This coordination between your diaphragm and abdominal muscles is what we call ‘support’. It generates and sustains the airflow needed to produce a naturally free and strong voice. It will also protect it and enable you to speak with your best vocal quality.
Fellner Voice 