Taking the top spot in our most popular Trainer's Tips is Lindsay Campbell's voice projection exercise. It scooped over 28,458 reads and prompted lots of great discussion.

There are two key areas to focus on for voice projection: breathing technique and resonators (the 'speakers' in your head). I have one technique for each.

Breathing technique

Good voice projection requires efficient working of the lungs, intercostal muscles and diaphragm. The diaphragm is an umbrella shaped muscle which helps push air out of the lungs. Ask your trainees to locate their diaphragm by placing their hands, with fingertips touching, across their body below the ribcage. If you then ask them to breathe out making the sound 'huff' they should be able to feel the diaphragm working and see their fingertips being pushed apart. This allows them to experience how proper voice production should feel.

Resonators

In order to get these working well, ask your trainees to hold their noses and say 'many mighty men making much money in the moonshine' with as much force as possible. Then immediately get them to release the hold on their noses and say the same phrase. They will immediately hear the difference in the force of their vocal sound. Humming before speaking is another way of improving voice projection through resonation (though this should be done before you go to the speakers' platform, of course!).

View the original posting: Does anyone have any recommended voice projection activities please?

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