The Chron investigates how you can take lessons to improve the way you talk – and your prospects in life
Acting teacher Nicholas Scrivens giving a voice class to his students at Northamptn University.
‘AN Englishman’s way of speaking absolutely classifies him, The moment he talks he makes some other Englishman despise him.’
So sings Professor Higgins in the musical My Fair Lady and it seems that many people would agree.
Thetutorpages.com, a company offering private tuition, revealed that last year that of all its tutors, its elocution teachers got more requests for lessons than anyone and the main reason people wanted to change the way they spoke was to improve their job prospects.
Christine Newman, managing director at The Graduate recruitment specialists in Cheyne Walk, Northampton, has seen an increase in people taking steps to improve the way they speak because the job market has become so competitive that candidates want to try anything that will give themselves an edge.
She said: “It’s always been a problem but the difference is now there’s more competition for every job. Before you might have been up against five people, now it could be 50 and you have to think ‘how can I be better than the competition?’”
The issue is not so much about accents, and Christine explained that it does not matter if candidates have a regional accent from Birmingham or Liverpool or anywhere else, but she said: “It’s more are they saying ‘yeah’ and missing their Ts and Ss? Can they get their words across? We get a lot of people who can’t speak properly and a lot of candidates who speak in a lazy way.”
Many more of the companies they work with at The Graduate are now giving candidates telephone interviews to weed out the ones who cannot speak clearly and well on the phone.
Christine said: “You can hear on the phone someone’s body language, you can tell if they are interested, smiling, enthusiastic and if they can’t speak properly on the telephone they don’t get to a face-to-face interview.”
Shortly before I spoke to Christine she had just received feedback on a candidate who had been for an interview and was told that she needed to improve her speaking skills. It can certainly hold back someone who otherwise has everything the employer is looking for.
Christine said: “It’s a real shame. We have got many candidates and it’s not always the best candidate that gets the job, it’s the best interviewee. Unfortunately it can sometimes be that communication is letting people down. It’s something that does need to be worked on because communication skills are always number one on employers’ priorities.”
At The Graduate they help candidates improve their communication by role playing interviews so they can practise. She also advises candidates to listen to people who speak clearly on the television and take note of how they speak. She particularly likes the speaking voice of the actress Emma Thompson but she is not asking candidates to impersonate anyone. She said: “We say listen to how people pronounce their words, not copy them but listen and use it in your interview.
“We also ask them to take advice and they might go to a voice coach. Sometimes they just need to ask people around them and ask ‘how do I speak? How can I improve?’ Quite often the people closest to you can help you.”
Tracey hopes for a stronger voice
RUNNING up and down around some chairs and then lying on the ground, Tracey Stewart admits there have been times when she has wondered what on earth she is doing at voice training lessons.
“Sometimes I think I don’t see how this is helping me,” said Tracey, who has been taking lessons since last November, but though she may not know how it works, she knows that it definitely has worked for her.
Tracey is a project manager who has ambitions to become a motivational speaker. She is a member of the Professional Speakers Academy and during a training session with them she kept getting the same feedback. Her voice was too soft and quiet.
She decided to do something about it and got in touch with voice coach Ingrid St Clare in Market Harborough. Tracey, who is originally from Bray, near Dublin, had no wish to change her accent, she simply wanted to be able to be heard better.
What she did not expect was to enjoy the sessions so much.
She said: “It’s a very, very enjoyable experience. In my mind it was going to be me trying to project my voice but at the last session I was running round and round and lying down.”
Although the process was mystifying, as soon as she started speaking after this warm-up she could feel the difference.
She said: “I thought I would go for voice coaching to enable me to project my voice but the process has been a completely different experience. It’s perhaps least about the voice and more about breathing and movement so you are actually concentrating less about the voice.”
And Tracey, who lives in Mawsley, has found that her voice is better not just for public speaking but in smaller groups such as business meetings. She said: “When I’m in meetings with customers and giving presentations I have been able to apply the tricks I have learned.”
Now she makes sure she sits on the edge of the seat so that her body has more space to move. She has also learned to speak more slowly and to vary her voice. She said: “I tend to speak quickly, now I’m taking my time and I have slowed down the pace I speak at. It’s given me a lot of confidence presenting in front of customers.”
She has just had her fourth lesson and she has thoroughly enjoyed each one. She said: “I can’t wait for them and I nearly skip out of the place. I really look forward to my sessions because you don’t know where you are going to go with it, there’s always that element of surprise about it.”
‘It’s about being in control of your body’
SING in your car. That is one of the best tips for anyone who wants to improve their speaking voice according to actor Nicholas Scrivens.
Nicholas, who lectures in acting at the University of Northampton, says it is a good way to warm up your voice and experiment with rhythm and volume and a good trick before an interview.
The main difficulty people have with their voice comes from tension, he said and if you are going for a job interview the problem can be made worse.
He recommends doing some breathing exercises before any occasion when it is important to speak well, whether that it public speaking or a meeting with one prospective employer.
At the university they teach the drama students about using their voice and encourage them to practise and train, not just for work on stage or screen but for business meetings. Nicholas said: “They will all have meetings with potential backers so the business side of it is part of it as well.”
Nicholas took me through a few exercises to warm-up my voice, and these start with physical stretching and movement before going on to making sounds. It is not like My Fair Lady.
He said: “People think of Henry Higgins and the Rain in Spain, but voice training has moved on to be more about the body and the breath. It’s being in control of your body.”
It is not about changing accents though. He said: “Accents vary and I’m a great believer in you should be who you are. It’s important they keep their own regional identity but have the ability to make their regional accent more clear.”
Ingrid St Clare has been giving voice lessons for around 20 years and she agrees. She said: “We want people to be their natural selves, if they have a Northampton accent or a Leicestershire accent or a Birmingham accent it doesn’t matter as long as they are clear.”
Many of her students take lessons with her to improve their job prospects.
She said: “They say that it gives them that edge in the job market and that they can put themselves across better.”
She prefers to call it voice coaching or voice training rather than elocution because she feels elocution gives the impression of making everyone speak in the same way.
Ingrid teaches in Market Harborough and has students from all over Northamptonshire and Leicestershire and often from further afield, she said: “Over the years I have always had people going to interviews or who want to get a promotion and actually it does help people. Some people say ‘without this I wouldn’t have got that job.’ I have seen so many people really helped. I think some are nervous when they come and I so admire them for coming because it has taken courage.”
Nicholas advises that anyone who is interested in developing their speaking voice should read a book on the subject and he recommends Finding Your Voice by Barbara Houseman. Breathing exercises and reading aloud are also useful.
He said: “Be proud of your regional variations but be clear. If you are clear you don’t have to change your regional accent. Your voice will always define your education and your family background, it’s also the best way to put across who you are.”
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