Project your voice without shouting.
O. C. Edwards
Projecting your voice makes it possible for the sangha to hear you even in the back of the dharma hall. You may be working with a microphone, so that amplification isn’t a problem. Nonetheless, knowing the basic principles of voice projection makes sure your message is loud and clear.
Just as breathing is important for zazen, breath technique is the basis of projection. In normal speech, you might breathe and talk from the top of the lungs. When you project your voice, you breathe and speak from the diaphragm. Take a breath and notice what moves. If your shoulders rise, you’re breathing from the top of the lungs. If your abdomen expands, that’s diaphragmatic breathing.
If you’re sitting down during your talk, you have a bit more of a challenge to projection. Standing up often allows for better air and energy flow, and removes some of the physical obstacles between you and the audience. Nonetheless, you can help yourself by sitting up straight rather than slumping or speaking into your notes. If you’re using a stand mic, make sure it’s high enough that you’re not hunching over to speak into it.
Relax and try to dissolve any tension in your throat and vocal cords, as well as the shoulders and upper chest. Tightening up makes it hard to breathe and affects all three components of your voice production system: voiced sound, resonance, and articulation. Voiced sound is simply the basic sound your vocal cords make when they vibrate. The resonators of your vocal tract — throat, mouth and nose — amplify and modify that sound to make your voice unique. Finally, the articulators — tongue, soft palate and lips — make the sound into words.
Pay attention to enunciation as an aspect of projection. Speaking too quickly or mumbling makes it hard for the sangha to hear and understand you. Practice saying words that requre good enunciation (chiropractor, effervescent, complication, specificity), making sure to apply good posture and breathing technique. If you have a tendency to drop your volume toward the ends of your sentences, work on making sure you use good breath support all the way through.
If you’re using a microphone for amplification or recording, make sure to do a level check before your talk so that the volume is appropriate for the listeners in the hall and for the recording. Position a stand mic so that it points directly at your mouth, not off to the side–but don’t speak close enough to it that you pop your Ps or distort your Ss. Clip a lavalier where it will pick up your voice well, somewhere that your robes won’t brush noisily over it and it won’t get knocked around by hand gestures.
Good volume is about more than just speaking more loudly. Shouting is a strain for both you and the audience. Good breathing, posture and articulation go a long way toward being heard in the back row.
