I got a good question recently... someone asked for tips to strengthen a thin voice.

There's a bit of a catch-22 to watch for. If you try to "strengthen" a thin voice with just a harder application of breath power, you will end up with a harsh (and strained) voice. The real goal should be to make the thin voice richer. How you do this is basically...

• Get your breath right: 

Learn to send a confident airstream with just the right balance of breath support and breath control to your vocal cords.

• Get your throat open: 

Vocal sound is determined by resonation. If the buzz from the vocal cords can reach more of the resonation zones that add their own characteristics to the laryngeal vibrations, the 'sum of the buzz' will be richer. it takes an open throat to allow the transfer of vocal cord vibration to alternative resonators.

• Get your communicative intention focused:

Articulate your message in such a way as to get a response from the person to whom you're talking or singing. Your resulting body language will choose richer colors which communicate with more power. Consider when you talk in a thin, colorless and guarded way to someone you don't know as opposed to when you speak in an unguarded, richly colorful way to a  friend.

And for those who are counting... these three things happen to be the three points of synergy in Power, Path and Performance vocal training! This stuff works, it really does.

Now I have a question for you: How many of you have had problems with thin, lifeless, hooty, harsh or otherwise weak voices? I'd love to hear from you. After reading this post, what do you think cause your voice to sound thin?

Labels: Judy Rodman, pro, thin voice