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I really want my voice to be a bit livelier than it is but still be my self, I have had books on voice training but it hasn’t done a thing!!! I feel that my magic presentation and patter is great but it’s the sound of my voice I don’t like! I feel that my voice is very monotone and really would like to change this BUT still been myself because if your not been your self then you can't magic your magic unique.

Please could people give me some tips and how to liven up my voice but be my self.

Thanks, magico563

Hi,

I would suggest this. First of all, be relaxed. Loosen the shoulders, relax the stomach muscles and allow the breathing to drop lower into your body.

Talk to the specs as if they were mates of yours. Chat with them a bit about stuff unrelated to magic: are they having a good day? What are they up to later? Build a rapport with them and engage them as individuals. When you start your actual performance of a routine maintain this friendly, relaxed engagement.

Keep your patter as natural as possible. Try to use words, phrases and tone of voice you would normally use when talking with your friends.

Ad lib. When performing I have scripted patter I use, but I pepper that with ad libs to suit the situation and spectator.

Finally, don't worry too much. If you get good reactions and the spectators enjoy your magic then maybe there is nothing wrong with your voice. I think it is true that we don't actually hear our own voices properly.

All the best
Gary

Also, when you're at home, practice imitating voice patters of people you admire to get a feel how they would pronounce things, whether it be comedians, actors or magicians. Try and do this without doing an impersonation, just the dynamics.

Something that helped me was that a long time ago I had singing lessons with an opera teacher and this helps to know which words deserve a sharper pronounciation.

I believe these folks may have actual audio training tapes/CDs & DVDs that can help you out... they've been around for a little while so I'm confident they know what they are doing and have what is needed for helping ANY ONE out when it comes to improving out attitude and ability as public communicators.

http://www.dalecarnegie.com/

I initially had a problem as my voice is naturally very fast. This is something I have struggled with for years. Is not monotoneo or unlively, just fast.

When I first started doing magic, I obviously couldnt speak fast as my audience could not understand me, but when I tried to slow down, my voice bcame monotone and sounded very scripted.

I found the best help for me was reading to my wife when we went to bed. By reading out loud, I could experiment with my 'performance voice' and try different tones etc to find a tone that matched the pace I needed to adjust to.

I thank you some much guys for your amazing help!!!

Thanks you, magico563:-)

Interesting thread!
I've found that practising a sentence, making it more exaggerated each time helps me train my voice. I'm always impersonating adverts on TV in an exaggerated comedy manner and that certainly helps!

I find that reading to children is a good way of experimenting with intonation and emphasis. Once you can really over do it, Jackanory style, talking to grown-ups is easy. The great thing about children is that they want the same story over and over again, so you can almost learn them by heart. Also good for practising emphasis through body language and hand movement, which KK has recently been discussing.

I have heard some unfortunate reading styles from parents who seem to believe the purpose of reading a book to the child is so they can "hear" the story, not experience it.

A friend of mine is a professional story teller and tells me there are numerous books on the subject. Maybe a Google search for "story telling technique" is in order. She is an amazing story teller, and tells enormous tales by heart. I have witnessed her enthral a group of teenage boys, which was incredible!

At the risk of sounding patronising, are you a confident person? A number of people I know with monotone voices are quite shy. Their lack of confidence appears to affect their voice in a way that appears that they are speaking like nobody is going to care what they say.

If you can believe that what you are saying is important, which let's face it, it is, and that people are going to want to hear it, then you may well find that you naturally add intonation and emphasis when needed. As you do so, you will see that people pay more attention and this feedback will improve matters.

Remember, the patter is the part of the trick that adds justification to the effect and is fundamental in the building attention to the climax. Those who consider it a necessity, rather than an intrinsic part may themselves believe it's unimportant and this will be reflected in the presentation.

The other advice is wonderful too. I imagine your solution is in a combination of these posts. Good luck.

Maybe some recording is in order. If we practice in front of a mirror or camera, why not in front of a microphone. Try reading some short stories to yourself on tape (or whatever the modern equivalent is), play them back and ask yourself how the "story teller" made you FEEL about the story. If you're into dark stories, try The Raven by Poe as a start.

I'm know I'm waffling a bit, but as I write, I come up with more and more ideas. Feel free to stop any time.

I was wondering if your patter was mono-rhythm more than monotone. Punctuation and pausing is a very important part of story telling.