Voice production can be taught as part of an examination class, an acting lesson or as a subject on its own. People who come needing help with voice production often have jobs which require a lot of Public Speaking and over the years they have strained their voices and damaged their larynx. If misuse of the larynx continues nodules can form on the vocal cords which may require surgery.
Many people do not use their voice correctly. In fact, most people do not even use their voice in the way that Nature intended. They have learned to speak in a particular way and our job is to teach them how to use their voice to its best advantage. Correct voice production and projection require a knowledge of how to breathe correctly, how to support the outgoing breath with the abdominal muscles and how to relax the throat so that the sound can vibrate in the resonators, which are the empty air-filled spaces in the head and chest. Correct posture is also very important. Think of your voice as a stringed instrument. The vocal cords are the strings and the body of the instrument are the spaces in the nose, mouth, throat and chest. The principles of correct voice production are really very simple – it is putting them into practice that is difficult and often takes time to master. However, the end product will be a rich, resonant sound that you can project without strain.
