57. How to get out of Monotone Town

No one likes the dull, flat sound of a boring voice. In this episode I share three practical tips to inject expression into your speaking - and get the hell out of monotone town!

Transcript

So many people I work with complain, their voice is too monotone. You have to really concentrate to stay awake and focus on what the person is saying. Now that was probably pretty weird to hear, because I have so much vocal modulation it's like I stumbled off the set of a kid's TV show. Now I'm not saying you need a voice of Skittles and rainbows like mine. You do you, right. BUT, can we at least get the hell out of monotone town?

I'm Sally Prosser, former TV reporter, former PR pro, and currently on a mission to help you find your voice and speak with confidence. You're listening to That Voice Podcast, no matter who you are or what you do, your voice matters. So unless you've sworn a lifetime vow of silence, this is the podcast for you.

Hello, welcome to episode 57 of That Voice Podcast. And this episode comes with a warning. You'll get the most out of it. If you practice along with me, which means it's pretty awkward if you're on public transport and don't blame me if your kids or your cat or your dog come out and give you weird looks. We're going to start in monotone town and make our way to Expression Paradise. But before we board this train in this boring town, I want to invite you to join us in Members Only. We just wrapped up an amazing November Masterclass, all about how to speak with design. And when you sign up that replay is there and ready to go. We're also planning our Christmas Party. And if you have any presentations or workshops before then you can practice for real with the group at your choice of time. It's just one of the perks of being in Members Only come and join us. Head to sallyprosser.com.au or the link in your show notes to sign up.

All right, back to monotone town. And before we get out of here, let's talk a bit about what monotone actually is. Mono - one tone, essentially pitch. It means when somebody speaks on the one at pitch, without going up or down, it just stays flat and it can be very boring and hard to listen to, right? We want to have modulation in our pitch. So the first thing you need to do is practice, practice going up and going down. I can raise the pitch. I can lower the pitch and you can repeat this after me. I can raise the pitch. I can lower the pitch. Imagine you're in a lift or an elevator: Level two, Level basement. Now you don't need to be able to sing doh-re-me like Julie Andrews. We don't need to be able to sing every single note in the scale. What do you want to concentrate on is going up and going down. Can you go up from your default pitch and down from your default pitch? All right. So practice this after me. I can raise the pitch. I can lower the pitch. One, two, three. Three, two one one two three three two one. All right. So you just need to be able to go up and be able to go down and just doing that counting and those phrases, I can raise the pitch. I can lower the pitch. I can go up. I can go down simply doing that. We'll start to train your vocal cords to be able to change off the one pitch. So practice those exercises and also practice reading kids, books, reading kids books is a great way to practice changing your pitch. One that comes to mind is Going on a Bear Hunt. It's a really good one for pitch because it says we can't go under it. We can't go over it. We'll have to go through it so you can lift the pitch on over, drop it on under, and then stay in the middle on through. Now you're probably thinking, well, Sally, it's fine when I'm reading to the kids or reading to my nieces or nephews, I can absolutely modulate the pitch then. I'm more in trouble. When it's adult content, you can't just be reading kid's books in my presentations. Well, first of all, I would say, why not!? Bring a little bit of that expressive flavor to your meetings? I mean, one of the main reasons that we read more expressively to kids is because they're a harsher audience. If they're bored, they'll tell you about it or they'll leave. Whereas as adults, we're more polite and we'll sit through boring presentations without saying anything. And in some workplaces they'll even be like, Oh, that was really good. You did really well. Even though let's be honest, you were really boring. Okay. So keep that in mind. So the first thing you're doing is practicing changing the pitch.

The second thing you're going to do. Yeah. It's look at the language, look at the language and potentially change it. Now the English language is beautiful. It often tells us what to do with the pitch. Words, like vision forecast, sky high sky, high prices. They lend themselves to a higher pitch, right? Alternatively, bottom line, diving into the detail, how I feel deep down, all of those words and phrases lend themselves to either a higher or a lower pitch. So if you're looking at the language and you can't find any of these words that are giving you an idea of which way to go, then maybe your writing is too bland. Maybe you need to bring some more visual language into it because once you can use that visual language, then the pitch will follow. So for example, right now I look up at the sky and it is raining. I can imagine all that rain pouring into our rivers and going down into our gutters. All right. So it's starting up higher then going down low. This works really well with geography as well, depending on where you live, you'll often raise the pitch of your voice if you're going somewhere North and you'll drop it when you're going somewhere south. So I'm in Brisbane, Australia. And I would say that I'd go down to Sydney and I go down to Melbourne, but I go up to Cairns. But if you're in Melbourne, then you probably go up to Sydney. It's kind of interesting. The pitch of our voice follows geography. So that's the second thing. Look at the language. The words will tell you what to do. And if they don't then potentially change it.

Now for that to work, we need to be present with our words. And that's the third tip. Be present with your words. It doesn't matter how expressive your language is. If your mind is elsewhere, if your inner voice is running this secondary soundtrack saying, Oh, are they bored? Am I making myself clear? Has this been going on too long? Oh, am I sweating? Blah, blah, blah. All the wonderful things our inner voice does. I've got podcast episodes about that. Then it's very difficult for us to change our pitch because our mind is not on the job. It's like our real words are just this kind of thing in the background. And the inner voice is too loud. So we really need to practice conscious speaking, being present on the words that we're saying, being present on the words that you're saying. Right now, I've got a lot of other things on my mind, but I am trying to think only of the word that I'm saying to record this podcast and it takes practice. But once you can do that, you'll find the expression comes naturally. The filler words will disappear and you'll find it so much easier to deliver coherently because your mind will be on the job. So imagine you've got these two soundtracks running, you've got the inner voice and you've got the external voice. And if they're in competition, it's going to be very, very hard to do a good job with the external voice. Whereas if they are in sync, making an amazing mash-up, then the expression will flow.

And that's why, when you're speaking about something you're really passionate about the expression will come with it because you haven't got that inner voice of doubt competing. You're speaking freely. You're speaking in flow. You don't have to think about it too much. All right. So there we have it for today to get out of monotone town. Number one, practice. Can you go up, can you go down, practice those exercises. Number two, look at the language and potentially change it. Let the language help you know what to do with your pitch. And number three, be present with the words, be present with the words. And if you do all those things, then congratulations. We have arrived in what I like to call expression paradise. I know that's a bit corny, so good luck. I hope you like it here in Expression Paradise. Everyone's engaged. Everyone's entertained. Everyone's feeling good. And let's never go back to monotone town.

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