Our December 2021 Event: Q&A with voice teacher Anouska Taylor

The final networking event of 2021 was dedicated to addressing our voice concerns. Voice teacher Anouska Taylor joined us to answer questions about the speaking voice of language professionals. 

Interpreters, language teachers, voice-over actors, podcasters and speakers who’re invited to events are the kind of language professionals who use their voice extensively.

As we found out, some of them find it hard to project their voice. They may run out of breath when speaking. Some might feel their pitch is too high or that their voice can be raspy. 

Anouska answered their questions with demonstrations and made this session both highly interactive and practical.

The single most important thing to do to look after your voice is to warm it up, yet that’s what most speakers just don’t do. You won’t go for a big run without warming up first. It’s the same for your voice. It’s all muscles after all.

Anouska Taylor

We talked about how to look after our voice when preparing for a speaking engagement, how to overcome ‘morning voice’ – when our voice is too deep and raspy.

As Anouska pointed out:

The vocal cords love hydration. They love steam. Inhaling steam during your morning shower is very good for your voice.

We asked Anouska what she thinks about our pitch – whether she thinks we speak at the right pitch, and we discussed all things intonation, foreign accents, the correlation between articulation and speed, and why it is that often we don’t like listening to our own voice.

Your lip muscles are generally the ones that are underutilised. And the smile muscles are the ones that are overutilised. Warming up your lip muscles is a very good exercise that helps you with articulation too.

We then pondered on whether we may sound different in the different languages that we speak. Some of us shared that they feel their pitch is very different in their native language compared to English.

We exchanged tips and tricks, best practices and natural remedies and what was planned to be a 30-minute Q&A session turned into more like a 70-minute one.

Thanks for everyone who joined and/or submitted questions.

Anouska’s first London show is coming up in February 2022. Check for available tickets and register here.

If you’re going, let us know so we can put you in touch with other language professionals who’re also planning to attend so you can meet over drinks and enjoy the concert together.