need help projecting my voice

[EmperorNero]

I'm a quiet guy and have an unusually hard time projecting my voice. tomorrow I'll be going to a JSA (a national political/debate club for highschool students) convention - I'll be participating in a mock trial and need to project my voice so the whole room (which is pretty large) can hear.

 

[Destructor]

get a megaphone!

 

[Pretender]

I dunno, it just comes natrually to me. Just use more energy in your throat then you would if you were speaking in close range.

 

[rhinox99]

Just do what you would do if you're having a personal conversation with the farthest person in the room

 

[prodigy]

Make sure you're standing up straight with good posture. Don't lean forward and crunch up your stomach, this will inhibit air flow.

 

[loogie]

lose the briefs...

 

[konichiwa]

<<Just use more energy in your throat>>

No, no...you want to breathe from your stomach. When you want to enunciate and project your voice, you want all your air to come in your mouth and to your stomach. You should be able to lie face-up on the floor and put your hand on your chest, take a deep breath and have your chest not move up and down, only your stomach. That will give you more air, and allow you to pass it through your throat powerfully without damaging your vocal cords.

If you just breathe deeply, CONCENTRATING on breathing through your stomach for five minutes every two hours before your presentation, then when you get up there to do it, do the same thing, you'll be good to go. And always LOOK at the back of the room. Act like you're talking to a person in the very back of the room.

Hope this helps.

 

[Pretender]

konichiwa's probably right for 2 reasons:

1) I'm not good at describing how to do stuff, so what I consider my throat is prolly my stomach.
2) It's 11:30 and talking loud will prolly wake up my parents and/or neighbors, so I didn't actually try, just guesstimated.

 

[bigben]

Konichiwa said it perfectly. To project, sing, or do ANYTHING vocal, all of the energy must come from the stomach.

In addition to what konichiwa suggested, also try this: Stand straight up and let your gut hang out. No sucking it in, to pushing it out. Just stand up like the fat person you are and let the gut hang. Now, move to a mirror. While standing in your fattened position and looking in the mirror, take the deepest breath you ever thought possible, but MAKE SURE YOU DO NOT MOVE YOU SHOULDER, CHEST, NECK, OR HEAD. Right where you feel you stomach stretching, thats where the power comes from.