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I studied the human voice in school and never could sing, and until meeting with Garrett Gardner of Full Voice I had no idea how fully engaged voice training was.

For example, did you know that the act of “clearing your throat” is a no-no?  That is at least the way most of us do it with a forceful “humm ummm” from lower in the throat.  This action is harmful to the vocal chords.

For your information the best practice is to “forcefully” swallow water to clear and clean the throat.  Do this instead of clearing the throat in the usual way.

So there is more to speaking with a clear, Full Voice than I had imagined going into my training.  This bit of information tipped my curiosity cup on its side.  I wonder what else there is to know?

In the first session we got right down to work.

First, I learned another issue concerning Tone Control that will challenge me until I can master it completely.

I am a passionate person.  This is expressed with emotion in my voice.  The emotion causes me to change pitch or tone control while speaking.

In Full Voice that is not considered a positive.

Garrett Gardner gave me a sound “byte” of advice that has become my new mantra, “Lose the emotion, keep the passion”.

Garrett has become a fountain of sage advice.  He wrote the book, “You Can Sound Like You Know What You’re Saying… so people will take you seriously“.

In the book he said, “You will learn to re-habit your mind with new ways of speaking in your Full Voice.  But you will not have to work to get rid of the old habits, because if you’re no longer supporting them, they gradually disappear.”

Stress effects the tonal quality of the voice as well.  We tend to have stress in our voices because we think ahead, wondering what we will sound like.

Garrett, in his sagacious manner said, “We’re better served to stay in the now, or what I call the present, and just talk about what we know and stop spending so much time thinking about what we will say.”

Garrett also said on the subject, “When we speak, we think too much about what we know and it gets in the way of the flow.” He’s a poet too?

As part of an assignment I attended the GSA Network Breakfast at Kauffman Foundation.  Garret was there, bow tie and all.

This is a group of entrepreneurs, including small and large companies, education and government agency representatives.

Pat Brown-Dixon, professionally trained in Full Voice, leads this highly effective gathering.  Check it out the first Tuesday of the month at 7:30 am.  It is well worth it.

And be prepared to speak with your Full Voice fully engaged.

This post is part of a six part series following me through my training.

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