Speaking Colorfully
Inflection Training
This section is for use with the audio exercise routine below. It will help you put color into your speaking voice. The objective is to break out of your old inflection habits and try new inflections that will make you more interesting – more colorful. Be sure to listen to the audio presentation and exercise with it often. You can also hear two versions of the reading of a story. Listen for creative use of inflection. A copy of the story may be downloaded for you to practice interesting inflection.
Here are the tools of inflection you will be working with.
1. pitch change: simply changing the pitch on words and phrases
2. pace change: speeding up or slowing down what you say
3. volume change: getting softer or louder
4. pauses: A pause gets attention and focuses on something important.
5. smile: A smile can be heard in your voice and adds warmth.
Using the exercise routine should make you feel a little uncomfortable at first. This is imortant since the exercises cause you to break out of old inflection habits to try new ones. That's not always comfortable. They take you into new territory vocally. After awhile you'll see and feel how easy it is to express meaning in your message through a variety of inflections and vocal patterns that will be comfortable to you.
The audio presentation has several statements you'll be asked to repeat. Those statements are not transcribed here since they are easy enough to follow in the audio presentation.
Inflection Exercises
One of the best ways to practice using good articulation and interesting inflection in your voice is reading a story out loud. Listen to my vocal interpretation of The Princess and the Pea and then read it out loud yourself. Try reading it different ways. No one way is correct. You're simply exploring the possibilities with your voice. Don't be afraid to go beyond what feels and sounds natural. Try anything and everything until you feel that you are gaining control of the possibilities. Use all the inflection tools taught in the inflection trainer. Have fun and try this often and with other stories. Listen to the story read two different ways. You may even want to mimmic my inflections just for practice. Then dowload and read the story several different ways expressing different moods and interpretations with different inflection tools.
The Princess and the Pea 1
Now listen to another reading of the same story using a different mood and different inflections.
The Princess and the Pea 2
Now download the story. Mark your copy to try different inflections.
