Learn how to access the chest resonator to speak with boldness and authority.
Last week we focused on creating a bright and resonant sound by resonating in the head, this week we’re going learn how to activate the chest resonator to create a big, bold, and deep sound. Like narrators you hear in dramatic movie trailers.
Your entire body is built as a resonator to help amplify and project the sound of your voice. In a sound system, smaller speakers access higher frequencies, and need smaller enclosures for maximum amplification. But large speakers, which create low frequencies, such as the subwoofer, need a large box to properly amplify the lows.
Your body works in the same way. The head is like a smaller speaker for higher frequencies, and your chest is a subwoofer for the mids and lows.
The secret to unlocking a deep voice, is to enable sound to travel down into your chest when you’re speaking. There’s a mechanism in your throat, which controls how much space you create for the sound to travel downward. The secret to engaging that mechanism has to do with the position of your larynx.
The larynx is a cartilage-based enclosure which houses your vocal folds and is often referred to as the Adam’s apple. It’s normally bigger for men because the length of their vocal folds are longer. Naturally, some men have longer or even thicker vocal folds which will organically lend themselves to a deeper voice. But everyone can do exercises to thicken the vocal folds, and activate their chest resonator.
The secret to accessing the chest resonator, is the position of your larynx. You’ll notice how the sound becomes much bigger and you feel your chest resonate.
To lower your larynx, imagine that you accidentally put some hot food in your mouth, and instinctively you open up the space around the food not to burn the top of your mouth which is more sensitive to high temperature than your tongue.
Another way to lower your larynx is to imagine yourself yawning. A yawning position drops the larynx and opens the throat in the same way. If you find yourself wanting to yawn during this exercise, it means you’re doing it correctly.
It might be helpful in the beginning to look in the mirror and see the position of your larynx moving up and down.