IMAGINE…

being able to make yourself heard in a crowded room,
singing as much as you’d like without wearing yourself out,
speaking with a voice that’s engaging and easily understood,
knowing that your voice can be relied on, no matter the situation…

If you’ve tried to change your voice before and it hasn’t worked, there is nothing wrong with you.

One of the things that makes it hard to expand our range and change how we sound is the fact that we’re not consciously aware of how the voice works. It runs on auto-pilot. That’s because the voice is first and foremost a defense mechanism: we’re born, we cry out, and then we’re found and cared for.

If humans had to understand how the voice works before we could vocalize, our species wouldn’t survive. Similarly, if we had to understand how to walk before we could try to walk, we’d all probably still be on the floor.

We learned to walk by trial and error, imitating the people around us, and we learned to speak and sing the same way.

And most of us wound up with voices that work well enough – until, of course, we wish they were different:

• We want to sing higher notes.
• We don’t want to feel tired at the end of a long conversation.
• We want to feel confident enough to audition for something.
• We’ve been told we “need to project.”
• We don’t want our voice to shake the next time we give a presentation… the list goes on.

We wish the voice were different, but we have no clear idea why it is the way it is.

This is where I come in – to help you bring to conscious awareness the set of vocal habits you have now, and show you what new habits will get you the results you want.

IMPROVEMENT IS POSSIBLE.

Hi! My name is Michèle Voillequé and I have been studying the voice for more than 30 years. I’ve worked with all kinds of students – from kindergarten up to age 88 – all kinds of bodies with all kinds of life experience, and one thing I can tell you is that using your voice is a skill, not a talent. It’s simply not true that some of us are “blessed” and others of us are “cursed” when it comes to how we sound. 

Improvement is possible, you just need to know what to do, and why you’re doing it.

WHAT DOESN’T WORK

Diligently repeating one vocal exercise after another is not enough to build a healthy instrument. For one thing, exercises get really boring, really quickly, especially when you don’t understand why you’re doing them or what constitutes “success.” For another, we’ve been using our bodies in particular ways for years and for very good reasons, which are not always immediately obvious.

For example, it’s generally considered polite in English speaking countries to close your mouth when you’ve finished speaking, and most English speakers do this. In fact, we often keep our mouths as closed as possible when we’re talking, as in asking, “Whatchya doin’?” with a relatively closed mouth, instead of pronouncing “What are you doing?” with a looser, more open mouth.

Many, many people import this closed-mouth habit into their singing voices, and wonder why they struggle to sing in tune and often feel like their voice is “stuck” or “pinched” or “strained.”

Trying to sing or speak with a mouth that’s unintentionally too small is a big part of the problem, and repeating exercises with a mouth that’s too small will not, in the end, teach you anything new. It reinforces a habit that is fundamentally unsustainable.

Remember, the voice works on auto-pilot. More often than not, the mouth is unintentionally too small only because we haven’t noticed it. Learning to notice ourselves is essential to changing how we use the voice.

Similarly, it’s not enough to think better thoughts about how we want to breathe, we have to learn what it feels like to truly support the voice and explore for ourselves what gets in the way of that. 

It’s not enough to want the voice to sound clear as a bell when we’re in front of a crowd, instead of it getting shaking, fuzzy or trailing off. We need to figure out who we are when we’re under threat, and learn the physical and emotional skills required to speak and sing well even then.

The same is true if we’re trying to conquer a monotone, or a persistent vocal crack. The same is true for unwinding chronic tension, or learning to sing higher notes with more comfort and ease.

WHAT DOES WORK

Your whole self is the instrument and we need to engage the whole self in order to change it.

Hundreds of my students have found success with a process I’ve come to call NOD – Noticing, Opening, Deepening – which leverages your strengths and teaches you to become a deeply compassionate observer of your own vocal process while you learn new skills.

In broad strokes, changing the voice requires:

• understanding our human anatomy
• pinpointing where our current vocal habits come from
• learning new ways to use the body
• adopting a “try-and-see” approach to change that keeps us asking, “What else can I notice about that? How else can I open my body/mind/psyche? How else can I deepen?”

This summer, I’m offering a small group coaching program called EXPAND YOUR RANGE, which will break down this change process into bite-sized chunks. You identify one or two new qualities you would like your voice to have and over 10 weeks I’ll teach you the exact exercises, strategies and mindset that will bring those qualities to life.

What’s a vocal quality?
Things like

• warm

• resonant
• free
• generous
• intimate
• powerful
• engaging
• open
• deep
• innocent
• compelling
• smooth
• confident …. literally, any possible way you might want your voice to sound.

Whatever quality you’d like your voice to embody, there is a set of exercises, prompts and practices that will make its expression easily possible for you. These aren’t improvements for “someday, maybe.” Changing your voice is achievable, right here, right now, one quality at a time.

RESULTS YOU CAN EXPECT

• Significant, durable improvements in how you use your body for singing or speaking.
• A clear idea of what your particular voice needs to warm up and which exercises work best for you.
• A doable practice plan to support your voice in continuing to grow.
• A more compassionate relationship with yourself and your voice. Instead of shutting down or running away to hide when your voice doesn’t immediately behave the way you’d like, you’ll know how to stop, reset, and try again, even in public.
• Overall, less performance anxiety.
• Feeling more curiosity than fear when you’re faced with a challenge.
• Feeling more joy, excitement and purpose when you have a chance to use your voice in public.

PROGRAM DETAILS

We’ll meet over Zoom on eight Wednesdays from 7-8:15 p.m. Pacific Time.

Time on Zoom includes teaching and coaching from me, and practicing as a group. Simple homework assignments will help you make progress on your own between classes. Classes will be recorded with replays available usually within 24 hours.

June 11, 18, 25  –  Charting the Way and Identifying the Skills You Need

“Charting the Way” looks like, you tell me the quality or qualities you’re working toward, and I teach you how to get there as efficiently as possible. The exciting thing about this being a group class is that while we may all be working toward different goals, many of the tools and exercises can be applied to more than one vocal challenge. I’ve no doubt that you’ll learn as much from other students’ journeys as your own.

July 2 – INTEGRATION WEEK – no live class

Homework: a personal reflection on Your Expanded Self (part 1)

July 9, 16, 23 – Doing Things Differently

Now knowing what we need to practice, July will be spent learning how to practice. This is the trial-and-error part of the process. There will be plenty of group practice time on our weekly call, along with additional teaching and coaching support from me.

July 30 – INTEGRATION WEEK – no live class

Homework: a personal reflection on Your Expanded Self (part 2)

August 6, 13 – Showing Our Work and Celebrating

Short in-class presentations with time for personal reflection and supportive feedback from your classmates. A song, a conversation, a reading, a short speech – entirely your choice, and entirely optional.

The eight group calls will include a combination of

• me teaching the tools and exercises you need to get your voice where you want it to be
• opportunities to ask questions and get feedback on your progress so that you stay on track 
• practicing as a group
• and low-pressure (but highly effective!) student presentations.

Calls will be recorded, so you can re-watch to enhance your learning or get caught up if you happen to miss a week.

Both singers and speakers are welcome in this cohort. There will be plenty of concepts that overlap. Lots of opportunities to learn from one another. 

Feel free to reach out with questions – just use the contact button at the top of the page.

I can’t wait to hear you!