vocal range of performers voices, vocal practice, singing voices, why does helium make your voice squeaky

This drill refers to each of the consonants P, B, T, G, K. When you say P your tongue is located just inside your mouth and the letter P is pronounced with the lips. The same thing with the letter B.

But when you utilize the letters T, K, G your tongue should be traveling farther back in your mouth.

Try it P B T K G and when you feel you can do it comfortably, do it a little faster and repeat it many times.

ALSO another combination of letters people mispronounce is the combination of th. This is done with the tongue slightly protruding from the mouth. Try it...by saying thank you. NOW think and so on.

When other actor or director is speaking read then look up...pause...breathe...give creative delivery.

Deliver each segment in a different SPEED, PITCH, and VOLUME according to your interpretation of each segment.

3. Clarity- This is how clear one speaks. Speech is not garbled, mumbled, or lazy.

4. Expression- Actors are instructed to overemphasize and exaggerate as much as possible. “Make it BIG”!

5. Pitch- This is described as your vocal range. As a performer, you should try to use your full range of speaking.

6. Stance- Performers should stand up straight with weight on both feet. Do not cross your legs or rock back and forth. (In other words… DON’T SQUIRM !!!)

7. Eye Contact- Performers should make eye contact with their audiences at all times (unless given stage directions to do otherwise).

8. Poise-This is how you hold yourself. The actor must approach their presentations with confidence in both their ability and preparation.

You know what its like - you go to a party and after a little bit too much cake, those helium balloons become too much to resist. So what is with the hilarious squealing? It helps if, to start with, you understand how our voices work.

When you talk, sound is produced by passing air over our vocal cords (flaps of tissue in our throats) causing them to vibrate. The vibrating vocal cords make the air around them vibrate and this makes sound. We can change our voice by changing the shape of our throat and mouth, allowing us to make different sounds for different words. Our voice comes out in the form of waves, and it is the frequency of these waves that makes a high note sound high and a low note sound low.

But our voices aren't quite this simple. You know how different instruments sounds different even if they're playing the same note? That's down to 'timbre'. Our voices have a timbre too - they are not just one pure note but a mixture of lots of different waves of different frequencies. When air moves through our throats, it vibrates and you end up with lots of resonance frequencies, or harmonics, that sound different between different people. Someone can sound all squeaky at the same pitch as someone else who sounds normal depending on the harmonics of their voice (explaining why some people sound great on that TV singing shows and others, well, they just don't).

Now the fun bit is when we start thinking about what happens if we breathe helium. Sound waves behave differently depending on what they are trying to move through. Normally, we breathe air, which is a mixture of gases containing mainly nitrogen and some oxygen. Sound waves generated by our vocal cords move through air at a constant speed of around 350 meters per second.

But helium is less dense than the air we normally breath and this means that sound waves travel through it much faster than usual (around 900 meters per second) during the short time that they are making their way through the throat and out of the mouth. The pitch of our voice isn't actually altered, but the timbre or quality of the voice is. Basically, the fast moving higher frequency sounds have more power as they float about in your throat, and the lower frequencies get a bit lost. So our voices end up sounding flat and you talk something like Donald Duck.

I know a lot of people say that your vocal cords vibrate faster in helium, but there is no evidence for this. There is also nothing to back up the idea that the pitch of our voice is higher after breathing helium (although you'll probably automatically talk in a high pitched voice if you breathe helium because you expect your voice to go higher). If you don't believe that the pitch is really not altered, try singing before and after breathing helium (you'll be able to hear the pitch better). You should find that the sound your voice makes isn't actually higher, just squeaky and flatter.

So if a lighter gas like helium gives us a squeaky voice, wouldn't a denser gas like Argon or Xenon amplify the lower frequencies and make it richer? This is actually true, but the problem is that these gases are harder to get hold of than helium. Xenon for example is very expensive, and in addition, it has anesthetic properties similar to nitrous oxide, so you can get a little high if you breathe it. Just take my word for it and don't try it for yourself.

Something to remember: Although helium is un-reactive, it can still kill you. If the entire room was filled up with helium, you would quickly asphyxiate due to there being no oxygen present. Please do remember this if you insist on breathing in helium - while a balloon-full isn't going to do you any serious harm, that light-headed feeling you get after breathing in too much balloon gas is a sign that you're not getting enough oxygen into the lungs and you should probably give the balloon breathing a rest.

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"...A Good Stage Voice!

1. Rate- This is how fast or slow one speaks.

2. Projection- This is how soft or loud one speaks.

Lack of projection is caused by nervousness, inexperience, and poor breathing.

3. Clarity- This is how clear one speaks. Speech is not garbled, mumbled, or lazy.

4. Expression- Actors are instructed to overemphasize and exaggerate as much as possible. “Make it BIG”!..." see this below...

Voice - On Helium, Stage Voice, Exercises

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What caused me to wonder about voices is that.... we participate in a rosary each week and a certain nun, sits in on the rosary ... she sits near the back of the chapel. Her voice! All I can think of when she speaks is the sound of a shoe being slapped on the concrete! I hate to say it. But if voice were a baseball... she just 'throws it out there.' Wham! Bam, bam, bam... From what I've read here, she has a lot of expression and good 'pitch.' She is a 'younger' woman, maybe 30's, and it's so nice to have the nuns participate in the rosary. Voices can be a funny thing, huh? Surprisingly different from one's expectations. You can't judge a voice until the person opens their mouth and speaks. Your Health And Tech Friend>Please click on any heading or picture graphic to the next page or topic!

I've been using colloidal silver since 2006. I found the first bottle at the General Nutrition Center (a local health food store), under the category of Bone and Joint Support. Online in 2006, I found the company Utopia Silver and purchased a 9 volt battery set-up. I used that until this last year, I then purchased, fromUtopia Silver, an electric generator and have enjoyed the ease of making silver more efficiently and quickly. I've found through the years, occasion after occasion to explain to friends and family how silver works and the many things it works on. So much so, that I made a decision, finally, to create a website to tell my story - and that would be that. So - this is it.

In 2006 I had a recollection from when I was 'table-high' about 4-5 years old, I was visiting at my best friend's house - in her basement. I remembered the sight of (an 80 + year old man) her Italian descent Grandfather, reaching in his pocket,pulling out a coin and flipping... ... read more ...

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Why does helium make your voice squeaky?

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[Note: Update - August, 2013 - still doing great! My knees are very healthy and I attribute it to taking colloidal silver, a small amount on a regular basis. Nancy]

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