EjSBS - The European Journal of Social & Behavioural Sciences

The European Journal of Social & Behavioural Sciences

Online ISSN: 2301-2218
European Publisher

Unlocking US Teachers´ Vocal Potential by Raising Awareness About the Body-Mind Interconnectedness in Voicepilates Training

Table 3: The comparison of participants´ self-evaluations with the SLT’s reports

Case What do I think about my voice after the course Changes noticed by SPLs after the training
Rachel Past challenges came from a lack of confidence in my posture, also putting myself into awkward rotated posture situations, worrying about taking up too much room in the conversation. Now I am no longer worried about not sounding kind or clear enough, that was never really the problem, but it has always been the volume. I thought, if I was loud, I would sound aggressive, but it´s not the case. It makes me feel: “I can fix this. It´s more attainable” Chest register in use; more even and balanced pitch, intonation, speech energy; sounds persuasive, clear, peaceful, with appropriate tempo, easy to understand and pleasant to listen, variable in melody and intonation and interesting to follow. The body stays easily relaxed in a good sitting position, and the small head tilting are not interfering the vocal usage as earlier. Apparently this participant has a good audio-kinesthetical ability to receive guidance, significant development has occured taking into account a relatively short time between the pre-and post-tests.
Ryan Now I love to use my body in the space, especially during group work and quizzes. I enjoyed ´tapping into my deep voice´, now I´m enjoying singing more, knowing I can use my low registry. I have been taking ´baby steps´ on using of ´new, deep, strong voice´, creating habits towards it. When I am mindful of ´owning my space´, people notice it, in some cases they ´go out of my way´, I like it. The breathing is more peaceful and balanced, coming from the abdominal, the shoulders do not rise with breathing as they did before. The consonants better pronounced, vowels resonate more widely, sound considerably steady, controlled, clear, and the whole text is easier to understand. The head is already quite peacefully placed, neck being long, chin down, resulting as balanced sound. Voice has become more ´masculine´.
Kit I am more open and friendly, not just the voice, but overall, and also not mumbling that much. I mostly worked on a posture and ´just being more aware of myself´. I continue trying to talk in slower pace, ´making sure to be heard´. The training gave me ´the confidence that I had searching for so many years´. I am just more aware and kind, less self-conscious, and trusting that “it´s all going to come together” Widely resonant, beautiful, easier, clearer and cleaner sound, coming enthusiastically, convincingly, cheerfully, inspirationally from the whole ´instrument´, balance is found. The pitch remains relatively even, and the energy of speech are more evenly divided in the body, not just in the head, body and diaphragm are more active and in use. The vowels sound even and strong, mild head tilting is still left, but larynx more relaxed. The change between pre- and post-tests is impressive. In the pre-test the neck, larynx and vocal cords were under pressure due to sloped position, respiratory muscles passive, listening needed a lot of concentration due to big uncontrolled changes in volume and pitch with ends of the words disappearing.
Pam I am not pronouncing well due to my accent, I need to improve. Although now I am speaking slower, I need to speak even more slower. I am concentrating also on my posture, it´s very interesting feeling, how much muscle I just have to use to have a correct straight posture, it´s been more comfortable. More peaceful, evenly way of speaking with natural pitch changes and better rhythm. In vowel-exercises she doesn’t yet believe in herself, ´gives up´ right before the end of the sentence, causing breathiness and the posture is slightly slumping. Post-test text reading more convincing, clear. She wants to lower her voice, resulting in some vocal fry. Non-ergonomic rolling of her chair with slight insecurity and anxiety and pelvic area exaggerated movement, still with nice liveliness in the spine. She concentrates better in her voice
Kimmy I found clearly a deeper side of my voice, very interesting! I am also more clear, when speaking in front of class, it´s very odd, as I didn´t do anything consciously. There´s the difference between normal- and teacher-voice. Correcting, re-mapping ideas of posture were difficult, especially while walking, because of the heavy weight of backpack. I re-planted my feet, if not standing in a confident manner and tried to take more space, as it helped me to be more confident and assert my “teacherly power”, authority. The biggest thing I learned was intentionally revealing the feeling to relax and be free with my voice free in my space The sound tightness has decreased, chest resonance increased and speech energy is more evenly balanced throughout the body, although some energy still negatively focusing on the larynx area. The voice is lower than earlier, balanced, widely resonating, convincing, as it uses the ´excitement´ and the energy especially in the simulation exercise. The same change in vowel exercises, when compared with the pre-tests. In reading the text is clearer, the relaxed work of the jaw is helping the jaw stay more free, not any more ´fixed´ in smile-position. It is still necessary to pay attention to embody all parts of the supported voice production to avoid the exaggerated breaths. Bending the head while reading is still causing tension to the neck area and may in part explain a slight vocal fry. Voice usage is in the end of the session more peaceful and pleasant
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