Voice quality is a very complicated physical problem in speech, but, to be brief, it is that factor, the presence or absence of which in a speaker’s voice, makes his listeners say, “That’s a good voice” or “That’s a poor voice!” The voice, to have a good and agreeable quality, must not be muffled, strident, nasal, or harsh.
No two violins have exactly the same quality; no two voices are precisely alike. You should not, therefore, attempt to make your voice sound like that of someone whom you particularly admire; you cannot accurately imitate it. You want your voice to be your own voice but used more adequately. Every speaker’s voice can be improved without depriving him of its own individual quality. With such practice as you undertake, do not expect miracles: do not expect that you will be taken for a great actor, but let your friends find that you are still you, with a voice that is your own, but better placed, clearer in tone, and more adequate to the situation in which you are speaking.
Muffled Voice
If you hear a voice that does not carry, that seems not to make its way through the larynx, that lacks a spark of life, so to speak, then it is muffled because the tensions formed in the larynx are such as not to allow the sound to escape freely and to become the tones they should.
Strident Voice
The strident voice is harsh-sounding, and shrill. This is the result of too great tension in the muscles which tightens the vocal folds and also shortens them so that the pitch is raised. Actors are often called upon to do this consciously to fit a particular role. In one production of Romeo and Juliet, the part of Juliet’s nurse, who is an old woman, was taken by Blanche Yurka. Miss Yurka, whose normal voice is rich and full, played the whole part with a strident voice. Under stress, your voice may also take on a strident quality; but if you relax the jaw muscles or even massage the muscles of the neck you will develop a more pleasing tone and a lower, more natural pitch.
Nasal Voice
In a nasal voice the sounds come through the nose. Some of the English consonants must come through the nasal passage, for example, m, n, and ng, but in a nasal voice too many sounds come through the nose and in consequence all the vowels and diphthongs clustered around m, n, and ng are carried through the nose at the same time as the consonant. Try these exercises on yourself and test to see whether you are nasalizing vowels that should not be nasalized:
Hold your nostrils with your fingers and say this sentence:
How clear is the voice?
If you have no nasalization (and there should be none in that question) you will not feel any vibration in the nose.
Now say this sentence, still holding your nostrils with your fingers:
And welcome Queen Alice with ninety-times-nine. You will feel a vibration on and, welcome, Queen, ninety, times, and nine. But do you feel any vibrations on the vowels and diphthongs in those same words? You should not, but if you do, practice the sentence slowly and let the vowels and diphthongs come through the mouth passage clearly without vibration in the nose. You can easily get more sentences to practice on from any newspaper or from anything that you may be reading or writing. The clear voice is not nasalized except on the nasal consonants.
