How to Create ''Goodies for the Ear"   
 

How attractive and pleasing to hearers is your voice? (I've  noticed that most people are so focused on getting their point  across, that it's easy for them to overlook such vocal matters.)   

I was re-sensitized to the rich range of vocal subtleties  when I attended a professional workshop sponsored by  the Screen Actors Guild Conservatory of Las Vegas.  The instructors, Bob Bergen and Bill Holmes, are longtime  successful voice actors from Los Angeles who perform  in many radio spot ads and do voice-overs and animations.  (For example, Bob does Tweety Bird and Porky Pig,  plus hundreds of other voices.)   

In order to be effective so that a radio listener pays  attention, the word images must be appealing and the  voice alive, energetic, and even unique, with a certain  signature quality. To be attractive and memorable to  listeners, the voices must express genuine emotions.   

Key Principles   

One key principle that brings the voice alive:  When you physically enact the emotions, the voice  will follow. That means when you are animated  with gestures and facial expressions, your voice  will automatically align with your body to express  the feelings. Conversely, if you are restrained and  stiff with a deadpan face, your voice will sound  flat and void of feelings.   

Another principle: The more specific in your mind  is the person you're talking to, and the more specific  your relationship, the more interesting and nuanced  your conversational expression. If you imagine that  you are talking to just another prospect, your talk will  sound routine and ordinary. If you decide that you're  talking to a specific human being named Larry Perkins,  a real person with a unique combination of interests  and needs and personality traits, your expression will  be more personal, genuine, and attractive.   

One more principle: Be yourself. That is, don't  put on a false front. Let your expressions come from  within yourself. Be the real Sally Swanson or Bert  Blackstone. Not someone else. Not as you think  people want or expect you to be. To be genuinely  yourself, you must be fully comfortable in your own  skin. Then your genuine expressions will flow forth.   

Of course, what we say  the words we choose  is  also important. The dead language of worn-out clichs  does not evoke much feeling. Numbers are less memorable  and evocative than metaphorical language, anecdotes, and  stories. Wordplay is more exciting to listen to than ordinary  language. Fresh puns, alliteration, and rhymes sprinkled  into our talk can be surprising, intriguing, and engaging.   

These days, 99% of radio ads, and much of radio  and television news, are conversational in style. The  stilted vocal style of yesteryear is no longer used.  Instead, most of the performers and announcers talk  to you as if you were a valued friend or neighbor.   

Learn While You Drive   

When you are driving, you can attend a conversation  class on wheels. If you listen carefully to the radio spot  ads by paying attention to the subtleties of vocal expression,  you will be able to hear a tremendous range of engaging  qualities, all expressed within a few seconds. The performers  are trying to get your attention by offering you goodies for  the ear. Having learned by listening carefully to vocal masters,  you can explore your own voice and enliven and colorize your  conversations.