Wednesday 14 March 2012

The Power of Pitch

I was interviewed by Andrew Peach on Radio Berkshire this morning about how the pitch of your voice can affect how successful or attractive you are perceived to be.This story was relating to new research on voice pitch and it's impact on our perception.

Research of a similar nature was reported in USA Today last year and raises some interesting points.

http://www.usatoday.com/tech/science/columnist/vergano/2011-03-06-voices-infidelity_N.htm

In my work as a Voice Coach, pitch is something that I work very closely with in the spoken voice and the impact of it's effects are huge. Without even realising it we come to all sorts of conclusions and judgements about someone from the pitch of their voice. (I should point out to those of you with a cynical nature that I'm not talking about whether you are flat or sharp here...I'm talking about deep voices and high pitched voices!).

I work on this issue when I am coaching my students in characterisation at my theatre school, and in one to one sessions with actors, presenters, executives and personalities. I have also had the privileged experience of working with individuals going through Transexual Sex re-assignment, where surgery is not possible on the larynx and therefore we have to find healthy, safe solutions to the problem of needing to change the pitch of the voice on a day to day basis - a huge shift in voice pitch.

What I find interesting about this article in USA Today is that it is discussing how the research shows that higher-pitched female voices were rated as more attractive (and more likely to be promiscuous). Hmmm, I wouldn't coach an actress who needed a sexier voice quality to raise her pitch. Quite the reverse. But perhaps this is a reflection of the fact that this research was carried out using male and female participants who were aged between18 and19 years old? Perhaps to that age group a lower pitched female voice indicates a women 'of a certain age' who they perceive to be less attractive?

Perhaps we also have a conflict between conscious 'perception', Darwinian 'sex selection' and what this research says it is proving?

Our social, media fuelled, stereo typed perception is that female voices which are deep and often husky are more attractive.

However Darwinian 'sex selection' asserts that we will choose our partners by being attracted to what will most successfully continue our gene line. Comparatively large quantities of oestrogen in some women indicate higher fertility rates and more reproductive capability. Higher voices are considered to be an indicator of this, and therefore occur to men as more attractive. Which is also what this research seems to be suggesting.

Fascinating stuff. I'd be interested to know whether you think high or low pitched women's voices are more attractive.

This afternoon I was also interviewed by Bill Buckley, again on BBC Radio, but this time directly regarding the study which shows that we are more likely to vote for a political candidate who has a deep voice. Cue Margaret Thatcher impressions.

So how do you change the pitch of your voice and can it be done safely? And at this point, I should like to confirm that I am not intimating here that all the men reading this should try and deepen their voices to make themselves perceptively more attractive nor should the women desperate for children run around squeaking.

As an actress, aged 18, I had to radically lower the pitch of my voice for the TV Series Cadfael (starring Derek Jacobi) , in which I played Godith who was disguising herself as Godric, a young male monk. I did my best with it, but 20 years ago we did not yet have the voice science that lead to the technical knowledge we now have of how the voice works and therefore my voice technique at this point in my career was not sufficient enough to do a job I can look back and say I am proud of.  Judge for yourselves...



Changing the pitch of the voice can be a complicated issue and safe practise requires excellent control of the height of the larynx (which raises and lowers to facilitate pitch change), the false vocal folds (which will naturally want to constrict and tighten dangerously over the top of the true vocal folds as we raise the larynx when voicing) and our use of the true vocal folds which can thicken, thin and stiffen. These three main components are in turn affected by all sorts of other things such as breath, the soft palate, the tongue, the jaw which are all units of a complex and dynamic system that affect each other.

Which is why, if you are interested in learning more about how you can safely change the pitch of your voice, whether it be to play a part or to add seniority to your voice for the world of business, you should seek the advice and guidance of an experienced and qualified voice coach.

And by experienced and qualified I do not mean someone who did a music degree, likes to sing in their local am dram society and thinks that this is enough to call themselves a singing teacher.

Alternatively you could come on one of my Sing!Sing!Sing! Courses...