Lisa Hugo - Singer, Professional Voice Coach to Singer and Speakers
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​VOCAL SECRETS

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IS YOUR VOICE HOLDING YOU BACK?

9/23/2018

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Do you have a hard time being heard in meetings or discussions?

Maybe your voice is too soft, you lack confidence, you are nervous speaking in front of people.  Perhaps you mumble or speak with a monotone. 

You know you have valuable information to share with your colleagues, but for some reason, you find it hard to participate in discussions and express your viewpoints. Even when you do get a word in, you find others very quickly speak over you or barely notice you opened your mouth. 
Your voice is not reflecting your position and is holding you back from future career development.

If this sounds like you, there IS a way to improve your vocal skills.

There are several different reasons as to why the above scenarios may be causing you grief. 

When you are nervous, your throat gets tight and your voice doesn't come out sounding like YOU. It might be shaky, or hoarse, or barely audible. You might find you trip on your words. This causes embarrasement and you become so discouraged you don't even want to speak up any more. After a while, your colleagues, may even question your competence because you never voice your opinion.

A similar senario can occur with mumbling and monotone. If the voice is inaudible, not clear, or uninteresting to listen to, people will often shut out, or speak over the person who is speaking. Again this can cause feelings of frustration, discouragement and over time you will hold yourself back from speaking openly. This in turn can dramatically hold you back in your career and personal life.

If you feel your voice is holding you back from reaching your goals and turning your dreams into a reality, it's time you took the step to make a change. Learn to speak with a voice which communicates with confidence and reflects your skills and competence.

I would love to assist you to reach your goals.

In an initial 45 min assessment session we will discuss your weaknesses and your strengths and establish a plan for future development. You will leave the session knowing exactly the course of action needed to reach your goals. 
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Why WOULD I NEED a Voice Coach for SPeaking?

9/14/2018

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As we mature into adulthood  our voices become cultured and civilised, and we lose touch with our expressive natural capabilities.  We hold back our ideas and feelings through anxiety, fear, cultural expectations and more.  We forget the way we used to easily express our experiences and emotions as children.  Over time, our voices become restrained and limited in potential.

But your voice is your greatest asset.
How you speak and how you sound impacts how people will perceive you!

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While developing the perfect sounding voice and breaking long term inground habits can take a long time, a beautiful sounding voice can still be obtained in a relatively short amount of time. All you need is a little guidance and some dedicated practice. Here are a few tips to get you started:

1. Speak Up
It's important to be heard when you speak, so don't be afraid to raise your voice (appropriate to the situation and setting). This doesn't mean you have to shout. Just open your mouth and speak clearly. Don't mumble. Look at the person or people you are speaking to. 

2. Pace and Pauses
Many people speak to fast. Especially when they are nervous or in a stressful situation. If you are one of these people, take time and slow yourself down. Don't be afraid to use a pause. Pauses may feel like an eternity at the time, but guaranteed, they are just the right amount of time for your audience to absorb your content. If you speak to fast, or slow for that matter, your audience will tune out. 

3. Breathe
Learn to breathe from the diaphragm. Deep breathing is essential for a rich, full, resonant voice. Many people breathe to shallow, and ineffectively, which does not give the voice the support it needs. Ultimately, this puts strain on the vocal cords and your speaking voice will sound strained, pressed or out of breath. 
  • When you inhale, your abdomen your expand.
  • When you exhale you should feel your abdominal muscles slightly contracting to support the flow of the air. 
  • Try exhaling using a pressured shhhhh. You should feel your abdominal muscles contract. Relax and try this again. Keep it going in a rhythm. This is diaphragmatic breathing. 

4. Diction
Speak as clearly as possible, feeling all the sounds in your mouth. Try saying "The tip of the tongue on the teeth and lips" What you are saying should be what you are feeling. This will also help to create bright, resonant and clear tone. 

5. Variety of Pitch
Most people only use a small portion of their vocal range when speaking. The human voice is capable of speaking comfortably in a range of 8 - 10 notes, but most people only use 3-4 when speaking. Some people have a monotone voice which only uses 1-3 notes. 

Varying your pitch when speaking can have a real impact on the quality of your speech and the impact it makes on your listeners.

Try vocal exercises to expand your range. 

Once you are in touch with the full potential of your voice, you will discover changes in yourself, your business relationships, your family life and your communication with the world.

I assist speakers daily in finding and developing their true and full voices, their confidence and authenticity as speakers. I can help you too. 
​Book a session today!
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What is optimum pitch? Am I using it? How do I find it?

9/7/2018

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We are all speakers. We want to be understood and heard when we speak. When we chat in the grocery store we are speaking, when we are on the phone we are speaking, when we conduct a business meeting we are speaking and when we give a presentation to 5 or 500 people, we are speaking. We want our audience to remember us and our message.  Therefore it's important to speak with clarity, confidence and conviction. 

Here is my first tip to improve your vocal quality....

Use your optimal pitch

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Your optimum pitch is the level at which your voice is most suitable and comfortable speaking in. It's your natural sound. The sound that has the most pure, rich and vibrant tones. The live at which you are most comfortable speaking and where you voice will not tire.

This is different to your habitual pitch, which is the pitch you use autmoatically or "habitually" for speaking. Habitiual pitch, however, may not be your best vocal quality. 

To find your optimum pitch, say "Uh - Huh" a few times over. Make sure you drop down on the "Huh". Then move into speaking directly afterwards saying "Hi, my name is ......". Notice the pitch of your voice on the Hi and when you say your name. Were they the same pitch as the "Huh"? If not, try again and try to start and end on the same pitch as the huh.

Try singing Happy Birthday. Where you naturally start to sing, is generally where your optimum pitch is located. Directly afterwards, try saying some short phrases. Introduce yourself, practise a short greeting, say some simple words. Optimum pitch is not where you will speaking constantly, but where you should comfortably speak around. 

Some of us develop a habit of speaking to low to express an air of professionalism, seriousness or a business like quality. Some women stay in their high, thin child-like voices after reaching adulthood.  Speaking consistently above or below your optimum pitch could be restricting your full vocal power and adding strain to your larynx.

Interested to know if you are using your full vocal potential?

Work with LISA HUGO in her studio in DUBAI or online.

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How you sound matters more than the words you use. Myth or Fact?

9/1/2018

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​You may have heard the famous rule 55% body language, 38% tone, 7% words? ​

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This was based on a study done in 1967 by Dr. Albert Mehrabian, a Professor of Psychology at UCLA. Whether these statistics are truly correct today, is debatable.​

Of course, everyone would agree, presentations are definitely improved by the confidence of the presenter, vocal tonality, melody, pace, pauses, understanding key words to emphasize points, great body language and appropriate hand movements.

Clearly, if someone is boring and soft spoken, a lot of their message will be lost because the audience may not be paying attention.  

​If a presenters voice is annoying, they have persistant repetitive manerisms or they appear nervous, the audience will be more focused on these annoyances than the content of the presentation or speech. 

Let me know your opinion. What is more important? The content of your speech/presentation or your delivery?


If you lack confidence as a speaker or are unsure if your voice is interesting enough to captivate your listeners, you can improve.

CONTACT Lisa today to discover the possibilities. 
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ABOUT THE AUTHOR LISA HUGO

Lisa has always been fascinated by the voice and its capabilities. However it wasn’t until she encountered my own vocal difficulties and had to reassess my own techniques, that she began researching extensively on how the voice truly works. She has a certification in Vocal Disorders from the iCahn School of Medicine and is widely studied in the field of vocal production and presentation. She is passionate about assisting anyone and everyone discover the true potential of their voices. ​

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    Author

    Hi, I'm Lisa Hugo. I am passionate about helping singers and speakers understand, discover and develop their instrument within. Their Voice.

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  • HOME
  • MEET LISA
    • LISA's MUSIC
  • COACHING
    • CORPORATE COACHING
    • EXECUTIVE COACHING
    • SINGING COACHING
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  • CONTACT