Language and the way that people communicate has evolved over time, now you can learn how to effectively use your voice in the most effective way possible in order to get your message across. Every time we open our mouths, we have an effect on ourselves and the way others perceive us. The ability to speak clearly and confidently can make or break a presentation, an important meeting, or even a first date. Now, with the advent of Skype, YouTube, podcasting, Vine, and any number of reality talent competitions, your vocal presence has never been more necessary for success or more central to achieving your dreams. Roger Love has over 30 years of experience as one of the world's leading authorities on voice. Making use of the innovative techniques that have worked wonders with his professional clients, Love distills the best of his teaching in Set Your Voice Free, and shares exercises that will help readers bring emotion, range, and power to the way they speak. This updated edition incorporates what he's learned in the last 15 years as the Internet and talent competitions have completely changed the role your voice plays in your life. These are the new essentials for sounding authentic, persuasive, distinctive, and real in a world that demands nothing less.
A New York Times bestselling writer explores what our unique sonic signature reveals about our species, our culture, and each one of us. Finally, a vital topic that has never had its own book gets its due. There’s no shortage of books about public speaking or language or song. But until now, there has been no book about the miracle that underlies them all—the human voice itself. And there are few writers who could take on this surprisingly vast topic with more artistry and expertise than John Colapinto. Beginning with the novel—and compelling—argument that our ability to speak is what made us the planet’s dominant species, he guides us from the voice’s beginnings in lungfish millions of years ago to its culmination in the talent of Pavoratti, Martin Luther King Jr., and Beyoncé—and each of us, every day. Along the way, he shows us why the voice is the most efficient, effective means of communication ever devised: it works in all directions, in all weathers, even in the dark, and it can be calibrated to reach one other person or thousands. He reveals why speech is the single most complex and intricate activity humans can perform. He travels up the Amazon to meet the Piraha, a reclusive tribe whose singular language, more musical than any other, can help us hear how melodic principles underpin every word we utter. He heads up to Harvard to see how professional voices are helped and healed, and he ventures out on the campaign trail to see how demagogues wield their voices as weapons. As far-reaching as this book is, much of the delight of reading it lies in how intimate it feels. Everything Colapinto tells us can be tested by our own lungs and mouths and ears and brains. He shows us that, for those who pay attention, the voice is an eloquent means of communicating not only what the speaker means, but also their mood, sexual preference, age, income, even psychological and physical illness. It overstates the case only slightly to say that anyone who talks, or sings, or listens will find a rich trove of thrills in This Is the Voice.
Science is beginning to prove what ancient cultures fully embraced: your voice can become one of the most powerful agents of transformation in every facet of your life. Free Your Voice offers you the liberating insights and personal instruction of music healing legend Silvia Nakkach, whose four-decade immersion in the voice as a creative force makes her a uniquely qualified educator. With co-author Valerie Carpenter, Silvia shows how to reclaim the healing potential of your voice (regardless of training or experience) through more than 100 enjoyable exercises that are steeped in spiritual tradition and classical vocal technique and backed by the latest science. Free Your Voice invites us to “savor a banquet of our own divine sounds” as we practice breathwork, chant, and other yogic techniques for emotional release, opening to insight, and much more. Supplemented by 32 downloadable digital audio tracks offering Silvia's guidance through many of the exercises, here is a definitive resource for implementing the voice as an instrument of healing and fulfillment, exploring: How to develop a practice of breath and voice, performed with consistency and imagination, where sound designs its own landscapes through the expressive power of the voiceA series of sonorous yogic practices that involve subtle movements and the sustained focus of the mind in soundA gentle path for developing a voice that is fully embodied, uniquely expressive, and played like a fine musical instrumentInvocatory words and ancient seed sounds that deliver explicit spiritual information for expansion of consciousness and well-beingA beginning repertory of mantras and chants from many cultures that you can build on and share as you deepen your practiceTechniques for vocal improvisation to engage your singing imagination and enrich your musical offeringsHow to foster confidence and kindness toward yourself as a vulnerable chanteur of the universal songHow to cultivate singing as a spiritual practice for yourself and to serve a larger community “With regular practice,” writes Silvia, “vocalizing, singing, and chanting become an ordinary miracle that effortlessly leads you to a sense of self-confidence, compassion, and Love Supreme.” Free Your Voice is your guide to discovering, opening, and revealing the full potential of your own voice.
THE STORY: The scene is an isolated house in the woods where a beautiful young woman lives alone. When a young samurai appears she offers him food and shelter, and when he decides to stay on they eventually become lovers. But while fascinated by his benefactress, the samurai cannot shake a superstitious mistrust of her; for all her delicacy and beauty she is also able to perform wonders of cookery, horticulture and even the martial arts (much to his wounded pride). In the end it develops that the woman is suspected of being a witch and the samurai has come to seek glory by killing her. This he ultimately cannot, or will not, do, but neither can be accept her superiority, and so he leaves-a fateful decision which, as it turns out, is made at terrible cost to both of them.
Singing and Teaching Singing: A Holistic Approach to Classical Voice, Third Editioncontinues to be a beloved resource for singers and their teachers, speech-language pathologists, and laryngologists and an adopted text for instructors and students in voice, singing, and performing arts courses. Janice L. Chapman is able to draw on her experiences as a singer with some of the world's leading opera companies to present a teaching technique specifically focusing on voice in the areas of classical and opera singing. Interspersed with the concepts and components of Chapman's methods are vignettes from her life and career, animated by her conversational and vibrant style to guide (and entertain) the reader through the book in a step-by-step fashion. The philosophy of teaching presented combines three main facets: Holistic, Physiological, and Incremental. The Holistic segment emphasizes that the act of singing involves the whole person (i.e., body, mind, spirit, emotion, and voice); the Physiological segment stresses anatomy, muscular function, and effects of muscular interactions so that students and teachers alike can understand and visualize the functional workings of the torso, larynx, and the vocal tract and their impact on good singing practices; and the Incremental section shows that the act of singing can be broken down into manageable components that have a natural hierarchy that eventually interact and interlock. This teaching model provides a framework to master one element at a time, with the resulting effect of a complete and integrated mastery of technique. Chapman recommends this framework for rehabilitative work with the dysfunctional singer, for working with the developing singer, and for the ongoing development and maintenance of the technically able professional singer. Case studies, examples, exercises, and contributions from some of the world's best-known voice professionals further highlight the text. New to this edition: The addition of a completely new chapter: an interview with voice specialist osteopath Jacob Lieberman on the subject of manual therapy and voiceA rewriting of Marilyn McCarthy's chapters on teaching and learning in light of advances in the fields of neuroscience and educationUpdates to Pamela Davis's chapter on voice and the brain, as well as John Rubin's chapter on vocal and respiratory anatomy and physiologyClarifications by Ron Morris on the use of the accent method of breathing as a highly effective remedial and training techniqueRefinements to chapters on breathing and support, phonation, and resonance*Disclaimer: Please note that ancillary content (such as documents, audio, and video, etc.) may not be included as published in the original print version of this book.
Listening and Voice is an updated and expanded edition of Don Ihde's groundbreaking 1976 classic in the study of sound. Ranging from the experience of sound through language, music, religion, and silence, clear examples and illustrations take the reader into the important and often overlooked role of the auditory in human life. Ihde's newly added preface, introduction, and chapters extend these sound studies to the technologies of sound, including musical instrumentation, hearing aids, and the new group of scientific technologies which make infra- and ultra-sound available to human experience.
The healthy Christian life is one of continuing spiritual, emotional, and relational growth. But so many of us feel stuck or stagnated at one stage of the journey. It's not always clear to us where or why we are stuck, making it difficult to take the next step on our journey of the soul. That's where Bill and Kristi Gaultiere come in. After decades in private practice as counselors and therapists, they have developed a unique model for growing in grace. In Journey of the Soul, they draw on more than 70,000 hours of providing therapy and spiritual direction to show you how to identify your current stage of faith and the next steps to take based on your unique needs and struggles. With Scripture, self-assessments, and soul care practices to support your progress along the way, this insightful and inspiring book will be a treasured companion on your journey no matter where you are or how long you've been following Jesus.
Winner, 2023 Clifford Geertz Prize in Anthropology of Religion, Society for the Anthropology of Religion The Jahriyya Sufis—a primarily Sinophone order of Naqshbandiyya Sufism in northwestern China—inhabit a unique religious soundscape. The hallmark of their spiritual practice is the “loud” (jahr) remembrance of God in liturgical rituals featuring distinctive melodic vocal chants. The first ethnography of this order in any language, The Sound of Salvation draws on nearly a decade of fieldwork to reveal the intricacies and importance of Jahriyya vocal recitation. Guangtian Ha examines how the use of voice in liturgy helps the Jahriyya to sustain their faith and the ways it has enabled them to endure political persecution over the past two and a half centuries. He situates the Jahriyya in a global multilingual network of Sufis and shows how their characteristic soundscapes result from transcultural interactions among Middle Eastern, Central Asian, and Chinese Muslim communities. Ha argues that the resilience of Jahriyya Sufism stems from the diversity and multiplicity of liturgical practice, which he shows to be rooted in notions of Sufi sainthood. He considers the movement of Jahriyya vocal recitation to new media forms and foregrounds the gendered opposition of male voices and female silence that structures the group’s rituals. Spanning diverse disciplines—including anthropology, ethnomusicology, Islamic studies, sound studies, and media studies—and using Arabic, Persian, and Chinese sources, The Sound of Salvation offers new perspectives on the importance of sound to religious practice, the role of gender in Chinese Islam, and the links connecting Chinese Muslims to the broader Islamic world.
