Voice Improvement is all in the Feet

What’s happening physically is that their weight is balanced mostly on the heels of their feet. This sets of a whole string of unhelpful dynamics going upwards through the body that ends up taking their toll on the voice, and sadly, will take their toll on the listener.  Here is the science - When the weight is mostly on the heels,  the knees are probably locked.  When the knees are locked, this spreads tension into the front thighs which are trying desperately hard to compensate for this imbalance, and want to stop a person from falling over backwards.  Their bottom will probably tense up too. Yes, especially when nervous or stressed, a ‘buttock clenching’ moment. Locking knees creates that tension, making the body think it’s stressed even when the circumstances are fairly normal.  If that wasn’t enough tension already, the torso also responds to this weight on the ‘back foot ’ by tensing the diaphragm, the main breathing muscle, cutting out half of the  breath supply, and forcing the back foot presenter to breathe with an inefficient, shallow breath.  Because their body is trying not to fall backwards, their neck tenses up, along with their jaw.  So, all the freedom in their voice gets stuck in their throat. 

Why the Front Foot rules

So this is why at Cmt, as a crucial part of our voice coaching we show people how being on the ‘front foot’ makes such a difference.  It frees up breathing and gives more energy and depth and freedom to use a wide vocal range.  People find that their voice flies out with very little effort. The presenter can focus on their relationship with the audience.  Because their neck and shoulders are less tense, there’s more freedom to use hand and arm gestures. The whole physical communication process becomes much easier. As there’s much more physical energy, they’ll look and sound more committed, and so the audience will be more engaged.  It’s a truly virtuous circle instead of a vicious one.

Which are you back footer or a front footer?

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