Sweet sounds
Fun. Positive. Upbeat.
That’s my goal, all the time when I meet people. But if cute, sexy, and funny want to come along for the ride, that’s cool too. I purposely choose descriptors that I can change in a heartbeat and one of my secret weapons in achieving this goal — tone of voice.
Most communication specialists will agree: It’s not what you say, it’s how you say it. Supposedly the statistic is 55% body language, 38% tone of voice, and 7% words. This must be why, boys are consumed with texting because by taking away 93% of the equation, all I’m left with are empty words. And ever since third grade when a baffled bread roll exclaimed: “You sound like a boy!” I’ve been hyper-aware of the sound of my voice ever since. With all the cheeky boyish charm I could muster at age 8, I replied: “I don’t sound like a boy, YOU sound like a GIRL!”
While it’s true that everyone is born with a particular voice, there’s a lot you can do to improve the tone. A steady even breath calms the shakiest of nerves while deeper voices hold more credibility than their high-pitched squeaky counterparts. One of my favorite things to do is hold a conversation while I’m falling asleep. And as my eyes get heavier, the last thing I remember is the lilting tone of their voice.
The two groups of adjectives you described above are mutually exclusive. Once could easily make a graphjam.com Venn diagram explaining this. One circle would represent “Fun. Positive. Upbeat.”, the other would represent “cute, sexy, and funny.” The intersection would represent Hugh Grant. Your current partner would be represented by a circle several feet away from the above.
I’ve recently (yesterday) been told that I have 3 different voices: a meek and quiet voice, an excited voice, and a deep brooding voice. I’m not sure if this is a sign of schizophrenia or if I simply adapt my voice to the setting.
I wonder if this is the same for everyone.
if you’re doing it right (which it sounds like you are) you should have different tones of voices for different settings. however, i seem to mix mine up accidentally sometimes…like when people overhear phones conversations with my girlfriends and think i’m on the phone with bread…i really try to stop myself from turning into girly mush on the phone whenever possible.