Grammy winners and CEOs

I’ve been lucky enough to be around people that have what my mentor would call “a lot of horsepower.”

CEOs, venture capitalists, business owners, and Grammy-winning musicians and singers.

They all have 1 thing in common…

An incredible speaking voice.

While they are all different, there are commonalities I’ve picked up on:

• Expressive range of tones while speaking

• Authentic energy

• Dynamic volume

I’ve always cataloged it as interesting and something that I want to get proficient at as well. But it’s always been in the back of my mind. 

Not something I’ve actively and intentionally worked on.

But that changed this week. 

I saw an Instagram reel of Andy Elliot, the sales guru. Intense dude.

He was grilling a guy in one of his classes. During the course of the interaction, Andy said “You need to work on your tonality, dude!.”

A light bulb went off.

That’s the term I needed to know: Tonality!

Now, I probably could have found this with some aggressive Googling, but like I said, this has been a back-of-the-mind type of subconscious nagging.

So anyway, I’m really into optimizing my voice for tonality now.

So in this rabbit hole I’ve found some interesting tidbits of information. For instance, the career you choose has a big effect on the range of tonality. 

Essentially, tonality refers to the range of musical notes or pitch you use while speaking.

Bankers are almost monotone (1 note), engineers are in the middle of the spectrum (3-4 notes), while sales, marketing and the arts use up to 10-12 notes while speaking.

Super interesting. 

As an engineer, I have started to notice that my voice tends toward the monotone spectrum.

But why should I (and your) care about the pitch of my (your) voice?

For one, having “good” tonality allows you to communicate more effectively. To CONNECT more effectively. More range means more chances for emotion to shine through. And more emotional range allows you to adjust and OPTIMIZE your voice for different occasions, as needed. 

I want to always come across as confident, capable, and enthusiastic.

So, if this is something you’re interested in as well (and haven’t been blessed with good tonal speaking genetics, like me) here’s where I’m starting:

• Use copy work

  • I’m looking for people that have the tonality I want. Tony Robbins comes to mind, and Jamie Foxx. I’m going to take 30-60 second clips from people like this and practice copying their tonality exactly.

• Record myself

  • I’m going to record these copy sessions. And, I’m going to start making more videos for social media to get the reps in.

• Practice speaking at a moderate pace

  • Speaking too quickly or too slowly can make your voice sound monotone or robotic. I am on the “too quickly” side. So, I will be intentional about slowing down the pace.

• Work on enunciation

  • Here's a set of hard-to-say practice lines. I will practice saying them as a daily warm-up, slowly then more quickly after a couple sets (got this from LadyLaxx on Reddit):

    • Red leather, yellow leather.

    • A significant black bug bit a big black bear.

    • She sells seashells by the seashore, and the shells she sells are seashells.

    • Eleven benevolent elephants.

    • Giggle gaggle gurgle.

    • Round the rugged rocks, the ragged rascal ran.

What do you think? Have you intentionally worked on tonality?

If so, and you have any tips, send them my way.

I’d love to hear from you!

Swanagan

P.S., if you are getting good vibes from these emails, send it to 5 friends and I’ll send you a sick t-shirt.