Clarity

I just took three weeks off at the end of August for some vacation and thought-gathering time… now I’m back and I’ll be posting on a more regular basis – ideally every Thursday!

Stopped at the edge of Duffy Lake between Lillooet and Pemberton

The word ‘clarity’ has been resounding in my head over the past few weeks. It first came to me while I was riding my motorbike through the mountains of southern BC on a beautiful sunny day, while on vacation. The mountains edges were crisply defined against the sky and I thought how the clarity of the air, sun, and sky really made the details on the mountains come alive. If the weather conditions had been different, there would not have been as much detail to see, nor clarity to experience.

When you are singing on your own, it can be difficult to have clarity about how you are singing – you hear your voice differently from how others hear it. We hear our voice resonate from the vibration of the bones inside our ear and head. Instead of just receiving sound waves from the exterior of our body, we are hearing both the interior and exterior vibrations our voices make.

For more scientific explanations, you can see any number of sites, but I found this one to be very good: http://www.physicsclassroom.com/class/sound/u11l2d.cfm

When you listen back after having recorded yourself speaking or singing, do you notice how different you sound? All the little details that you thought you had under your command are not necessarily there.

One of the most difficult things to do as a singer or public speaker is to listen back to (or watch!) a recorded performance or a lesson with an open mind and heart; ready to acknowledge both the things you did well, and the areas where you could improve.

Here’s a trick to try in order to gain more clarity about your voice and how others hear it: Place your hands over the front of your ears, where they meet your jaw, but place them so they look like elephant ears sticking out from your head, thumbs out, and pinkies against your ear. Now cup them backwards and start to sing or speak. Now you hear your voice more like others hear it in a room.

Each time we understand ourselves from a different perspective, we gain more clarity about our whole being.

In the same way that changing how you hear something changes your perception of your voice, expanding your perspective on anything will give you more insight into YOU.

What are you waiting for? Speak, sing, find your voice and a whole new perspective!