"It is not the voice that commands the story, it is the ear" Italo Calvino

Breathing - the key

Your breath drives your voice. It is important to breathe with your diaphragm - the big muscle above your stomach and below your lungs. You may have seen babies crying, and watched their little tummys go up and down. That's diaphragm breathing, and explains why they car cry so loudly and for so long.

Singers and musicians who have studied wind instruments have learned to breathe this way. If you're unsure about it - lay down on your back, put a book on your belly, and as you breathe in raise the book, and as you breathe out lower the book. You'll find it comes perfectly naturally - after all you have been doing it since you were a baby.

Be wary of wearing tight clothes, or uncomfortable shoes when you speak. By restricting or unbalancing your body they can have a limiting effect on your voice. Actors talk about being centred in their body when they perform, and part of that is to feel physically balanced.

Breath is also important in its calming effect. See the section on stage fright for more on that.

Discovering your resonance

In the same way that the soundbox of a guitar or violin amplifies the sound of the strings, your lungs provide the resonance for your voice box.

Using your resonance is the single simplest way of adding power to your voice.

Touch your larynx lightly with the tips of your fingers. Hum and feel the vibration.

Now touch your nose lightly, hum, but change the tone until you feel the vibration in your nose.

Now touch your sternum - the bone in the middle of your chest. Hum again, and change the tone until you feel the vibration there. Experiment a little with the tone to discover the notes that resonate in your chest.

There are small cavities in our heads that also add to the richness of our voices. That's why a cold, which blocks them, can 'thin' our voice out.

Voice experts talk about 'light and shade' - and professional speakers are marked out by the variety of tones that they can create.

Visual metaphors provide one way to think about your voice - other people use the body as a metaphor. You can 'step' through a speech, or in the words of respected broadcaster Tara McCarthy, you can 'lift the words off the page' for your audience. Use whatever metaphors for your voice that add to its variety and power that work for you.

The Music in Your Voice

There should be music in your voice as you speak. Think of your voice as a musical instrument that you are playing. In the same way that a virtuoso can tease many sounds from their instrument you should try to enlarge the variety in your voice and in the melodies you deliver as you speak.

Be very wary of being stuck with just one tune as you speak. Repetitive patterns can make you sound like the nursery rhyme Three Blind Mice. The antidote is to pick key words in each sentence and hit them with a little more emphasis.

A rising inflection at the end of a sentence sounds like a question, and can be irritating to the listener. But a downward inflection at the end of a phrase is a command and can also be distracting when overused by people seeking to add authority to their voices. You should end most sentences with a flat inflection, which implies a statement.

Your voice should be aimed at the listener's ear. Patsy Rodenberg describes an arc of energy rising from our feet, through our bodies, and curving through the air to the listener's ear. You needn't shout - just project your voice so that it can be heard. Projection is the ability we have to be clearly heard as we speak from a distance. Discover your own by continuing to speak to someone as you back away from them, while keeping your voice as quiet as possible.

Many people, including professional announcers, believe that you speak into a microphone. I believe that you speak past a microphone projecting your voice so that it will carry to someone a metre or two away. This approach adds considerably to the command your voice has.

Try slightly imitating the style of voice of someone you're speaking to on the phone. You may be surprised how quickly you establish rapport with them.

My approach to voice has been much influenced by Patsy Rodenberg's The Right to Speak, which I recommend.