Which Type of Voice Coaching is Best for You?

News Posted: 11 March 2022

Eeny, meeny, miny, moe?

If you’ve found my website you’re probably looking for some kind of voice coaching that involves the spoken word rather than looking for a singing teacher. Even within this very niche subject you can find very different types of voice coaching.

I’ve written this blog to help you decide if you’d benefit from voice coaching and which type of voice coaching is best for you. I’ll be looking at:

• Which problems each type of voice coaching solves.

• What to expect when you have a voice coaching session.

• What the price of different types of voice coaching is likely to be.

• What kind of people voice coaching can help.

• The pro’s and con’s of each type of voice coaching.

If you’re not sure what a voice coach actually does take a look at my blog ‘What Is a Voice Coach?’.

Different Types of Voice Coaching

Here are the different types of voice coaching we’ll be looking at:

1. Business Voice Coaching

2, Media Training Voice Coaching

3. Accent and Dialect Voice Coaching

4. Speech and Language Therapy

5. Performance Voice Coaching

6. Therapeutic Voice Coaching

1. Business Voice Coaching

What is business voice coaching?

Business voice coaching focusses on the needs of the business professional in developing a voice that is impactful, authoritative, warm and expressive. Some of the methods used may come from the world of voice coaching for actors and are appropriately adapted. Business voice coaching also works on creating presence, getting your message heard and increasing your ability to influence your audience. How you use the voice in a wide range of professional situations often expands into communication coaching. This is the type of voice coaching I do the most of.

What happens in a business voice coaching session?

There are many different ways of organising a coaching programme. If you work with me you’ll have four contact hours a month with important practice in between. You’ll learn the technical aspects of voice coaching. You’ll then apply these vocal skills to professional business scenarios eg meetings, one to one interactions or presentations. I also combine voice coaching with communication coaching. If my clients are travelling or very busy I can replace some of the coaching time we would spend together with pre-recorded videos or sound recordings.

How much is business voice coaching?

You’ll either pay for each session as you go or it’s more likely that you’ll buy a coaching package based on the number of sessions you have over three to six months. Either way you’ll need an extended period of time, like all voice coaching, to learn, embody and reproduce the work. My voice coaching packages start at £1,200 per month. There are other packages out there which are cheaper and some more expensive.

Who can business voice coaching help?

In my case, I help senior executives:

• Who want their presence, voice and communication to stand out from the crowd.
• Who want an innate charisma that is authentic, compelling and inspiring.
• Who want to challenge and be challenged and always keep their credibility and calm.
• Who want to come across as natural leaders whether at the board room table, in front of the camera or talking to their entire organisation.
• Who want to be able to improvise in the moment and still come across as expert.
• Who want to hone their communication skills so no interaction is overwhelming and beyond their ability.

PROS	CONS
You’ll have a voice that is a real professional asset that people will want to listen to.	You’ll need to practice regularly so that’s a disadvantage if you don’t want to put the time in.
You’ll learn how to increase your presence and impact so you’re noticed and respected.	You won’t see over-night results so you’ll need to be patient.
You’ll be able to form a natural rapport with any personality type you meet.	You’ll be pushed outside of your comfort zone so if this is something you don’t want, this kind of voice coaching isn’t for you.
You develop your own brand of leadership communication that’s a natural part of who you are.

2. Media Voice Coaching

What is media voice coaching?

Media voice coaching is still in its infancy. This is another type of voice coaching I spend my time doing.

Media training’s led by a journalist or media trainer. However recently, a few journalists have discovered how voice coaching can help their clients create a stronger, more impactful message. While the journalist crafts the content of the message, the voice coach works on your voice, presence, body language. The expertise of both professionals works together well.

Media training for the senior spokespeople of a company is the difference between a company thriving or being destroyed. Well-chosen use of the media can promote a brand, a product and your company. On the other hand, a media crisis that isn’t dealt with immediately and skilfully may cause a reputational demise that can take years to recover from.

What happens in a media voice coaching session?

You’ll almost certainly be filmed so that you begin to get used to seeing yourself on camera. You’ll learn how to best utilise the camera frame and how to relax and look as natural as possible while being interviewed. You’ll look at structuring your message so that you communicate effectively to your audience at the same time as fielding questions from a journalist.

How much does media voice coaching cost?

Media training courses tend to be bought by companies. The price will include a journalist/media trainer, a voice coach and a camera person. The journalist will have extensively researched the company involved to ask pertinent and challenging questions. A two day course costs in the region of £6,000 and upwards. Some people working independently of a company choose to use either a media trainer or a voice coach depending on their needs.

Who does media voice coaching help?

I work with:

• Senior spokespeople who speak to the media when their company is in a crisis situation.
• ‘Expert’ professionals being called on to speak on TV and to the press to give their opinions and expertise on a specific subject.
• Broadcasters whose voice is required to stand up to constant use and who need to interview, interrupt, engage and control stressful environments live.
• Organisational heads who want to promote their company using a variety of media including print and TV.
• People who give presentations on line with large audiences that will question and challenge.
• People who want to make professional videos for their website that must convey expertise, credibility and yet still have warmth.

PROS	CONS
This is leadership communication at its most challenging. If you can get a hold of communication at this level you’re beginning to move to the top of your game.	You’ll have pressure applied to you from a journalist and therefore it’s stressful.
You’ll learn how to give promotional, issue-based and crisis interviews	You’ll be filmed most of the time and this is not everyone’s cup of tea!
You’ll learn to deal with challenge, handle pressure and still get your message across with skill, credibility and calm.	You may want to do some sort of communication training beforehand to prepare you!
You’ll learn camera technique and how to communicate to an audience through your interview with the journalist.

3. Accent and Dialect Voice Coaching

What is accent and dialect voice coaching?

If you’re studying English or you’re already a fluent speaker, accent coaching will make you sound more ‘English’ or ‘American’ depending on where you’re living. You’ll achieve more clarity in your pronunciation and the rhythm of your English will be more natural

If you’re a native speaker of English and you think that your accent’s hindering the clarity of your message, accent coaching could help. You may then choose to soften or neutralise your accent.

In both of the above cases you’ll focus on a Standard English accent. A Standard English accent has evolved out of RP (Received Pronunciation) – ‘Received’ here meaning ’accepted’ or ‘approved’. It’s an accent that avoids non-standard grammatical constructions and localised vocabulary characteristic of regional dialects. RP’s the accent you find in English language text books. I work with speakers of English as a foreign language.

Actors also need accent coaching when they have a theatre, film or TV role that requires an accent different to their own.

What happens in an accent voice coaching session?

Accent coaching requires you to focus on the formation of sounds ie consonants and vowels. You’ll be paying attention to how those sounds are formed in your mouth - more specifically, the teeth, the lips, the tongue, the hard palate (the roof of your mouth behind the top teeth) and the soft palate (behind the hard palate). You’ll also focus on where Standard English ‘sits’ in the mouth – its placement – and replicate that. In addition, you’ll practise intonation patterns to develop a natural rhythm characteristic of Standard English.

How much does accent voice coaching cost?

Again, you’ll need a number of sessions before you achieve your outcomes. A private session accent voice coaching starts at £80 -£300 per hour. You’re also able to find group classes in adult centres of education, particularly those with an emphasis on acting, languages and the arts.

Who can accent voice coaching help?

• Non-native speakers of English who want to improve their English accent.
• Native speakers of English wanting to soften their own accent.
• Actors wanting to learn an accent for a role.

PROS	CONS
The clarity of your spoken English will improve.	If you have specific vocal problems this voice coaching alone is unlikely to provide a solution.
You’ll sound more ‘English’ if English isn’t your first language.	The work requires commitment, focus and repetition of sounds, words, phrases and sentences.
Both native speakers and non-native speakers of English will understand you more easily.	This coaching’s concerned with pronunciation and not with improving how you come across and your personal impact.
You can soften yet still get to keep your own native accent.

4. Performance Voice Coaching

What is performance voice coaching?

Performance voice coaching is primarily found in drama schools across the country. This voice coaching will train an actor’s voice so that he/she can be heard in a theatre, interpret a role and communicate that interpretation to the audience.

Non-actors can also benefit from this kind of voice coaching. You’ll develop your voice and presence and learn to work with texts that will enrich your vocabulary and self-expression. This will directly affect how you communicate both professionally and socially.

What happens in a performance voice coaching session?

You’ll learn the technical aspects of voice training such as breathing for vocal supporCity Lit t, posture, articulation, jaw release and pronunciation. Voice work will eventually be applied to texts, poems and scripts.

How much is performance voice coaching?

A private session is between £70 - £150 per hour.

You can find group courses that meet weekly where you’ll also have the chance to perform a role or recite a poem etc. in front of other people. The City Lit provides a choice of such courses.

Who can performance voice coaching help?

• Actors who want to train their voice for theatre, film and TV work.
• Non actors who want to train their voice for social, professional and self-developmental reasons.
• Actors who want to work with plays, poems and scripts to apply their voice work to the spoken word.
• Non-actors who want to work with plays, poems and scripts to develop their language, vocabulary and confidence.

PROS	CONS
Performance voice coaching will give you a set of vocal skills that are transferable to all areas of your life.	You’ll need to practise both the vocal skills you learn and the text you’re studying.
You’ll receive a structured course in vocal development and its application.	You’ll need to be prepared to go out of your comfort zone and receive feedback.
Your understanding of text and its delivery will increase your ability to be articulate and specific with language.	You’ll need to be vulnerable in front of other people.
You’ll work with and in front of other people and sometimes move out of your comfort zone. This will increase your confidence both when speaking and in life generally.	Your voice will develop and improve, however, you won’t receive the targeted vocal diagnosis that you’d get from on to one coaching.

5. Speech and Language Therapy (SLT)

What is Speech and Language Therapy?

Speech and Language therapy (SLT) focuses on a person’s inability to form and articulate speech primarily because of neurological or psychological reasons. If your son or daughter’s language development seems delayed you might seek a speech and language therapist who works with children. Or, if they have a problem with a specific sound, which doesn’t improve over time, speech and language therapy can also help. Language impairments caused by neurological trauma as well as autism and hearing impairments are also treated with speech and language therapy.

What happens in a Speech and Language Therapy session?

Speech and language therapists will play games with younger children to practise articulation and language acquisition. For adults, speech and language therapy focuses on doing exercises for articulation and the motor skills behind speaking and swallowing.

How much does Speech and Language Therapy cost?

Speech and Language Therapy can be obtained on the NHS or privately. An initial private assessment can be £100 - £150 followed by sessions costing between £50.00 - £150.00 per hour.

Who can Speech and Language Therapy help?

• Adults who’ve suffered a neurological condition, including traumatic brain injury, that’s affected their speech or swallowing capabilities.
• Adults and children with hearing impairment.
• Adults and children with neuro-diverse conditions such as autism.
• Children whose language development’s delayed.

PROS	CONS
SLT can help if you’ve suffered a neurological condition that affects your speech such as a stroke or traumatic brain injury.	Speech and language therapy works at the basic but profound level of restoring or implementing speech. It won’t give you communication skills for the subtleties of business or socialising.
SLT will help if you have difficulty swallowing due to a neurological of psychological condition.	Speech and language therapy may improve your pronunciation but it won’t change your accent or help non-native speakers of English to be understood more easily.
If your son or daughter has delayed speech development SLT will be able to help.
There are speech and language therapists that specialise in working with children and those that specialise in some of the adult medical conditions given above.

6. Therapeutic Voice Coaching

What is therapeutic voice coaching?

This voice coaching uses speaking, singing and chanting to release the voice and be heard. It tends to be less technical than traditional voice coaching in that it focuses less on specific areas of voice production and more on the release of sound. This voice coaching can have a more healing, psychological based approach.

What happens in a therapeutic voice coaching session?

This voice coaching happens in a group and activities are almost always done together. You may learn chanting and folk songs from indigenous cultures around the world. You may also be introduced to healing modalities like the chakra or visualisations that are integrated into the voice work. Movement can also be added to facilitate the release of your voice.

How much does therapeutic voice coaching cost?

This coaching is between £20 - £60 per session.

Who can therapeutic voice coaching help?

You might choose this type of voice coaching if:

• You want to be able to speak up and be heard.
• You want to speak more loudly.
• You’re shy and/or introverted and you want to work with a group to counter this.
• You want to work with your voice but not with too much technical detail.
• You want a psychological or spiritual component to the voice work.

PROS	CONS
You’ll get used to working with other people and therefore feel less self-conscious when speaking to an audience.	If you have specific vocal problems this voice coaching’s unlikely to provide a solution.
You’ll get used to having a voice that’s heard by other people and this is transferable to other situations.	If you want to develop your voice in a thorough and structured way you’ll need voice coaching with a more structured and technical approach.
If you’re looking for voice work that has a therapeutic approach, this voice coaching’s for you.	If you want voice coaching that focuses on your professional development this voice coaching will miss the mark.
This voice coaching will prove fascinating if you’re interested in the historic and ethnic use of voice via chanting and folk songs.

Next Steps

The majority of work I do is business voice coaching and media voice coaching. This is to take senior leaders to a level of communication that matches their expertise and experience. However, I also do accent softening for speakers of English as a Foreign Language and I incorporate performance voice coaching when it’s required.

Before working with clients I recommend a 30 minute consultation on zoom to discuss how this type of coaching can work for you. I then draw up a detailed proposal of your learning outcomes, your journey to get to your goals and the time frame involved. I then present this back to you in another zoom call. There's no fee for this process and no obligation to continue.

Put your name and email address here and I’ll get back to you.

---

Posted by: Louise Collins.

---

Go back