There’s something undeniably magical about opening an old notebook and discovering the wisdom of the author. I have been exploring my grandmother’s notes on elocution and have written a number of blogs on its contents, aptly titled “Graceful Speech & Timeless Tales”

This post is to serve as an index and as a gateway to the treasure trove of posts, notes and personal reflections on the art of speaking with poise and telling stories with heart.

Having written these posts and exploring the notebook, I often wonder what she would think about my additions and how they are being used. Good I hope in reflecting her life as a teacher and in helping others.

Series Index

• Lessons from my Grandmother’s Notebook: Rediscovering the Art of Speaking
• Graceful Speech & Timeless Tales: The Art of Articulation
• Graceful Speech & Timeless Tales: The Power of the Pause
• Graceful Speech & Timeless Tales: Harnessing Inflection
• Graceful Speech & Timeless Tales: Modulation
• Graceful Speech & Timeless Tales: The Power of Pitch
• Graceful Speech & Timeless Tales: Mastering the Art of Gesture
• Graceful Speech & Timeless Tales: Breathing
• Graceful Speech & Timeless Tales: The Elements of Elocution
• Graceful Speech & Timeless Tales: Unlocking the Power of Tone

I hope that you have found these posts both helpful and inspiring. Writing this series has been a rewarding experience for me and gained as much from reading it as I have from putting it together.

It is likely that there will be additional posts in this series as I continue to explore and reflect upon more entries in the notebook. I will update and republish this list when I post anything further from the notebook.

With the world overflowing with messages, videos, social media and influencers, making a presentation or story truly resonate is key to engaging an audience and attracting new views. The answer to this lies not just in the words we choose, but in how we deliver them through the colour and quality of our voice.

Drawing inspiration from a excerpt in my grandmother’s notebook, the art of tone remains as vital today as it was in generations past.

The Timeless Impact of Tone: More Than Just Sound

Tone is the unique character our voices take on, reflecting our connection to what we’re saying. Even if the audience doesn’t understand the language, the emotion behind the words can still be felt. This universal quality is why great presenters and storytellers engage an audiences hearts as well as their minds.

It is important to consider the actual language that you use and any words that are specific to your trade or industry are simplified for the audience. Not everyone will know what a Wobjiglinkthingibob is!

Physical and Mental Aspects: A Two-Pronged Approach

The notes describe tone colour as having two sides: the physical and the mental. Modern voice coaches echo this, emphasising both body and mind.

• Physical Resonance: Today, we know that the way sound vibrates in our chest, throat and head shapes our vocal tone. Good posture, relaxed muscles, and proper breathing allow your voice to carry emotion more naturally. This means practising vocal exercises and staying mindful of tension and anger, as this can often tighten the muscles and constrict the voice.
• Mental Imagination: To truly connect, you must immerse yourself in the content and envision its emotional landscape. The best storytellers use empathy and imagination to internalise the mood of their message, letting genuine feeling colour their voice. Mindfulness and visualisation techniques help cultivate mental quickness, helping speakers pivot smoothly between emotions as their story unfolds.

Modern Applications: Engaging Today’s Audience

Presenting and storytelling in the digital era offer new challenges and opportunities. Audiences are diverse, attention spans are short (20-40 mins) and authenticity is prized. To stand out:

1. Be Present: Before speaking, centre yourself. Take a deep breath and mentally step into the scene you’re about to describe.
2. Feel the Emotion: Don’t just recite, relive the emotions behind your words. Let your voice reflect your excitement, concern, joy or suspense.
3. Adapt and Respond: Modern presenters read the room, whether in person or online. Adjust your tone in real time to maintain connection and engagement.

Tone Colour is the special quality the voice possesses when it is in perfect harmony with the subject matter. One should be able to tell the emotion by the quality of the voice even if one did not understand the language.

How obtained: Two sides – one physical the other mental

Physical – This is obtained be resonance

Mental – obtained by cultivating the imagination one must thoroughly understand the context if the passage – then the required emotion must be imagined next this must be concentrated upon sufficiently to colour the voice. Just as emotion alters the texture of the body. Eg. Tight muscles when angry, so it will alter the quality of the voice, so after concentrating upon the idea we must try to reproduce the effect of that emotion in the voice. It is obtained by the use of certain resonances which will come naturally if the emotion is felt then there must be mental quickness to move from the impression and expression of one emotion to the impression and expression of another emotion.

Above are an excerpt from my grandmothers notebook.

By balancing physical technique with emotional intelligence, presenters and storytellers can ensure their message not only reaches the audience but resonates long after the final word.

Further Reading

The art of elocution once reserved for the grand stages and parlours of yesteryear is today replaced by speaking to pitch ideas, deliver a keynote or weave a captivating tale. These all rely crucially on how you speak.

1. Audibility: Make Yourself Heard

Audibility is more than just volume. It is about ensuring your voice reaches every listener, whether in a packed auditorium or on a video call. This means understanding your environment, using microphones effectively, managing background noise and projecting your voice confidently. Techniques like breath control, resonance and mastering your vocal registers help you maintain clarity and stamina, especially in longer sessions.

2. Distinctness: Speak Clearly, Be Understood

With diverse audiences and global reach, clear speech is essential to be understood. Distinctness involves crisp articulation of vowels and consonants, precise pronunciation and mindful enunciation. This also means being aware of regional accents, inclusive language and if presenting virtually, ensuring that your technology and slides don’t muffle your message. Practising ensures your words are easily recognisable and your message doesn’t get lost in translation.

3. Expression: Breathe Life Into Your Words

Storytelling is about connection and making your audience feel the emotions behind your words. Expression encompasses how you pace your speech (using pause and phrasing), where you place emphasis and how you modulate your voice with changes in rate, pitch and intensity.

Expression also means harnessing body language, gesture and facial expressions, even through a webcam. What we do can say more than our words.

Rhyme, rhythm, prosody and the subtle use of tone colour turn even the most factual presentations into memorable experiences.

The elements of elocution are:

1. Audibility
2. Distinctness
3. Expression

Audibility is the power of making the voice heard and includes the study of:

1. Breath control
2. Phonation (the act of producing voice by means of the vocal cord)
3. Resonance
4. Vocal registers

Distinctness is the power of making words easily recognisable and includes the study of:

1. Vowel and consonants
2. Articulation
3. Pronunciation

Expression is the power of making an audience feel the emotions and thoughts of the author – the voice and manner must suit the words. Expression includes the study of:

1. Pause and phrasing
2. Emphasis
3. Modulation including rate, pitch inflection and intensity
4. Rhyme, rhythm and prosody
5. Gesture and facial expression
6. Tone colour

Above are an excerpt from my grandmothers notebook.

Bringing It All Together

At its core, elocution is about authenticity and connection. By combining audibility, distinctness and expression, presenters and storytellers can engage audiences, foster understanding and inspire action.

When you are getting ready to next practice, present or share a story, remember – your voice is your instrument and every audience deserves to hear it played beautifully.

The best way to get better is to practice, present and tell stories more, obtaining feedback afterwards from your audience.

Further Reading

Effective communication, whether you’re commanding a stage, weaving a story or pitching a big idea depend not only on your words, but on how you breathe.

Below, you’ll find an excerpt from my grandmother’s notebook, which, when seen through a contemporary lens, offers valuable lessons for present-day presenters and storytellers alike.

Notes on Breathing from the Notebook

Breathing is taking the air into the lungs and sending it out again.

Breathing Muscles

1. The diaphragm is the most important because it is the largest single muscle and makes the most change in the size of the chest. It separates the chest from the abdomen, it is dome shaped and arches up into the chest.
2. The inter costal muscles, between each pair of ribs in two layers with fibres running in opposite directions. The external inter costal muscles contract and swing the ribs outwards and at the same time the internal inter costals relax. When the ribs go back the reverse operation takes place.
3. The abdominal muscles, they contract and control expiration.
4. Scapular and clavicular muscles are also used.

The Method of Breathing for you Production

The Costal Diaphragmatic with Abdominal Control in Expiration (sometimes called the Whole  Chest or the Central Method or Old Italian).

Air is taken in through the mouth (it is a bigger opening than the nostrils therefore more air can be taken in quickly and easily;  nose breathing often leads to stiffness of the face giving a strained look and to noisy breathing.

When taking the breath in through the mouth the tongue and soft palate are in the proper position for producing tone but if air is taken through the nose they have to be readjusted. The air goes through the larynx and down the trachea which splits up into the right and left branchii each leading to a lung. These branchii split up into innumerable bronchial tubes, at the ends of each is a tiny air sac into which the air goes expanding the lungs. When air is taken in the ribs are swung out by means of the external inter costal muscles thus increasing the chest from side to side, at the same time the diaphragm contracts and flattens increasing the chest from top to bottom, the sternum is moved forward and because of this, the curve of the ribs, the chest is increased in size from back to front.

When the lungs are full the abdominal wall is gently drawn in pressing on the abdominal wall is gently drawn in pressing on the abdominal organs which in turn press on the diaphragm which returns to its natural arched position, thus squeezing enough air out for a phrase to be spoken.

While speaking the ribs are gently held out as long as the external inter costal remains contracted.

Bad Methods of Breathing

1. The clavicular or collar bone method. In this method the shoulders are raised in taking the breath in and the abdominal wall is often drawn in. This method is bad because the upper part of the chest is used. It is very tiring and ugly and the great fault with this method is expiration cannot be easily controlled. It sometimes leads to stiffness of the upper part of the chest which is sometimes communicated to the throat and stiffness in any part of the vocal mechanism is bad for the tone.
2. The abdominal method. In this method the diaphragm is pressed down on the abdominal organs which in turn cause the front abdominal wall to protrude. Expiration cannot be so well controlled as by the costal diaphragmatic and it is ugly.

Contrast Between Breathing of Repose (or Natural) and Breathing for Voice Production

Breathing of Voice Production

1. Voluntary and controlled by the subconscious mind
2. Full capacity of chest used
3. The amount of air taken in varies with the phrase spoken and there is no pause after expiration

Tranquil Breathing

1. Involuntary and uncontrolled
2. Full capacity of chest not used
3. Regular amount of air taken in, slight pause after expiration

Faults in Breathing

1. Breathing Tone: This is caused by taking in more air than the muscles are able to control so some air escapes unvocalised and we get breath mixed with the voice. The air is expelled before the vocal cords meet. To cure this the muscles must be strengthened, ie. The diaphragm and inter costal muscles. Take in air but do not overcrowds the lungs and say a short phrase trying to keep the ribs out and listening carefully that all the breath is turned into tone, as the power grows increase the length of the phrase.
2. Gasping: This is caused by saying too much in one breath. The speaker hurries on regardless of pauses, uses up all their surplus breath and begins to call on their residual breath and gasping follows. In beginners it is sometimes caused through nervousness. Proper phrasing and care and steadiness are the cure.
3. A Click before Tone: This is caused by poor control of the breath again. The cords meet before the breath is ready to pass through and a click follows. Proper timing of the abdominal press is the cure.
4. Rebound: This is adding a vowel sound after the final consonant of a word, as un-der due to letting too much air escape with the last sound. Care should be taken not to let fresh air escape with the last sound.
5. Tremolo: This is like the vibrato in singing an is caused by unsteadiness of the muscles. It can be remedied by attending to breath control. Speaking above or below one’s compass will sometimes cause it.
6. Noisy Breathing: This is sometimes due to adenoids or enlarged tonsils, these require medical attention. If there is no organic defect it is through carelessness and stiffening of the mouth and soft palate. At first take the breath in slowly and silently and the more quickly as one improves.

Above are an excerpt from my grandmothers notebook.

Modern Insights: Bringing Breathing Techniques into the 21st Century

Today experts in vocal performance, mindfulness and even sports science universally acknowledge (see further reading for articles) the value of deliberate breathing. The costal diaphragmatic method, as described above, remains central to performance technique but now we better understand its role in stress reduction, stamina and vocal clarity.

• Mindful breathing is proven to lower anxiety before speaking, enhancing confidence and focus.
• Nose breathing is preferred in general health to filter and humidify air, but for vocal projection, mouth breathing is effective when done consciously with relaxed facial muscles.
• Apps and devices can now help speakers track and train their breathing, while modern trainers emphasise relaxation as much as control.
• Warm-up routines for presenters often include breath exercises, stretching and even short meditation to prime both body and mind.
• Understanding your own “breathing faults” helps tailor practice, video and audio feedback help track progress.

Blending this wisdom of past and present empowers presenters and storytellers to use breath as a foundation for authenticity and impact to as a key to unlocking their best voice.

Further Reading

• Diaphragmatic Breathing: The First Step to a Good Voice — University of Mississippi Medical Center ENT handout
• Correct Breathing and “Support” for Singing — SingWise
• Diaphragmatic breathing techniques for singers (exercises and benefits)
• The Effects of Mindfulness Practices on Speaking Anxiety and Performance (ResearchGate)
• Nasal Breathing – ScienceDirect Topics