Written by Jason Stansell

“I am the Captain of the Pinafore!” “And a right good Captain too!” – from “HMS Pinafore” By Gilbert and Sullivan

I realize that it seems a little awkward to start out a blog singing, but there is a reason for that! Singing, and especially musical theatre, can teach us a lot of things about how to use our voices for Speech and Debate. Yes, really!

We’re going right to the basics: a whisper is a whisper for a reason. Only the person beside you should be able to hear it. In a debate round, that’s ideal for quietly coordinating with your partner but your opponent or the judge should never hear those exchanges. The opposite end of the spectrum is also true: shouting at full volume is almost never appropriate in a round, except in very specific performance moments, such as with certain Interpretation events.

Most competitors understand vocal variation instinctively, but our focus here is to dive into these tools in greater depth. As such, we are tackling “Soft Voice”, “Projection”, and “Yelling”—tools used constantly in singing and musical theatre, and equally valuable in Speech and Debate. We all have our own natural volume, that changes in different environments we find ourselves in. Our goal here isn’t to push speakers to move out of their comfort zone here, but instead to explain the tools that each of us have at our disposal (of which you may yet be unaware)!

Soft Voice

This can define someone meek or nervous, sure. However, soft voice is a quiet, gentle, and low-volume way of speaking that creates emotional nuance in a performance or debate speech.

Let’s say you’re debating the Pro/Aff side of a resolution about taking in refugees. Speaking in your normal tones for the majority of your speech, then slowing down and switching into Soft Voice to describe the horrors that these refugees, especially their children are suffering through, can be immensely impactful.

The same idea carries over into all Speech events. Take, for example, a passage from The Yellow Wallpaper by Charlotte Perkins Gilman:
“Personally, I disagree with their ideas.
“Personally, I believe that congenial work, with excitement and change, would do me good.
“But what is one to do?”

By using the soft voice on that last line, after your regular voice for the others, you can give an emotional emphasis of “resignation” to the situation without being overly dramatic. Sometimes something as subtle as using a soft voice goes a long way.

Projection

You’ve probably heard this word a lot. And while yes, it has different meanings, when it comes to your voice, this is something everyone should learn. Without projection, judges may have a hard time hearing Soft Voice speaking, or even your normal speaking as well. You may have heard the phrase “speaking with your chest voice?” Well, that’s the opposite of projection. Projection starts in your diaphragm. You know, that part of your body that pulls the air into your lungs! You have a lot more control over that than you realize. While it takes some practice, using proper breath control, you’re able to allow your voice to fill and resonate around the room, without raising your volume. Essentially turning your “mono” voice into “stereo surround sound.” This should be incorporated into your default performance voice. Though, be careful, if you get too comfortable with it, you might find it hard to turn off. But hey, even that still works for educators, leaders, firefighters, etc. right?

How to practice this is pretty simple: stop forcing your voice. Yes, you read that right. To project, you need to stop trying to force your voice to be heard. By forcing your voice, you’re using throat tension to send your voice out. However, with projection your throat is relaxed and you use the breath pressure from your diaphragm to carry your words out to your audience. Now, place your hand on your stomach and take a deep breath. If your stomach isn’t moving that much but your chest is, that’s chest breathing. Practice breathing from your diaphragm and it will help you with the control you need to send your voice around the room without any real extra effort. You might even find you’re using less air than you would the other way. That said, projection is not, at all, yelling. Thus we reach our third topic.

Yelling

Oh, joy, we’ve reached what so many people think makes them sound smart or that they’ve made a point. Don’t get me wrong, yelling certainly has its rare place in Speech and Debate, but first we need to make this positively clear… Yelling does not make your point any stronger than the evidence supporting it. No matter how hard you yell that most criminals went to kindergarten, that doesn’t make kindergarten the reason for criminal behavior. Also, I should point out that yelling is very different from screaming. Screaming is not something that should ever show its face in Debate. Ever.

You will find yelling more applicable in certain Speech events than you will in Debate. After all, certain lines from certain performance pieces need to be yelled. It would just not be the same if Jack Nicholson’s character of Colonel Jessup in “A Few Good Men” used Soft Voice to say, “You can’t handle the truth!” As such, if used appropriately, Speech gets many more opportunities to yell. That said, once in a great while, Debaters get the chance too, but it must be used with caution, never at someone, and used very sparingly.

Example… You’re the Con/Neg in the aforementioned refugee resolution. You’ve written the case in a “sympathetic to their plight” concept, but emphasize that we have too many problems as it is and need to solve our issues first before we can help others. You list the atrocities that the Aff/Pro side has listed that the refugees are suffering from, then ask the question: “Do they deserve this?” Guess what? Yelling just “Absolutely not!” will catch the attention of the judge and your opponents in a very proper way. Then in your normal projected voice, detailing how regretful it is that we currently cannot help these refugees as they’d, for example, go from the atrocity of food access being cut off by their oppressors, to food not being available to our current homeless population to which the refugees would be added. As well as other examples of struggles they’d face here. “Is trading falling on a sword for falling on a spear, really a trade at all?” In short, using the right volume at the right moment makes your arguments far more effective.

In the right hands, these three types of speaking become tools to really delve into the words you are using. And guess what? Look down. You see those hands of yours. Once you know how to use these properly, those right hands are yours.