Weekly Insight #46- The Four Pillars of Voice—Intention, Breath, Tone, and Connection
A Practical Framework for Authentic Vocal Presence
At BA & Beyond, I picked up a sticker that made me smile:
“Pour me a coffee and I’ll solve your problems.” ☕
It was clearly tongue-in-cheek, but it stayed with me.Not because I want to solve people’s problems—but because it reminded me of something else I value: listening.
In voice work, I don’t start by fixing things.
I start by listening—especially for what’s already there.
Most advice about voice is a grab bag of tips: hiss like this, breathe like that, try sounding emotional.
But without structure, those tips don’t connect.
That’s why I teach voice using a framework I call Developing Your Authentic Voice (DYAV)—grounded in four practical pillars:
🎯 Intention
🫁 Breath
🎨 Tone
🔗 Connection (Message)
Each one plays a role in helping your voice become more than just sound.
It helps it land.
🎯 Intention (The Reason You’re Speaking)
People often skip this part.They jump straight to how they sound without asking: Why am I speaking at all?
Intention isn’t about choosing a tone—it’s about knowing your objective.
What do you want your listener to understand, feel, or do?
That clarity shapes everything else.
In voice coaching, I often ask people to say the same phrase with different intentions—not as an acting exercise, but as a diagnostic.
Try saying: “I didn’t say you stole the money”
—first with curiosity, then with suspicion.
Same words. Totally different outcomes.
That intention shows up—not because you’re performing it—but because your breath and tone follow your thinking.
What most tip lists skip is this:
Intention has to come first.
It tells your breath what to do, and your tone follows naturally.
You don’t need to imitate someone else’s style.
You need to get clear on your own goal.
🫁 Breath (The Support System)
Breath supports everything.
But most people overthink it—or ignore it completely.
In voice training, I focus on something I call Restructured Breath:
a way of connecting breath to intention, tone, and meaning—not just inhaling more deeply.
It’s sometimes confused with “diaphragmatic” or “belly” breathing, but those terms oversimplify where and how the breath is managed.
They describe where breath appears to move—not how it’s being coordinated.
Restructured Breath isn’t about inflating your belly.
It’s about coordinating your breath to support your voice—not just your lungs.
When you inhale, you fill your lungs. But other parts of your body respond too.
Voice training means noticing those reactions—and choosing the most efficient ones.
One helpful tool here is the unvoiced “S” sound.
Hissing gently helps you hear the air you’re using—giving feedback about breath pressure and control.
Here’s a short demo of how that works.
The idea of exhaling to “stack” your breath can also be useful—but only in specific training contexts, like the Farinelli exercise, which I teach as part of Restructured Breath.
Out of context, telling someone to exhale before speaking may encourage unnecessary breath loss.
Most people breathe without thinking—because they don’t have to.
But in voice work, you can choose where and how you breathe.
That small choice can change everything.
🎨 Tone (The Color of Meaning)
Tone gives voice its emotional dimension—but it’s often misunderstood.
People think of it as something you “add on” to sound expressive.
But tone is more like color: it emerges from how your breath, resonance, and intention interact.
People often focus on tone the way they focus on style: as if it’s something you can apply from the outside.
But in voice work, we treat tone as a result—not a choice.
It’s shaped by what you’re trying to say, the breath behind it, and your awareness of how those things feel in your body.
You can’t fix tone from the outside in.
And trying to “sound a certain way” often makes things worse.
In fact, when people ask how to improve their tone, what they usually mean is:
“How do I make people feel what I want them to feel?”
That’s a great question.
But the answer starts elsewhere.
This is where most tip lists fall short.
They offer surface-level tricks—“lower your pitch to sound confident” or “use more inflection to stay engaging”—without asking what you’re actually trying to communicate.
When intention and breath are clear, tone adjusts on its own.
And when it doesn’t, we work diagnostically—from the inside out.
Try this simple exercise:
Say the sentence: “I didn’t say you stole the money.”
Now try it again with different intentions:
Curiosity
Accusation
Surprise
Amusement
Same words. Totally different tones.
That’s not acting. That’s alignment.
When your breath, intention, and body are aligned, your tone resonates.
Not because you’re “doing a voice”—but because you’re telling the truth.
Tone is also where our individual vibration lives.
We’re more like string instruments than windpipes—and breath is what plucks the strings.
Each person’s tone is shaped by their body and intention, creating a vibration that feels honest, specific, and human.
🔗 Connection (Message)
“Warm up your voice” is a phrase we hear all the time.
But what usually needs warming up isn’t the vocal folds—it’s your breath.
When you awaken your breath, your voice becomes more flexible by extension.
But as Margaret Harshaw—my mentor and the great Wagnerian soprano—often said:
Singing (and speaking) is 95% mental. You will the voice to do what you choose.
Vocal variation is a powerful tool—but the how matters.
What intention are you carrying into the sentence?
That affects tone and expression more than pitch variety alone.
When your tone and breath are aligned with what you mean, you create vocal messages that connect.
That connection comes not just from the words, but from the way your voice carries meaning.
It’s what allows people to hear what matters.
When we talk about Connection (Message), we’re talking about how ideas land.
Not just how they’re said—but what gets remembered.
Have I considered my message—and is it coming across clearly and truthfully?
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