Personal Narrative-Grounded In My Voice

There is no question that after giving about four speeches, I have become a much better overall public speaker. In the beginning of the semester, I would tend to get nervous during some of my speeches and consequently the delivery of my speech would be greatly affected. If I had made a mistake, my level of nervousness would drastically increase and I wouldn’t know how to correct it. Although today I have improved on these aspects. Normally in order to control my nerves I try to think as positively as possible. This is critical because when I start to think even a little bit negatively then I severely hurt my chances of giving a good speech. Instead today, my main priority is to stay very confident and tell myself that I’m going to perform fine.

In the moment, my abilities never faltered. I kind of like that about myself. I may worry, but when it comes down to it, I’m pretty persevering. Despite this, I harbored mixed feelings about singing again.

Then the practicing part came and I had some challenges with my song. I don’t have very good breathing control and the song is hard on breathing. I got better in that by practicing. But this still challenges me. Also, I had problems with hitting the right notes, sometimes I was singing Amy’s alto parts, but she always alerted me so that was good.

At first I could barely project my voice for the entire hornline to hear, I was always self conscious and afraid of messing up. My public speaking skills were questionable at best and my fear of messing up in front of everyone made them even worse. Dealing with my eight person section(including myself) wasn’t as taxing but relaying instructions effectively was my biggest problem. Teaching new material as well as

I never sang too loud so if I messed up, no one would hear it .After every class I would go up to my Choir or band director with about five questions. But it simply was not enough. So my sophomore year I was given vocal lessons that taught me that I can match pitch consistently , and that my range was bigger than I ever thought it could be. I discovered a talent that I loved and I intended to perfect it .I performed in multiple cabarets and had the opportunity to sing with my choir at the Carnegie music hall. I was finally getting the swing of music; but that was not enough due to my obstinacy. I wanted to learn

While the achievements I’ve earned are valuable, what I have learned from this process is significant. I’ve learned how to act in a professional environment and how to be a quality competitor in not just Speech, but in all my activities. Furthermore, I have acquired the ability to digest and comprehend criticism. As well as giving me the opportunity to be a leader on my team, Speech has also taught me to be a leader amongst my peers. To me, Speech is more than a place to excel in speaking, it is where I have gained knowledge and skills that will assist me in my future

After moving to New York City to pursue an acting career, I continued to work on my singing voice through professional voice lessons. As I learned more about my own voice, I became very interested in the science behind singing and speaking. This led to an independent inquiry for knowledge that quickly took me beyond the scope of singing pedagogy, and I began to rely on vocal anatomy and speech pathology text

At the age of four I was absolutely positive that in the future my career was to be the real world Kim Possible. Yet, the next year something in me clicked; my mind had been set on becoming a singer, and ever since that moment twelve years ago it has been my path. I had convinced myself that I would stand on a stage, and every time I opened my mouth the notes would just flow out; gliding gracefully through the air, dancing to the music among one another, descending upon the audience in powerful crescendos. However, as I aged, my confidence in this vision would begin to sway.

As I unlocked my jaw from my mouth, nothing came out. The director and the instructor stared at me with open jaws. They weren’t able to take me in because I had lost my voice. I was the quiet 14-year-old, who lost the ability to sing falsetto anymore. My only strength was my baritone voice, but the choir, at the time, did not start a boy choir in their choir yet. I auditioned yet again, but the same result happened; however, this time, they had troubadours for me to start my life in choir: The choir that is called the South Bay Children’s Choir (SBCC)

X’s vocalizations were subjectively judged as appropriate in regard to vocal volume, pitch, and quality. Breath support appeared to be unremarkable.

I wish I was able to practice and experiment more with my voice. For the midterm scene, there was mostly one emotion going through my mind as I was in character: annoyance… and possibly exasperation. There was not a great variety of emotion in that one scene. However, during in-class exercises, I think that I am able to experiment more thoroughly. Right now I am okay with my vocal strength, range, and flexibility, although I do see room for improvement especially in expressiveness in adapting to the script. If I were to continue acting I would like to play with lines

Growing up, I believed that my family’s lifestyles, illnesses, and issues did not necessarily affect me. The problems that they were facing were only theirs to face. It never dawned on me that later in life I would be subjected to the same types of setbacks as they were. One of which included finding my voice. I used to be quiet. My ideas and thoughts were in my imagination because it appeared as though no one was willing to listen. I used to hide. The shadows were more of a friend than anyone of my peers. That was until I found my voice; my voice empowered me. It gave me a reason to fight for what I believe in. My voice taught me that I am not that same little girl who was scared, broken, and alone. I am now a young lady who is fierce, determined, and loved.

One of my strengths that I have is my voice projection being strong. I have always had a lot voice, and have always liked to

Everyone has an identity, and it is our identity which defines who we are and our place in society. Our identities help other people to draw conclusions about who we are, as well as, spotlight values and beliefs. Our identities have the power to positively or negatively affect how we live our lives, as well as, have the power to affect how we interact socially. Identities can be shaped and molded by the communities in which we live, the schools we attend, churches where we worship, the sports in which we participate, our race, gender, and physical features. Many of my friends, family, and acquaintances, describe my identity as being strongly influenced by my disability, my family values, and my fiercely independent nature. Prior to writing

It was the year 2013 when I found out my favorite talent I possessed. This talent of course, was my ability to drop my voice to a deep bass level; similar sounding to Ted Cassidy and James Earl Jones. My ability to drop my voice has stayed with me over these many years and has helped me to be funny, sing, and perform on stage.