11.3 Spheres in the process of voice- and speech production.
Respiratory control is a condition necessary for meaningful use of the voice: calling, singing, speaking, whispering. In a treatise on men's (and women's) evolutionary past, E.Morgan (1972) states that vocal communication is especially suitable for mammals living in the sea such as whales and dolphins. Respiratory control is a prime necessity for under water swimming. It's use as a secondary function for vocal communication could well have developed in an episode that man's ancestors were living in the shallow waters off the East coast of Africa (the aquatic ape theory of the evolution of man). Controlled breathing and voice-production together with consonantal articulation, make for understandable speech. Posture and respiratory control require the coordination of large parts of the body: the legs, the basin, the vertebral column, the shoulders and the neck. Body posture and movement is partly under involuntary control and has an important share in non-verbal communication. Significant postural oppositions are
laxness - firmness
diminution (submission) - enlargement (dominance)
closeness - distance.
Each of the postural variations goes along with a different way of using the voice. That is one of the reasons why remedial training of the voice requires thorough physical groundwork. The quality of the voice derives from the layers that together form concentric man: a visceral layer, a muscular layer and an integrative neural system. The idea of concentricity is also reflected in the model which we use for imaging the expressive use of movements, gestures and voice. Large expressive movements are controlled from the centre: the legs and the trunk perform approaching, threatening, or shrinking movements. Gestures for the middle distance are controlled by the arms, head and neck. Finely tuned expressions of the face are produced right on the surface of the skin. A comparison with the proper technique of playing the violin will be helpful. A steady stance with the legs well grounded supplies a firm support to the trunk and the shoulders. From there the arm is moved, transmitting its movement to the wrist and from there to the fingers. When based on "grounded" stance of the trunk the control of the bow by the fingers is more secure than if the control were not "centered". In a similar way successful and convincing speech begins with standing with both feet firmly planted on the ground. Controlled respiration supports a resonant voice, gestures of arms and hands add to the elocutionary liveliness, oral and facial movements bring about the articulatory clarity.
How do we practice all this? When Germany still had colonies in Southern Africa, it founded a department of phonetic sciences in Hamburg to study African languages, under the direction of a medical doctor G.Panconcelli Calzia. A vestige of the African connection is still present in the "Accent Method" applied by a later director of that department, the Danish professor Svend Smith Ph.D. According to him, a weakness of the internal temporal organisation of speech underlies many voice- speech and language problems. He uses African drums to accompany his clients when they become aware of the main rhythms that envelop each other during verbal expression:
LARGO is the slow beat which is at the foundation of self-confidence. Awareness: my voice is there when I need it, I won't let myself be hurried
ANDANTE is the easy-going movement when short phrases are exchanged,taking turns in alternation
ALLEGRO represents the rapid flow of syllables in fluent speech.
Since we introduced the Accent Method in the Netherlands in the sixties, it has been widely used by logopedists.
11.4 Stages in the rehabilitation of voice- and speech disorders.