Let’s talk about Mrs May’s Voice

Let’s talk about Mrs May’s voice: please. Everyone else is talking about ‘it’. I knew it was in for a hard time when she started coughing and croaking during the press conference late on Monday night. I knew what was going to happen on Tuesday and Wednesday in the House of Commons. You see I KNOW WHAT SHE’S DOING WRONG WITH HER VOICE.

And what makes it so frustrating for me is that I can help her so easily. Because this is a series of things she does when she is stressed – which it is not unreasonable – yet there are ways that she could look after her voice so it would have more longevity. In other words, it would be stronger when she has to speak in these highly emotional debates.

Don’t get me wrong, the parliamentary debates are highly charged and as things are panning out, May will be expected to lead any future debates, and the chances are her voice will fail; it will break; she will cough; she will sputter AGAIN.

Clearly she has advisors around her, working on the content and performance. However, there is still a lot of work to be done on her performance, impact and, yes, the voice. They have clearly focused on lowering the voice but not vocal care, longevity and the performance.

So what would I do: first of all; I would want to check that Mrs May is producing the voice in the correct place. I suspect naturally she has placed the voice quite low – in the throat – and I would encourage her to place it higher so that it caused less pressure on her larynx.

Secondly, I would look at vocal care: ensuring she was hydrated; perhaps look at her diet (I know she is diabetic).

Thirdly, I would look at her posture. We all recognise that when she is stressed, she sticks her neck out. There are other things she does and they all cause tension around her larynx, causing problems when she speaks.

So if you are reading this Mrs May, or if you are one of her advisors, get her to call me. I can help.