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Maximum Resonance Point: The Voice of Power
Many studies show that lower pitch voices confer more power and dominance.
What few authors discuss though is that it's not just low that is important.
It's the mixture of both high and lows that creates resonance (something Nick Morgan discusses in "Power Cues").
This is how Nick Morgan says you can find your MRP:
Go to a bathroom with all its hard porcelain surfaces.
Practice moving up and down through your vocal range until you find that pitch that seems to echo throughout your head and the room.
That resonance infers power to your voice.
Men sometimes try to force their voice lower (and women to force their voice higher).
Not only these efforts mostly fail and result in poor voice quality, but speaking outside of our MRP strains our voice and can permanently damage vocal cords.
Ronald Reagan is a man who had a wonderful MRP.
Notice the fullness of his voice:
Turning our voice into a strong instrument to convey power and confidence requires some work.
I'm not (yet) great at it and I'm working on it these days.
You can read a review of Roger Love voice program here for example.
I also reached out to him if I could share some of his lessons on Social Power. Unluckily that wasn't possible but he was kind enough to give me an early spot into his new online course:
So what I did is to put together some of the best vocal exercises from the best vocal coaches both online and in person.
I tested them all and came up with a list of the best vocal exercises which I share inside of Social Power (with me actually doing the exercises in front of the camera).
I recommend finding one's exact maximum resonance point (MRP) like Vanessa Van Edwards does in this video:
Here's what I do:
- Find your vocal range from the piano
Around 1-2 octaves for the average person (correct me if I'm wrong) - Divide the number of keys in your range by 4.
Get this number from the division and count upwards from the lowest range.
The key you landed on should be around your maximum resonance point. - Record yourself reading a passage for a few keys lower and higher-pitched than this key
- Hear your own recordings to see which is the most resonant.
From this method, I have found my maximum resonance point to be the key below:
Now I can reliably reproduce this pitch.
Thank you for sharing this, Matthew.
Much better than the original version of the post.
Still, I personally find some challenges without having some vocal or singing knowledge background.
For example, I wouldn't have any idea what's my "lowest / highest note" I can comfortably sing.
I can hear my own voice, but have no idea how to match that to a note.
Maybe this can work great with the help of a vocal coach then.
I had challenges too since I'm not the most musical.
In short, I did quite a bit of trial and error to find the right note by recording and listening to myself.
For example, I wouldn't have any idea what's my "lowest / highest note" I can comfortably sing.
I wasn't exactly sure too so I found roughly the note where I can sing without straining my throat.
Then I had to do a few recordings around the different notes to compare how it sounds like.
I can hear my own voice, but have no idea how to match that to a note.
A microphone with real-time feedback helps a lot.
I think that's why singers have earpieces when they sing on stage.
If I'm unsure, I record my voice and compare that with the note on the virtual piano.'
Maybe this can work great with the help of a vocal coach then.
I should ask a vocal coach about this topic too.
Strange that Roger Love didn't cover this in his Speaking Pro course.
I can hear my own voice, but have no idea how to match that to a note.
When your voice hits the same note as the piano, the combined sound stays at the same level of loudness (volume).
If the voice and piano are at different notes, the loudness of the combined sound oscillates (louder, softer, louder, softer).
The phenomenon is known as a beat.
It's more challenging with your voice and the piano because they are not pure notes/frequencies.
They contain other frequencies, harmonics.
This is why tuning forks work very well for tuning instruments.
Tuning forks have relatively pure frequencies.
But my ear is not very trained too so I do have difficulty matching notes.
Still, I personally find some challenges without having some vocal or singing knowledge background.
For example, I wouldn't have any idea what's my "lowest / highest note" I can comfortably sing.
I can hear my own voice, but have no idea how to match that to a note.
I found an online pitch detector:
https://www.onlinemictest.com/tuners/pitch-detector/
It is helping me to hit my maximum resonance point more consistently (still a work in progress).
My maximum resonance point is the note E3.
I also recorded my voice for D3 and F3, the adjacent notes for a hearing comparison.
E3 sounds the most resonant for me.
For example, I wouldn't have any idea what's my "lowest / highest note" I can comfortably sing.
With the above pitch detector, one can sing the lowest note you can comfortably sing and the highest note too.
Then, match that with the piano and do the above procedure to find the maximum resonance point.
That is awesome, thank you for sharing Matthew!
Going to try this.
