Pleasant Voice And Manner Add to Charm

Lake County Mail, Issue 27, 26 November 1947, Page 9

Pleasant Voice And Manner Add to Charm

You have ofen heard someone say, “ She’s not exactly pretty and her figure is not very good, but she is quite charming.” Did you ever pause to ask yourself why? , > A pretty face, a neat figure, a stylish wardrobe, an impeccable, hair-do create a good impression at a first meeting, but even admitting the importance of external looks, most people agree that there is an indefinable quality in a charming personality that over-rides them all. “ Charm ” is too elusive a quality to pin down, and is compounded of many factors. But there is one factor that plays a large part in it, and it is that quality that weighs more heavily in the balance than looks or appearance. That quality is a pleasant voice and an attractive speaking manner. Does this sound far-fetched? Call to mind one or two significant facts. Consider the high marriage rate among telephone operators, those anonymous women known only by their voices, voices which attract far more than do the pretty faces and neat figures which often surround the telephone caller in his own social or business circle. Consider also the reports of personnel managers, who agree that more jobs are lost through deficiencies in personal manner than through inefficiency. And consider whether the most popular woman in your .group is not the one whose face would pass unnoticed, but whose speech and manner make her prominent. PLEASANT VOICE TASKS The main point about a pleasant voice is that it is a more lasting asset than most other physical qualities. Good looks fade, figures (alas!) inevitably lose their symmetry, youthful eyes lose their lustre. With the loss of these qualities usually go the loss of the admiration they inspired. But the voice and the speaking manner remain. Look around you at the women in the top positions in business, on the stage —even ordinary women whose domestic happiness seems to have lasted longer than their friends’. They are not necessarily brilliantly endowed intellectually, but they have outlasted their competitors, who, in the begin- ' ning, had the advantages over them looks. And they have outlasted them because looks are ephemeral, while the concomitants of personality live on. Therefore, take heed of your voice' and your speech. There is no simple, formula-directed road to success. Mere aping of “ high-class ” accents is not only ineffective, but may inspire ridicule. Slavish imitation of some star of stage or screen betrays itself. The only way to improve your voice and speech is to study them closely and constantly. CLEAR ENUNCIATION If you speak indistinctly, or mumble, practise clear enunciation either at home or in public. Join a local debating society, and regard your activities as a way to improve your speech. If you speak too loudly, or your voice is raucous, tone it down. Here again constant practice is necessary. Listen carefully to voices you admire, and, without blindly imitating them, try to detett the basic -factors on which these voices depend. . Above all, remember that your speech is almost the only means you possess to impress your personality on

your fellow beings, and that your voice is the vehicle of your speech. That voice is worth all the care, time, and money you can spend on it.