Modulation/

Vocal
Variety
jenny@rosemonthills.com
Oral
Jenny Mae T. Almacen Communication
09435330054
Modulation/ Vocal Variety
This is how you hold your listener’s attention.

A colourful, expressive and energized voice is able to

keep an audience’s attention.
The components of Modulation/Vocal Variety are:
1. Pitch
2. Tone Quality of Voice
3. Volume
4. Rate/ Pace of Speech
5. Inflection
6. Emphasis
7. Pause
1. Pitch
It is like music. It has high and low notes as do people’s
voices.

When that range is small, the effect is monotonous.

2. Tone Quality of Voice
• Emotional content carried by our voice.
• It is not the words themselves, but ‘how’ we say
them.
• Referred to as the “emotion of our voice.”
3. Volume
• This is how loudly or quietly you speak and how you
control it based on the meaning and content of your
speech.
Volume Exercise
Recite the poem
below, adjusting the
volume of your voice
according to the size
of the type-print.
This will help in
volume control and
build up in your
speech.
4. Rate/Pace of Speech
• Speaking rate or pace matters because how fast or
how slow you speak alters he listener’s perception of
your topic.

Faster – urgency, excitement, passion or raw emotion

Slower – importance, seriousness or revealing
significant ideas
5. Inflection
Changing pitch within a single, uninterrupted sound.
Inflection
A rising inflection is an upward gliding of the voice from
a low to a high pitch.

?
O

=
= h
W
Inflection
A falling inflection is a downward gliding of the voice
from a high to a low pitch.

n=
o
= w
Inflection
A double inflection combines the upwards and
downward gliding of the voice. It sounds like a siren.

n=
o
= w
6. Emphasis
This is when you lean on a word in order to give it more
importance in relation to the other words in the
sentence.

• Stressing - You are SO smart.

• Pausing – You are so (pause) smart.
• Inflecting - You are SO (inflect upwards on this word)
smart.
6. Emphasis
This is the most basic and quickest way to add some range
in your speech. Go through your speech and see which
words are key to communicating your message. Pick these
words and give them weight in your speech through your
voice. Here’s an example:

“Let me talk to you about a word that is overused, never

quite understood and most importantly, underrated. The
word Millennials.”
6. Emphasis
• Read this as you would read anything. Now, let’s add
some emphasis to it:

 “Let me talk to you about a word that is overused,

never quite understood and most
importantly, underrated. The word Millennials.”
let’s exercise emphasis
Use the different ways (stress, pause, inflect) to
emphasize various meanings or emotions of these
sentences. Note the underlined words to be stressed
on, paused before or inflected on.

1. I love Math.
2. She is such a sweet character.
3. That man is cranky.
7. Pause
Pause is a powerful tool in communication as
sometimes “Silence speaks louder than words.”
7. Pause
Here’s the same example with the emphasized words
along with a few pauses:

“Let me talk to you about a word that is overused,

never quite understood and most importantly (…
pause…) underrated. The word (…
pause…) Millennials.”
Pause Exercise
Try these sentences for pauses:

• I saw the most amazing and spectacular performance

of Lion King last night. (no pause at all)
• I saw the most (pause) amazing and spectacular
performance of Lion King last night.
• I saw the most (pause) amazing and (pause)
spectacular performance of Lion King last night.
Voice Modulation Exercise
“I told you he murdered the gardener.”
Voice Modulation Exercise
• I told you he murdered the gardener.
• I told you he murdered the gardener.
• I told you he murdered the gardener.
• I told you he murdered the gardener.
• I told you he murdered the gardener.
• I told you he murdered the gardener.
• I told you he murdered the gardener.
Thank you!
jenny@rosemonthills.com
Jenny Mae T. Almacen
09435330054