Effortless Speaking: Secrets to a Resilient and Healthy Voice with Christine Sofiane Katzenmaier

Dr. Christine Li [00:00:00]:
Welcome back to the Make Time for Success podcast. This is episode number 283. In today's episode, we're going to learn how to unlock the true potential of your voice with the help of my special guest, Christine Sofiane Katzenmaier. Christine is a licensed speech pathologist, vocal health and performance coach, trained opera singer, and founder of speech and voice works. Drawing from her unique blend of voice science, expertise and years of professional performance, Christine works with singers, speakers, and professionals who rely on their voices every day, helping them to build strong, reliable, and confident voices that command attention. In this episode, Christine is going to share lots of practical tools and strategies that will help you to not only learn about your voice, but also to show you how to harness its power in real world situations. Whether you're looking to overcome vocal fatigue, enhance your speaking impact, or simply step up and be heard, Christine Sofian's approach will show you how to transform your voice and your confidence from the inside out. I can't wait to share this episode with you.

Dr. Christine Li [00:01:20]:
Let's go listen to this episode together now. Hi, I'm Dr. Christine Li and I'm a psychologist and a procrastination coach. I've helped thousands of people move past procrastination and overwhelm so they could begin working to their potential. In this podcast, you're going to learn powerful strategies for getting your mind, body and energy to work together so that you can focus on what's really important and accomplish the goals you want to achieve. When you start living within your full power, you're going to see how being productive can be easy and how you can create success on demand. Welcome to the Make Time for Success podcast. Hello everyone.

Dr. Christine Li [00:02:12]:
Thank you so much for joining me today on the podcast. Today I have a very special guest. Her name is Christine Sofian and she and I are colleagues in entrepreneurship and we have met just recently for the first time in person, which was lovely. And I immediately asked if she would be interested in coming onto the show. She is an expert on the voice, both the speaking voice and the singing voice. And I'm so excited to learn with you all today from our special guest, Christine. Christine, welcome to the show.

Christine Sofiane [00:02:51]:
Thank you so much for having me, Christine. I'm excited to be here. And yes, so I'm a voice therapist, I'm a vocal health and performance coach, a speech pathologist, and I'm also a trained opera singer. And I'll be happy to talk about the voice today in terms of how you can take care of your voice, vocal health, and how it Impacts overall performance and confidence and overall quality of life in a person.

Dr. Christine Li [00:03:14]:
Ah, beautiful. I think voice is such an important topic, and it is a skill and a utility that we can really improve on quite easily. Can you let us know first the background of how you came to understand this as a basic fact, as a fact that you wanted to coach other people in.

Christine Sofiane [00:03:38]:
Do you want the short version or long version?

Dr. Christine Li [00:03:40]:
I will take. I'm interested in the longer version, actually. So let me know all the details.

Christine Sofiane [00:03:47]:
So my background. I. Singing was always my passion, and I started singing at an early age, and then I became a soloist, and I just wanted to be a mainstage performer. And so singing was always my passion. I trained, I performed as a singer. Opera was always my love. So I've done a lot of performing. And then from all the experience that I had, I took that and started teaching singing.

Christine Sofiane [00:04:09]:
And I came across questions over and over, like, how do some people have a hoarse voice? How do some people have a reduced singing range? How do some people get tired when they use your voice? Talking all day. And I still had a lot of questions myself, even with all the experience and training and performance that I had. And so a friend told me about speech pathology and there's voice science that goes with it. And I'm like, oh, there is the missing piece of the puzzle. So I went back to school, I got my master's in voice science, and now I'm working with people. I. People with their singing voice and speaking voice, if they have any vocal fatigue or if they want to enhance their speaking voice or their singing voice. Because now I have that missing piece where you combine science and artistry.

Christine Sofiane [00:04:52]:
And that's been such a fantastic journey for me. I pretty much fell into what I'm doing now, and I absolutely love it.

Dr. Christine Li [00:04:59]:
Beautiful. How many years ago was that?

Christine Sofiane [00:05:02]:
So I started singing 30 years ago, and I've been in the fields now, and I was performing, I trained my voice. I studied voice for 12 years, operatic training, and I performed for about 15 years, and then I started teaching, and I'm now in my field helping others for the past 10 years.

Dr. Christine Li [00:05:20]:
Oh, beautiful. Beautiful. All right, so now can we go to operatic singing and.

Christine Sofiane [00:05:26]:
Yes.

Dr. Christine Li [00:05:28]:
What. What are the unique challenges? What is special about operatic singing and the training demands?

Christine Sofiane [00:05:38]:
What's special about operatic singing is really the developing of the voice, the enormous power that the voice can create. It has a lot to do with breast support and the sustainability, because if you sing on stage for, like, three hours straight and it's an open sound It's a full sound and it takes a long time to develop that kind of voice. So there's just a lot that goes into it and it requires a lot of studying, using many different languages and just the development of the sound itself. It's having a really good understanding of the instrument and being able to produce a certain quality of sound. Okay, now does that mean you can only do that quality of singing? No.

Dr. Christine Li [00:06:18]:
Did you always find yourself that you had some sort of natural understanding of your voice?

Christine Sofiane [00:06:25]:
Not so much understanding of the voice, but I always loved singing and I just loved music. And for me it was always opera. I like all kinds of music, but for me it was always opera that drove me to like, oh, I want to learn more about it.

Dr. Christine Li [00:06:38]:
Okay, beautiful. Now let's talk about what feels hard about speaking and using your voice to full capacity. Can you give us some reflections about what you've seen in your, let's say, your non singing clientele? What have been the familiar roadblocks, the things that literally get in the way of a person speaking with their full power?

Christine Sofiane [00:07:06]:
So that's a great question, because people, they come to me often the symptoms that they start experiencing is, for example, fatigue. They can project as well if they want to bring their point across in a meeting. They feel like their voice is either not strong enough, they don't feel confident enough, especially if they're in a higher level position and they have a lot to say, but they're not confident in their delivery because of how they sound. So it could either be that there's a symptom of, again, vocal fatigue or hoarseness, or they lose their voice at the end of the day. Or it could just be that they're not able to project or just don't like the quality of the sound and that's really what's holding them back. And it really affects their confidence on a deeper level. And the beautiful part of it is once they find out that actually, oh, there's something you can do about it, you can turn it around fairly quickly because if you address the root cause of what's causing that issue, you can switch it around fairly quickly. And watching that transformation going from, ooh, I don't know, I didn't, you know, I felt like a lost.

Christine Sofiane [00:08:09]:
There was a lost opportunity for me because I didn't interject in that meeting or my presentation, either I skipped it altogether or yeah, I performed, but it just wasn't at the best level to then see them. Like, you know what, I nailed it. I went in there and I just, I said what I wanted to say and it felt good. So to see that transformation is so beautiful, and that's why there is so much power in the voice and what you can do with it.

Dr. Christine Li [00:08:36]:
Okay, beautiful. What I heard in part was that you need confidence to have a well working voice, and a well working voice gives you confidence in return.

Christine Sofiane [00:08:47]:
They work hand in hand with each other. Yes.

Dr. Christine Li [00:08:49]:
Okay, so then would you give us a glimpse of how you would then encourage someone to believe more deeply? Is it belief? Is it something else?

Christine Sofiane [00:08:59]:
So actually it's not all psychological, right? There is. And in the past, in my own voice training that I've had, oh, it's psychological and all that. There's definitely a psychological component to it. But what I really hone in on is the science aspect of it. For example, if I sound like this right now, my voice just changed. You can still understand me. Right. But somehow I'm sounding different right now.

Christine Sofiane [00:09:20]:
Now. Okay, you might perceive me differently because I'm how I'm talking right now. Or if I talk like this right now, I'm just changing my voice. Again, I sound different now. If I just use different breath support and placement of my sound. Could you hear how my voice just changed?

Dr. Christine Li [00:09:35]:
Absolutely.

Christine Sofiane [00:09:36]:
I come across very differently now. And all I did was the placement of the sound and added adequate breath support to it. Now, that might sound very, how should I say, very scientific and whatnot, but once you know how to do those things versus saying, well, just sound more confident. How do I sound more confident? But in having those tools, knowing how to use your voice, that's what then gives you the confidence. Because now you know what to do.

Dr. Christine Li [00:10:02]:
Yes.

Christine Sofiane [00:10:03]:
And then it's accessible to you. So it's not. Well, I know I sound like this, but I don't like sounding like this. So how do I change it?

Dr. Christine Li [00:10:09]:
Yes.

Christine Sofiane [00:10:10]:
Well, if you talk like this, this is how you do it and. Oh, okay, cool. Because then you can use it whenever you want to.

Dr. Christine Li [00:10:16]:
Yes. Beautiful. It does. And then of course, I am going to ask, well, what about the psychology? What about the part where the person. There's some sort of upper limit in where they think they can project. Maybe that's too loud. That's too bold. That's not me.

Christine Sofiane [00:10:34]:
Correct. And we address that as well. We. You know, I do ask question about a person's history and especially once they make some progress, but there's still something holding them back. The psychological aspect could be that they were told, I always told I can't sing or my voice is Terrible. Or they were never allowed to be loud as a child, for example. Or there's just something in the subconscious mind that holds them back. So we do some practice where they just get to play around and explore.

Christine Sofiane [00:11:03]:
And once you get to explore that, it's like, oh, we're shedding those old beliefs. Oh, I actually can do that. And that part needs to be addressed. Because one thing that. The beautiful thing about the voice, we can portray our emotions in our voice, right? We can talk to somebody in the phone, and we can tell how they feel, how they sound without seeing them. Right. Whether we know the person or not, but we pick up on the tone, which is why voice is so important, which is the beautiful part of it, because we can portray a lot of. Convey a lot of emotions in our voice.

Christine Sofiane [00:11:35]:
Where it affects us is because the emotional center is directly correlated, connected with the cranial nerve that innervates the larynx. So when we get nervous, for example, it would show up in the voice at first, but then also if there's a psychological component with it, it does affect the voice. So we need to address that component as well.

Dr. Christine Li [00:11:54]:
Okay. Beautiful. Now I find myself curious about once you learned the science of the voice, how that affected your singing and your attitude about your preparation and performance, all the things. What ended up happening to your experience?

Christine Sofiane [00:12:13]:
For me personally, I tell you, it was a huge eye opener. And I wish I knew that information. Twenty years ago, like I said, I had singing training with the best teachers in the world and performed and teaching other students. And now having both elements of the science and the performing aspect combined, to me was a huge eye opener. And that's why people are able to get results very quickly also, because now I know exactly how to dial in on that. And that's what's so powerful.

Dr. Christine Li [00:12:45]:
Beautiful.

Christine Sofiane [00:12:46]:
And it's not all, oh, it's because it's psychological. There's. There's both components to it. And yeah, that's what's been super helpful for me. It's opened me up in terms of just even my own singing. I sing with so much more freedom now where. Because now I know, like, okay, this is what needs to happen. And boom, there it is versus what's wrong? What should I do now? You can just address.

Christine Sofiane [00:13:07]:
You just like, you put the piece of the puzzle together and then you go. It's like you put your shoes on and you run.

Dr. Christine Li [00:13:13]:
Yeah. No fear anymore. Correct.

Christine Sofiane [00:13:15]:
Right, Right.

Dr. Christine Li [00:13:16]:
No fear. Okay, let's talk then about when you feel like your daily voice is not working. Can you Give some maybe case examples or again, common things that you see in your clientele.

Christine Sofiane [00:13:33]:
So common pitfalls and actually talk about that in my vocal rescue guide is like the five common pitfalls of why your voice gives out. And I explain why that is and what to do instead. So one of the things common thing that people experience is vocal fatigue. They just get tired. The other thing is also they think it's normal if you use your voice all day. We're talking, you're on the phone all day, meetings or whatnot, that it's normal that you feel tired at the end of the day. That may be typical, but it's not normal. And so the next thing they do, they think resting their voice helps them.

Christine Sofiane [00:14:07]:
Resting your voice absolutely helps because the vocal folds, they vibrate inside your throat, and they need rest at times. However, resting your voice does not change how you use your voice throughout the day. So it's like if your body gets tired, you go take a nap or, you know, try and get a good night's sleep. And let's say I give the running analogy. If you are a runner, but you wear the wrong kind of shoes or like, the way you're pacing makes you fatigue more quickly. You got to look at how you're doing your steps, right? And so with the voice, it's the same thing. If you keep straining your voice throughout the day, you're going to get fatigued very quickly, and then the voice can start sounding raspy and hoarse, you know? And like I said, the most common thing is that people think it's normal to get tired. Because if you use your voice all day, and that goes for speakers, singers, presenters, entrepreneurs.

Christine Sofiane [00:14:59]:
It doesn't matter what kind of talking you're doing or family, moms, you know, at home taking care of their kids, when vocal fatigue kicks in, that that means there's something else going on underneath. And for one, it could be that's dehydration. There's two little bands in the side of the throat, and they need to vibrate. When we make sound, if there's dehydration that takes place, they stiffen a little bit, and then that vibratory cycle is impacted, which then causes more hoarseness. And then when those bands don't move as quickly, there is more effort that comes with it. And with that effort comes either hoarseness or fatigue. So those are the most common things that I hear in people.

Dr. Christine Li [00:15:37]:
Okay, beautiful. So also what I'm hearing is that I'm just stuck with what you said a couple minutes ago of, oh, I wish I knew this information 20 years ago. That, and I know from my own history of having to be able the privilege of being able to work with a voice coach myself that, yes, this is information that is freeing. It is confidence building. It strengthens your voice. Absolutely. I'm wondering what are some wonderful reasons why anyone in our audience might want to consider getting vocal coaching now? What are the reasons not to delay and what are the benefits that await them?

Christine Sofiane [00:16:24]:
One of the reasons not to delay is because you don't want to wait until you can't use your voice at all. Because you don't realize how important your voice is until it's gone or you start having really problems where it becomes a career choice. Do I have to give up my career because my voice is not working? If you're in a situation like that, there's help for you available and know you do not need to give up your career. You can take care of your voice and move forward with your career. And the other thing, if even just slightly in your mind, you think, yeah, I feel confident in my content that I deliver and how I interact with people, but I don't like the sound of my voice. And that's always been holding me back. Whether that's socially or even when you go out to restaurants with friends and you feel like you don't want to interact as much because you. You're not able to project or you just don't like the sound of your voice, if that's holding you back in any kind of way, you can get help for that.

Christine Sofiane [00:17:18]:
Because when you feel good about your voice, you feel good about yourself. And what happens when you feel good about yourself? You just interact differently in life on a daily basis. Whether that's in your professional career or whether that's in your daily life, friends and family, it makes a huge difference.

Dr. Christine Li [00:17:36]:
Beautiful. It makes me think, you know, that my audience here is largely women comprised of midlife and older women. And I'm wondering what you see in terms of just expectations of a woman's voice.

Christine Sofiane [00:17:50]:
Great question. So I work with a lot of women that are in a high level career, and for them, they feel like, especially if they're it's mostly male dominant in the field that they're in. As a woman, they have to come across stronger and just more confident just to have a stronger presence. So we work on the voice just to be really just more open, to let their voice come out more. Because if there's already the concern as a woman, I want to come across strong and confident and so if there's just a concern about that or hesitation about that, it does show in the voice. And if you don't know how to access that, that can impact your performance. If you know how to access and change the voice that you want to and sound like that way again, that gives you the confidence. So it's no longer, well, I'm the woman.

Christine Sofiane [00:18:42]:
I need to sound more authoritative or whatever that is that they're looking for. Then it just comes naturally, and then you can turn it on and off whenever you want to.

Dr. Christine Li [00:18:51]:
I love this. Let's take on one more question, if you don't mind.

Christine Sofiane [00:18:56]:
Of course.

Dr. Christine Li [00:18:57]:
What does an effortless voice feel like, and what is an effortless voice?

Christine Sofiane [00:19:04]:
An effortless voice, and I. These are literally just the words. I know it for myself because I experience it. But what I hear from the people that I work with Wednesdays tap into where their voice likes to sit and how they're using their voice. They're like, I feel like I'm doing nothing. And I'm like, that's the place where you want to be. It feels so easy. It's so comfortable.

Christine Sofiane [00:19:28]:
I never thought it could be that simple. Now, does it take focus first to find out where that place is? Sure it does. But then it's like establishing that muscle memory, and it just becomes automatic. And so not having to think about your voice when you use it, that's where it just feels. There's. There's no discomfort in the throat. There's no fatigue. You just use it and you use it in many different ways that you want to.

Christine Sofiane [00:19:51]:
And that's the beauty of it. So effortless just feels like because the baseline before, like that there was always effort, but they didn't know that they had effort once. They experience it differently. Like, oh, I never thought it could feel like that. So how does it feel like? It just feels easy. It feels like you're doing nothing, but you have a super powerful tool that you're using, and that's the beauty of it.

Dr. Christine Li [00:20:13]:
I love this. I love this. Well, thank you so much for describing both your long and illustrious background and all the beautiful work that you've done to really just be dug in and curious about what is involved in this beautiful gift that we all have. Right? We don't have to be opera singers to enjoy.

Christine Sofiane [00:20:33]:
No, we don't.

Dr. Christine Li [00:20:33]:
We don't. Yes, yes, yes, yes.

Christine Sofiane [00:20:35]:
And it's like more just drawing the attention to the voice because I feel very often the voice is being undermined, and it is such a big Part of a person's identity, a person's appearance in how they show up in daily life, in the world, in the. In, you know, in their job. So I feel very passionate about the voice because of the powerful tool that it gives us and it's who we are because the instrument sits inside of us. And this is our identity.

Dr. Christine Li [00:21:04]:
You mentioned undermined. I'm wondering, do you have any thoughts about why the voice might not be center stage in maybe conversations about psychology or confidence or other really important topics?

Christine Sofiane [00:21:17]:
Because it's just one of those autonomic systems that we just have is like breathing. We don't think about breathing until like, oh, I feel like I'm running out of breath. Maybe I should just take another breath. Right?

Dr. Christine Li [00:21:26]:
Yes.

Christine Sofiane [00:21:26]:
And because it's just something we do and we rely on it, and once we're like, oh, I'm not so sure if I like what I'm hearing, then, oh, let's draw a little awareness to it. And once you have that, then you can, you know, do a lot with it. So I. The voice is something that's given, and then it's a question of how much can you. Do you want to explore with it, but also seeing it as a powerful tool.

Dr. Christine Li [00:21:50]:
Yes. All right. So all of us listening here today, we all now know that the voice is a gift and your power all in one. So let's maintain it. Let's take care of it. Let's consider, do we need some extra support with coaching or some other attention to your voice so that you're not falling into. My voice is failing me. My voice is hoarse.

Dr. Christine Li [00:22:13]:
I don't like my voice.

Christine Sofiane [00:22:14]:
There's absolutely no need for that.

Dr. Christine Li [00:22:17]:
I agree. I absolutely agree. So, Christine, I know you also have a free resource for our listeners. Could you describe it and what it can give them?

Christine Sofiane [00:22:26]:
Yes. So it's called the Vocal rescue Guide, and I created it because it talks about the five hidden pitfalls. Why your voice gives out or it creates fatigue and why that happens and what to do in order to improve your voice. And for example, one is, I talked earlier about resting your voice. Why Resting your voice can help in the interim, but it's not a long term solution. Right. Or hydration, for example. Really important.

Christine Sofiane [00:22:49]:
So it gives you the five steps that will make a big difference on, just as a starting point, what you can do for your voice.

Dr. Christine Li [00:22:55]:
Okay. Beautiful. Thank you for the gift and to get this gift From Christine, it's maketimeforsuccesspodcast.com/vocalhealth. Again, it's maketimeforsuccesspodcast.com/vocalhealth and again, thank you, Christine, for all your wisdom, your joy, your passion for the work that you do and for getting the word out. Literally. Right, let's get the word out.

Christine Sofiane [00:23:21]:
Thank you so much for having me.

Dr. Christine Li [00:23:23]:
Wonderful. Well, best wishes to you as you move forward and make sure to connect with Christine online as well. Can you give us an easy way to connect with you online?

Christine Sofiane [00:23:35]:
Yes. It's either through my website, speechandvoiceworks.com or on my YouTube channel, Empowered Voice Coach.

Dr. Christine Li [00:23:42]:
Terrific. We will have all that information in our show notes accompanying this episode and I think that's a wrap for us. Thank you so much, Christine.

Christine Sofiane [00:23:50]:
Thank you so much, Christine. Thank you.

Dr. Christine Li [00:23:52]:
Bye bye everyone. Thank you for listening to this episode of the Make Time for Success podcast. If you enjoyed what you've heard, you can subscribe to make sure you get notified of upcoming episodes. You can also Visit our website, maketimeforsuccesspodcast.com for past episodes, show notes and all the resources we mention on the show. Feel free to connect with me over on Instagram too. You can find me there under the name Procrastination Coach. Send me a DM and let me know what your thoughts are about the episodes you've been listening to and let me know any topics that you might like me to talk about on the show. I'd love to hear all about how you're making Time for success.

Dr. Christine Li [00:24:35]:
Talk to you soon.