San Francisco Voice Center

The San Francisco Voice Center offers courses in voice and speech for business executives, lawyers, politicians, performing artists, teachers and public speakers. We offer private lessons and workshops targeting the following areas: Voice and Speech Accent Reduction Presentation and Executive Presence Voice and Speech Skills for Lawyers Alexander Technique. Public Speaking - Everyone has the ability to be a great and powerful speaker. However, being a great speaker means more than being loud enough to be heard, and articulate enough to be understood. It means that as you speak the audience follows you; you affect them with the imagery of your words, and ignite an emotional and intellectual response through your own content ownership. Accent Reduction - First thing you should know...yes, it is possible! Many people reduce their accent with help from a coach. However, it requires commitment and practice! Changing your speech patterns is not always easy. Evaluating your vocal and articulatory "use" is a profound and enriching experience...well worth the time and energy you will spend. But, you need to have the right person to help you. Be wary of teachers without pedagogy (teaching) degrees. Many actors and professional voice users will convince themselves they can teach what they do, or that there is a link between character accents and accent reduction. There is a link but it's faint. Also, speech pathologists are not necessarily the best choice. Pathology means the study of illness (vocal nodes, cysts,) or individual issues such as a stutter. Their are good speech pathologist who teach accent reduction but it's not necessary to be a certified Speech Pathologist to be an expert at accent reduction. Alexander Technique - The Alexander Technique is an intelligent way to solve the common movement problems that cause chronic pain, stress, vocal strain and fatigue. It is a way to notice your movement habits, release compression and move with ease and expansion. A proven self-care method, it is a set of skills that you learn to relieve pain, prevent injury and enhance performance. It (Alexander Technique) bears the same relation to education that education itself bears to all other human activities. - Professor John Dewey, (Philosopher, Educator)...known as the "American grandfather of education".