Dr. Lillian Glass Worked to Feminize Caitlyn Jenner Voice and Body Language

I had the opportunity to work with Caitlyn Jenner to try to help her feminize her voice, speech patterns and body language. Our session was filmed for her reality show I’m Cait. Unfortunately it will not be shown this season. But my management team at Sirena Media received this  very nice email from the show’s producer:

Hi Karin!
Unfortunately, that scene did not make it into the series. We had to make some tough cuts because we filmed for 12 weeks but only ended up with eight 42 minute episodes. We so appreciate Lilian working with Cait and all the help she offered and maybe we can have her back next season.
Best of luck to you both and thank you again!

Andrea Metz
Executive Producer

So there is a possibility I may be on her show next season. Because I am bound by a confidentiality agreement I signed with Bunim Murray, Caitlyn’s production company I can’t go into detail as to what specific work I did with Caitlyn and what we specifically discussed during our time together.

I will say that she was a lovely and I thoroughly enjoyed working with her and let her know that I am totally there for her.

I will say that I used the same techniques that I used to teach Dustin Hoffman how to sound like a woman for the film in which he won an Academy Award- Tootsie

We addressed vocal pitch, using more inflection, drawing out vowels so the tones are more flowing, slowing down the speech, using more feminine gestures from sitting, to standing, to head posture, to facial language as well as gesturing,  like gesturing towards the body as opposed to away from the body like I am showing here when I Dustin played the Dorothy Michael’s character.

While it takes more than the three hour session I had with Caitlyn while we filmed the show, I was able to give Caitlyn a copy of my best selling book He Says She Says Closing the Communication Gap Between the Sexes. The book contains all the information you will ever need to know about how men and  women communicate. It discusses differences in voice, body language, speech, and behavior, what is said and how it is said.

In fact it has just been released on  Amazon  for kindle

http://www.amazon.com/He-Says-She-Closing-Communication-ebook/dp/B0102Q2G3A/ref=tmm_kin_swatch_0?_encoding=UTF8&qid=&sr=

There is also an audio version on my website at http://www.drlillianglass.com http://www.drlillianglass.com

This book can not only be of benefit to the transgender community but can help anyone who wants to have better communication with the opposite sex in business, in their social life, and in their intimate life.

Having worked with many people in the transgender community, perhaps the most difficult aspect of their transition is to sound   like the opposite sex. To sound like a  woman (for those undergoing male to female transition as Caitlyn is doing), or to sound like a man (for those undergoing female to male transition) it takes time and a lot of hard work. It takes the knowledge of knowing exactly what to do and what the differences are for the specific sex one is transitioning to. It also takes a lot of practice and a lot of patience.

I read in Caitlyn’s blog  several weeks ago that when she watched the video of herself  speaking at the ESPY Awards, she said that she still felt like she had a man’s voice. It is understandable for her to feel that way  as you can’t learn how to sound like a woman and have it become a part of your daily life in just one session. It takes time and a lot of practice.

I was able to assure Caitlyn that what she was feeling was not out of the ordinary and to be patient.  I communicated to her that she not be hard on herself because working on feminizing your voice is a process and cannot be done in only one session as we did for the show.

I  encouraged her to not focus on  what she thought she did wrong, but instead, focus on the many things she did right during her ESPY Speech  such as:

1. flowing out her tones

3. using her inflection ( going up several notes)

4 not having a choppy speech pattern

5. opening her jaw when you spoke

6. not speaking so fast

7. not having a creaky sound at the end of sentences (glottal fry)

8. using many feminine gestures.

9. not attacking her initial sounds when she spoke

I clearly let her know that I was very proud of her. I also reiterated specific things she needed to work on in the future regarding the way she spoke so that she would be more satisfied and not see or hear herself as sounding like a man.

Working with Caitlyn was a very rewarding experience for me as I shared with  Caitlyn’s  my knowledge  of what it takes to sound like her genuine self- a woman.  I found her to be a lovely, elegant, and beautiful  woman who was very eager to incorporate all that we discussed.

She is truly an inspiration not only to the transgender community, but to so many others who are motivated by her  personal  decision to live an authentic and honest life and to be true to herself. At age 65, she decided to live out her dream, which goes to prove that it is never too late in life to do what you really want to do with your life. I have the utmost respect for anyone who is true to themselves, regardless of what anyone else may say.

Hillary Clinton In Desperate Need of Voice and Body Language Makeover As Evidenced In Her Kickoff Campaign Speech

As I said countless times, I am not political and this is not a political blog. I write about newsmakers and  Presidential Candidate Hillary Clinton certainly falls into that category. As someone who has coached  A List Academy Award Winning actors an actresses, top sports figures, corporate leaders, and politicians I feel very qualified to weigh in on the fact that Hillary Clinton is in desperate need of voice and body language coaching as evidenced in her performance on her Kickoff Campaign Speech on Roosevelt Island.

She has surrounded herself with the top advisors in the world like her campaign manager Leonard Podesta,Robby Mook and Communications Director Jennifer Palmieri .  They no doubt have the best speech writers in the world. They  all have presented her image quite well. They have monitored the content of what she says quite well.

But they have neglected to monitor  how she says it. This is essential in her campaign as no matter how beautifully a speech is crafted if you don;t deliver it well, people  (voters tune out) That is where I come in. I would love to coach  Hillary with her delivery.

Studies show that the way a person speaks is more important than how they look. Research also shows that if a person does not deliver their message well in terms of the tone of their voice, the way they speak, and their body language, they will not be as effective in getting their message across.

Here is what to Hil;ary needs to  do in order for voters to  really hear her message .

1. She needs to stop sound so staccato and choppy in her delivery. It is off putting. Instead she needs to develop a flow to her speech pattern whereby she draws out her vowels and flows the into one another.

2. She needs to stop going down in inflection at the end of her statements.

3. She needs to lose the monotone and provide more inflection so that the meaning and emphasis of what she is trying to say doesn’t get lost. In fact, if I was working with her I would choreograph her speech as I have done with so many to help them speak pubically. I would arrange for her where to go up and where to go down in terms of her inflectiona nd which specific words to emphasize as she speaks. All of this would be written down for her and she could see it as she read her speech on the teleprompter or by hand. She needs to emphasize key words and phrases.

4. She needs to stop for a second or two after delivering crucial information or when making an important  point so that the listener can better process what she has just said.

5. She needs to stop  being so stiff and staccato in her gestures and definitely needs to avoid making this  particular measured

gesture as you see here below with her hands at either side and thumbs pointing upwards. It is like a karate chop movement that is out of place in terms of the content she was discussing- her grandparents.

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6. She then makes a fist like angry gesture when speaking about her father. It was no congruent with what she was saying. Fist like gestures need to be avoided at all times unless you are speaking about something that really makes you furious like ISIS or acts of terrorism.

7.Then she speaks of her beloved mother. Even though you could tell that she really loved and adored her mother greatly he tones were too choppy and staccato. he tone didn’t fit the lovely message. And then she does something that is a HIGE non- no when giving a speech- she points. That is a hostile gesture. Never point unless you are upset or angry. This was not the case here so never point for  emphasis as it is off putting and sends a confusing message > here she talks about her mother;s saying that kindness is what got her through yet her gestures say the opposite.

8. The story about her mother was beautiful. It could have been more impactful with the right delivery. As she told of how poor her mother was while growing up, she need to pause more for effect and  then inflect on  key emotional words. She also spoke a little too fast. She needed to stop so that the audience could better process this very great story which shed a positive light on Hillary.

1. In  fact Hillary kept pointing thoughout her speech. She needs to stop this and ONLY point when ther eis something to point about like something that his horrible or where she would be giving a warning about something. But to point throughout the speech is confusing.
2. She also needed to smile when talking about her beloved mother instead.

Personally I think her image is great. It is authentic. I love that she has made  monochrome pantsuits her style. She looks good in them and they are practical and professional looking. Maybe that will be the new trend. By the way I also loved it when she wore headbands as the First Lady and hope she brings them back. She is true to her style and I love that.

I reallyI like that she isn’t plastic surgeried and face lifted or botoxed up  and shows every one of her well earned wrinkles. I like that she isn’t dieting to death and stressing herself out about looking a certain way but instead, eating real meals and  keeping it healthy. Her weight is appropriate and she doesn’t look obese.

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I love how she lights up around her daughter Chelsea and how proud she is to be a grandma. I am also impressed that she stuck by Bill and worked it out  between them, even during the most humiliating of  times in her life with all of his philandering. Yes, she stuck by her man and she worked it out andas a result they can both grow o together as a couple and as a family. This provides a great role model to people who just want to throw in the towel and  not work things through.

Seeing how Bill embraced her and how she leaned her head on his shoulder showed their genuine love and affection towards one another which was moving and uplifting for everyone to see.

Seeing  her in action and as she delivered her speech, to me there doesn’t  seem to be any overt health concerns as rumors would have you believe. Even if there were concerns, it doesn’t matter because she no doubt has the best doctors  in the world at her service should  she need them.

What does matter is her message and how voters perceive her message, if they can;t get past her monotones and her body language is off putting then the message is lost.

I wish I could have just one session with Hillary to coach her  put her on the right path vocally and body language wise as it would complete her image, In the meantime, I hope that her advisors pay close attention to the points n this blog which can help her tremendously as she goes out on the campaign trail.

Lindsay Lohan’s Body Language In Liz and Dick Was Wooden with Monotone Voice

 

Lindsay Lohan may have been a precocious  child actress who made scenes seem believable when she appeared in Parent Trap and Freaky Friday. However, as an good adult actress in  her Liz and Dick performance, she needs a lot of work in the acting department in my view . Her performance was one dimentional,  stiff and mechanical in most places. It was devoid of natural emotion which made the lines she recited unbelievable .

In other places when she did invoke emotion, it was completely over the top. In fact her facial expression and fake tears were so over the top in places that it looked comical. . It as like watching a beginning actress perform  her first role .’’

The lack of vocal inflection amplified the wooden performance. There was also  no chemistry between her and the fellow who played Richard Burton  There was way too much kissing for so little chemistry on screen. This made it very uncomfortable for the viewer to watch.

In my view, Lindsay has  clearly lost her  acting “chops”.   It is no wonder why. Acting is not like riding a bicycle where you can get on and ride after decades of not riding. Acting , like it does for athletics, requires steady practice and skill. She may have been a natural actress as a  child. But as an adult she needs practice,  skill and  formal training. It is a different ball game for a child actress and an adult actress. She simply does not have the skills and it showed.

Instead of spending years in courtrooms and in the tabloids she needed to spend them in an acting class so that she would never have done such a sloppy over the top and wooden performance as she did in the suicide scene which turned out to be comical.

 

She clearly relied on cigarettes as props in almost every scene. It was an acting crutch. The focus was on the cigarette and not on her. Yes we got that people of that era smoked but not all the time.

 

SLOPPY SPEECH PATTERN

 

Besides the mechanical acting which any beginning actress could have performed in my view, her speech pattern also did not lend itself to being credible. She was sloppy in her cadence and did not articulate her words.

Also several times in the script she used the term “screwed” as a  colloquialism. This

term was not part of the slang back in the 1960’s. No one used the term “screwed. ”For this gaffe I blame the writers .  I also blame the writers on their lame dialogue. No one speaks like they wrote. It was awful. Lindsay’s monotonous uninflected  delivery of these awful lines didn’t help matters either.

Elizabeth Taylor had impeccable diction and Lindsay’s rapid paced delivery of her lines destroyed the illusion of Elizabeth Taylor.

 

 FRIGHTENING VOICE QUALITY

 

Whenever she laughed in various scenes  you could hear  breathiness and a raspiness. It sounded like a smokers laugh. It was not pleasant to  hear.

The quality of her  voice is also of concern to me as a former voice and speech consultant who worked with countless actors to help heal their vocal pathologies.

Her voice is hoarse and husky. It does not fit the voice pattern of a 20 something young woman. It makes her sound considerably older and harsher.  This voice quality if often  heard when there is  vocal pathology often associated with too much drinking , or smoking or drugging and misuse of the voice.

When people sound like that on a consistent basis it can often  be a sign of  a physical issue from vocal nodules, vocal polyps,  contact ulcers on the vocal folds to even throat cancer. Now I am not saying Lindsay has throat cancer. I am saying that with an voice like that,  she desperately needs to see an ear nose and throat physician for a major medical checkup.

 

While I take pity on Lindsay for her Toxic parents who  constantly appear to “sell her down the river “ in order to get publicity  for themselves by taking from their daughter’s limelight, ,the public is not so forgiving when it comes to acting.

Countless  actors have Toxic families but it doesn’t interfere their acting. In my view, her family issues  clearly have clearly  affected her acting skills. She needs to spend  every day in acting class or with a private acting coach to get some skills if she wants to be a serious actress . Most important f all she needs in invest in  a voice and speech coach.

Lindsay Lohan’s New Image and Body Language Needs Vocal Rehab

Lindsay Lohan recently  looked  a lot more mature than the fresh faced girl next

door look we once knew as she appeared on all the talks shows on NBC to promote her SNL gig to give her career a  well needed boost.

Looking more and more like her stage mom Dina Lohan , she looked pretty with her  desperately needed newly veneered teeth. She also eliminated of the lip trout that  made her face look out of proportion in relation to to her facial features.

Despite her new classical facial appearance and  curvaceous figure the one thing she still really needs to work on is her voice. As someone who did voice and speech and body language coaching with A list actors for various movie roles  over the years, I know what I am talking about here.

VOICE THERAPY NOW!

She sounded hoarse, gravely and harsh. I think that as she ventures into acting and gets her life and acting career back on track it would be in her best interest to also get some desperately needed vocal therapy.

Her voice sounds  so bad because of the vocal abuse from what often happens when one abuses drugs and  or alcohol . This is what people sound like who abuse themselves for a long period of time. Vocal muscles  and tissues get taxed and there can be damage to them. The wasy she sounds will clearly limit her roles because she has a harsh limited note range. As a performer you need a wide range.

To Read More Click Link Below

http://drlillianglass.com/body-language-blog/2012/03/03/lindsay-lohan’s-new-body-language-and-image-desperately-needs-voice-work-as-well/