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Voice expression lies at the intersection of one's physical, emotional and psychological being. The sounds we make are influenced by our emotional state. If we are tense, our voice will reflect that tension through a tight, forced sound. If we are sad, our vocal quality will lack energy and the tone will be flat. If we are happy our voice is likely to be round, open and full.
Our personality and mental state express themselves in the sound of our voice. For instance, if we are quiet and unable to speak up for ourselves, we may be ignored. If we are ignored on a regular basis, we may become even more reticent and quieter and
so on. Furthermore, we hear our own voice and our self-concept is affected by what we hear. These examples illustrate the mutual influence of voice and psyche on each other.
Voicework originally is an expressive arts therapy that focuses on working with voice and movement. It is a therapy of creativity. Part of the process of being creative is “finding one’s voice”. Conversely, finding—and expanding—one’s voice can be the key of opening the door to the creative self. Working with voice in this way can help people to access parts of the creative self that are normally unavailable to the conscious self.