In my study of singing, I learnt early on that vocal resonance can be divided into three voices – chest voice, mixed voice and head voice. I’m most comfortable in my chest voice. It’s louder, has better tone and I have more control over it. My mixed voice is something of a contrivance; it doesn’t sound or feel like me. My head voice is more truthful, but it is feeble with low self-esteem and too much breath. As I work to train my weaker voices to greater confidence, it strikes me that this is what we are all doing, every human, every day – working out which voice to use, how best to be heard. No other species on the planet, aside perhaps from whales, applies so much consequence to voice.

Meg Bignell

Meg Bignell. Photo © Alexandra Grimshaw

My friend’s mother had a stroke and lost most of her words and all the expression needed to convey such things as comfort, curiosity or love. Much of her communication is punctuated by her pointing to the sky, which her family takes to mean, “I want to go there. I don’t want...