Ready to Talk Like a Valley Girl?
Ready to refine your resonance with another round of voice impressions? Like, totally! So far, you have been working to brighten the timbre of your voice by raising your larynx and tongue to shrink the size of your vocal tract. But that does not always translate into sounding more feminine. If you want to sound feminine, you are going to have to get really specific with the way your tongue moves inside your mouth, to hone your oral resonance. That is, you will have to fine-tune the way you say all your vowels and consonants - your articulation.
Fortunately, there is a fun way to do this! To put it simply, you want to talk like a Valley girl. Watch this video to hear what a stereotypical Valley girl sounds like. Not only do they rival Disney princesses in terms of their extreme intonation, they also brighten their vowels to a much greater degree than you will hear in any other American accent (and if you have a British accent, try imitating the brighter vowels of an Australian accent instead, as in this video).
Vowel Mods: Brightening Every Sound
Some vowels are naturally dark in resonance (like "uh") because your tongue is low and there is more space in your mouth. Some vowels are naturally bright (like "ee") because your tongue is high, leaving a small amount of space in the back of your mouth. What Valley girls do, and what you want to learn to do yourself, is to replace each vowel sound in your speech with a slightly brighter vowel. Your "oh" becomes "uh", your "uh" becomes "eh", your "eh" becomes "ih", your "ih" becomes "ee" and so on, as in this video. These are called vowel mods.
For a Valley girl, "ummm..." becomes "emmm..." and "lah-eek, toh-duh-lee" becomes "lih-eek, teh-dih-lee" - try saying each one! Then see if you can say them with vowels that are in between the two extremes - that is the sweet spot. Whatever your accent, the key is to push your tongue up and forward and just use the front for articulation. It helps to close your jaw so your teeth are almost touching, to make it impossible for your tongue to drop too low.
Consonant Mods: Lighter Touches
There are also consonant mods, because consonants can be brighter or darker too. Consonants interrupt the flow of air from your lungs, by temporarily blocking your vocal tract with your lips, tongue, or soft palate. A heavier, more intense interruption will generally come across as more masculine, while a lighter, more subtle articulation will come across as more feminine.
For example, if you explosively say "bah!" in disgust, it will sound more masculine. If you quickly say "bababababa" it will sound more feminine, especially if you tighten your lips together to minimize the movement. If you say "arr!" like a pirate, it will sound more masculine. If you stop your tongue halfway through saying that heavy "r" sound, it will sound more feminine, especially if you also raise the back of your tongue at the same time to shrink the space in your mouth. Watch this video to hear the difference between a masculine and feminine "r" and "s" sound.
Practicing with Lumpy Space Princess and Beyond
Start with Lumpy Space Princess in this video. Pause after each line she says and try to repeat it with the same vowel mods - "to get it" becomes "teh get eht" in her accent. Then try it again with a whisper. Do the same with this video, this video, and the Valley girl video above.
Do not worry too much about pitch, but pay close attention to the sounds of each vowel and consonant. When you start to feel comfortable with these vowel and consonant mods, try incorporating them into your other voice exercises as well. You do not have to go to such an extreme that you sound like a Valley girl, of course, but play around with them to see how they change the sound!
At the same time, focus on clenching your tongue (like "key") to brighten each vowel and consonant as much as possible, while keeping your lips tight and your jaw almost closed to minimize the space inside.