Advanced voice inflection skills: course description




About this Course


No matter how good your ideas are, when you explain them to others your voice is the delivery vehicle. And if your voice inflection is poor, people won't take you as seriously as they should.

This course shows you how to use your voice to draw listeners in, to keep them listening, and to impress your message on them.

The course is based on academic research on monologue intonation, which is a relatively new subject area in linguistics. It explains everything in non-academic terms that anyone can understand, and each skill is demonstrated multiple times.



How this Training will Help You


You will be able to make your message resonate with your audience. The heart of the training is the dozen or so voice inflection patterns that good communicators use to get their message across. These patterns deliver your message clearly, while not using them hides your message. That's because listeners recognize these patterns and decode them effortlessly.

Your speaking will be "stickier" (fewer people will click away or tune you out). When people engage with your online videos or podcasts, they can click away at any time. To hold their attention, you have to reduce the mental effort required to follow you. Good intonation does this by signaling the structure of your sentences and the flow of ideas from sentence to sentence. As a result, fewer people click away.

You will sound calmer when you speak. If you try to "sound good" without understanding the mechanics of intonation, your voice will tend to bounce around too much, which will send false intonational signals. It will also make you sound like you're trying too hard. The solution is to master the voice inflection patterns and calmly use them to get your point across.

Your voice will sound more professional and will signal your subject matter expertise. Every voice is different, and we wouldn't want to change that. But what makes all good communicators sound oddly similar is the way they use voice inflection effectively. It's what makes them sound competent and professional. This training will make you sound more professional as well.





Who is this Course for?


The course is for two types of people. First, it's for you if you lack confidence as a communicator and (probably) don't like hearing recordings of your voice. If that describes you, this course could be a huge turning point for you.

Second, the course is for experienced, professional communicators who want to understand the mechanics of what they are doing at a granular level. Just as golfers understand the mechanics of the swing, communicators who want to be at the top of their game need to understand voice inflection at the level of craft.

Anyone who communicates for a living, and anyone who communicates regularly with team members, will benefit from this course: marketers, managers, sales agents, customer support agents, podcasters, journalists, lawyers, professional speakers, teachers, pastors, corporate trainers, etc.



Course Outline




SECTION 1: Speech units: The building blocks of easy-to-follow speech


Take the voice-over challenge (Apple's famous Crazy Ones ad)

Speech units and rhythm

Speech units and pitch

Longer speech units

Complete the voice-over challenge



SECTION 2: Sound human: The inflection points in a speech unit


The three parts of a speech unit: nose, head, tail

The three parts of a speech unit (cont'd)

Marking inflection points using brackets

Marking inflection points using tone symbols



SECTION 3: Sound professional: How to combine speech units in a sentence


Linking speech units using half falls

Linking speech units using breaks

Linking speech units using drawls

Creating sentence unity via pitch (part 1)

Creating sentence unity via pitch (part 2)

Creating sentence unity via pitch (part 3)



SECTION 4: Use speech unit variations that match your meaning


The straight slope pattern [ ] and the hockey stick pattern { }

The sudden drop: || ||

The embedded speech unit

The high plateau [^] and the climb // //



SECTION 5: Use tone variations that match your meaning


Overview of the tones (part 1)

Overview of the tones (part 2)

Articulating the tones when they have a tail

How tones guide listeners

Sentence unity through tone parallelism



SECTION 6: Make your message resonate: How to use the skills learned so far to focus listeners' attention and communicate effectively


Focusing attention by how you divide a sentence into speech units

Focusing attention by what you put in the head (to make prominent) and what you put in the nose and tail (to downplay)

Focusing attention by selecting from among the speech unit and tone variations

Focusing attention via pitch levels and speech rate



SECTION 7: Signal your message's structure: Using your voice to project paragraphs and sections


Creating paragraphs by combining speech unit sequences

How to signal big turning points (new sections)



(Note: Course outline may change)





Your Instructor


John Earnshaw is a former college professor who has taught ancient Greek and used many aspects of linguistics in his teaching. John also has experience writing speeches for members of Parliament in Canada's House of Commons, where he worked for several years. Lastly, John is a published academic author (Cambridge University Press).



Questions & Answers


What is your teaching method?
In most lessons I demonstrate a specific skill, break it down for you, and then provide exercises that will help you develop the skill. The exercises have been carefully designed to get you fast results.

How long does the course last?
You get access to the course materials for 12 months.

Do I get immediate access to all of the lessons?
No. The lessons are "dripped out" over several weeks. Apart from that, the course is self-paced. It's best to master each skill before going on to the next lesson. Don't rush.

Where is the course hosted?
The course is hosted on Teachable.com, which is a large, recognized online course platform.

Where can I get support?
Start by consulting Teachable's Student Guides. If they don't answer your question, or if you need help from a human, contact us here at Jobspeak Training:
info [at] jobspeak [dot] co

What if I discover that the course isn't right for me?
There is a 14-day, no-questions money-back guarantee. Send your refund request by email to:
info [at] jobspeak [dot] co



© 2026 Jobspeak Training
Privacy policy | Terms of use