When you speak, air passes over your vocal cords, which vibrate, creating your voice. You can control your voice in four basic ways. Articulation is how you enunciate your words, which helps people understand what you're saying. Expression is how you give certain words and syllables special inflection. For example, you might yell, "Go, team, go!" with an emphasis on the final word. Your pitch, or timbre, is your voice's lowness or highness. Finally, projection is your loudness.
Significance
Proper projection of your voice is more than just yelling loudly. Each element of voice control is important for projection. For example, when you yell, you might sound shrill, put inflections on the wrong syllables or fail to articulate your words clearly. These give your voice an unnatural, unpleasing quality, which might dissuade fans from participating in your cheers.
Practice
Practice your chants by speaking loudly while maintaining as close to a natural speaking voice as possible. Don't yell or scream. Finding the right balance isn't easy, however, so don't be discouraged if it takes a while to develop an effective cheering voice. Note that many cheerleaders tend to increase their pitch when they attempt to increase their loudness. In most cases, you should focus on keeping your voice low to compensate for this natural tendency.
Team Effort
If the entire cheerleading team doesn't project correctly, the few who do project correctly must work harder to maintain a spirited chant that the crowd can hear. A team needs to practice together so that everyone learns to project correctly and contribute to the power of the overall chant. Practicing together also helps clarify which cheerleaders need extra voice coaching to improve their performance.
Considerations
Keep your voice healthy by avoiding smoke and drinking plenty of water. Habitual overuse of your voice, such as yelling and screaming, can damage your vocal cords. Pay close attention to symptoms such as hoarseness so you know when to take a break. If you have continual problems with vocal projection, the most effective approach is to work with an expert cheerleading coach or vocal instructor who can show you techniques for minimizing vocal damage and maximizing projection. Avoid clearing your throat, which can damage your vocal cords. Finally, reduce the amount you speak whenever you're sick to speed your recovery.
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