The fourth tool in your physical voice toolkit is pitch. Pitch refers to how high or low your voice is. Think of pitch like the sound of keys on a piano. Some voices are at C and another at C#, yet another at D.

Pitch has three aspects: the baseline pitch (natural pitch), the pitch range, and pitch change for emphasis. The baseline pitch does not have to be exactly in the middle of the pitch range.

Pitch is one of the best ways to make your characters sound different when they talk to each other. Remember two points about baseline pitch: first, you only need slight pitch changes between characters to distinguish them. Exaggerated pitch differences will make your characters sound fake. This is especially apparent when males try to sound like high-pitched females or females try to sound like bassy males.

The second point is that when reading an audiobook, baseline pitch differences are relative and temporary. For example, consider this situation: Your book has three male characters: Adam, Bob and Carl. Adam has a higher pitch than Bob, and Bob has a higher pitch than Carl. When Adam and Bob talk, Bob's pitch (lower) may be at the same level as Carl's when Carl talks to Bob. Only when all three are together in conversation do you need to maintain three pitch levels.

Pitch level also has cultural aspects. In some cultural settings, such as formal gatherings, using a higher baseline pitch is correct (making everyone sound slightly 'up'). If your character comes into that setting with a normal voice, people will notice and ask what's the matter. Doing pitch exercises will be easier if you let yourself imagine the person who talking.

• Exercise 1: Pick a sentence of dialogue from your selections. Forget about who is actually saying it in the book. Instead imagine that a child is saying it and use an appropriate pitch for a child. Next imagine you are a tall man saying it. Imagine you are an old woman saying it.

Any pitch, if sustained, will take over as the baseline pitch.

Baseline pitch distinguishes voices but does not in itself express mood. To express mood through pitch, a character will speak in a pitch range, which will be wide or narrow. Pitch range changes somewhat, reflective of mood. An emotionless person will speak in a near monotone, reflecting a narrow pitch range. An excitable person will have a wide pitch range.

• Exercise 2: Read a section of dialog, first where Character A has a wide pitch range, and Character B has a narrow pitch range (near monotone). Then switch, so A speaks with the narrow range. Don't exaggerate the monotone.

Pitch change for emphasis. It is the contrast in pitch from one point to the next that brings out meaning. Often a change in pitch has a similar effect as a change in volume. It will emphasize that word or phrase.

• Exercise 3: Pick any selection, this time it does not need to be dialog. Pick a relatively short sentence. Now read it out loud, raising the pitch on the first word. Read it again, raising the pitch on the second word. Do this for each word in the sentence. Include the little words, like “the” and “of”. Try not to increase volume, just raise the pitch.

A common flaw of new narrators is to rely too heavily on volume for emphasis, and not enough on pitch. If you are not accustomed to using a lot of pitch, you will feel 'funny' talking that way. In your mind, you will think you are grossly exaggerating what you are saying, but to a listener, you may just sound fine, actually animated. Of course there are limits. If you already have a developed pitch range, you don't need to make it much larger.

I strongly recommend that you use your natural pitch for the voice of your narrator. Your natural baseline pitch is a characteristic of the length of your vocal cords. Trying to maintain an altered pitch level for an extended time will quickly become a strain on your voice, and a strained voice is generally an unpleasant listening experience.

Pitch, volume, pauses, and pace can all be combined when you narrate, and should be. Next we are going to discuss the subjective side of your voice toolkit, getting into the minds of your characters.