The Voices We Know

I've always wondered who this guy was.

(Forgive me.  Apparently, my video embedding is on the fritz right now.)

Tonight, I made it my mission to find out.  His name is Charlie Pellett and he is a news anchor for Bloomberg Radio.  Here's a really good article highlighting his work during MTA's change over from spoken to recorded transit announcements.  And if you'd like to see what the guy looks like, have a look here.

Mission Accomplished!

peace.

Thoughts on Speech Sounds: Part 1(?)

Okay, so I've been thinking about this speech sounds post for a while now (see here for the preview). I've had quite a few discussions with friends and colleagues about this stuff, and I feel the best way to communicate my thoughts on the whole thing is to share some words and ideas from respected theatre artists and practitioners with whom I have similar aesthetic or pedagogical interests. I could rant and rave for pages with how I feel about the this stuff, but I don't think I've quite reached the diplomatic proficiency to be of use to the conversation. Because honestly, the conventional thoughts on speech sounds in the theatre make me quite angry.

The first thought is from a gentleman named Phil Thompson, who currently serves as the head of acting at the University of California in Irvine (check the stats). He and another gentleman called Eric Armstrong, who is on the theatre faculty at York University in Toronto, Ontario, (once again, the stats) jointly record a podcast called Glossonomia which covers the history, evolution, and usages of speech sounds in the English language. On August 14th while attending the annual conference of the Voice and Speech Trainers Association in Chicago, IL they recorded a live question-and-answer episode. (Check it out here!)

About half-way through the show, someone brought up the topic of "General American Dialect". This was Phil's response.

So, I've been thinking about that topic a lot lately because I'm endeavoring to write an accent book, and I feel that non-Americans need good information about how to do an American accent so they can come over and steal our jobs...So I think that it's a very important topic. It is a topic that's very loaded. I've been, as I've been writing about it, always referring to it as SCGA: "So-Called General American". So that we never forget what the problems are with the idea. That said, it's a very important idea, and I think maybe we've made mention of it in a couple of episodes...

I really, really, really don't want to present to a group of American acting students a model of American speech that is canonical. I'm perfectly happy to teach and Australian student a canonical American accent because it's much easier to understand that as something 'other' that's [an exploration] you're trying so you can get your pilot and move on. Then you can detail from there...If I say to, let's say, an African-American student from Detroit, "I'm going to teach you General American," what I'm really saying is, "Your American isn't general enough or isn't American enough." So I'm really cautious about that. But as long as I explain about that every time then yes, it's something worth teaching.

There is no standard. There's no uniformity. Standard means "the same". But standard is also what you carry into battle. So there are plenty of people holding up "the standard" of accent purity, but I don't think any of them can agree on what those sounds ought to be.

There's no morality in speech [sounds]. Sounds are not 'good', they are good for us...The problem to me is that people get incredibly confused because the teacher is confused about what their agenda is. They think they are simply trying to teach the student what the sounds are, but they're trying to teach propriety, phonology, and phonetics simultaneously and that's just a train wreck.

The other thought is an excerpt from the book The Empty Space by Peter Brook, a book I've been trying to read for about five years now. In it, Mr. Brook attempts to examine the challenges of creating appropriate and engaging theatrical work for a given audience, culture, or current social condition. In it, he writes of four "kinds" of theatre; Deadly, Holy, Rough, and Immediate. As of now, I've only gotten through the Deadly chapter. Nevertheless, he writes a striking passage in this first section that I had to present to this discussion.

During a talk to a group at a university I once tried to illustrate how an audience affects actors by the quality of its attention. I asked for a volunteer. A man came forward, and I gave him a sheet of paper on which was typed a speech from Peter Weiss's play about Auschwitz, The Investigation. The section was a description of bodies inside a gas chamber. As the volunteer took the paper and read it over to himself the audience tittered in the way an audience always does when it sees one of its kind on the way to making a fool of himself.

But the volunteer was too struck and too appalled by what he was reading to react with the sheepish grins that are also customary. Something of his seriousness and concentration reached the audience and it fell silent. Then at my request he began to read out loud. The very first words were loaded with their own ghastly sense and the reader's response to them.

Immediately the audience understood. It became on with him, with the speech - the lecture room and the volunteer who had come on to the platform vanished from sight - the naked evidence from Auschwitz was so powerful that it took over completely. Not only did the reader continue to speak in a shocked attentive silence, but his reading, technically speaking, was perfect - it had neither grace nor lack of grace, skill nor lack of skill - it was perfect because the had no attention to spare for self-consciousness, for wondering whether he was using the right intonation. He knew the audience wanted to hear, and he wanted to let them hear: the images found their own level and guided his voice unconsciously to the appropriate volume and pitch.

For me right now, these two ideas cover much of the feelings I have about how an actor's voice and speech are perceived. I would be very grateful to hear or read your responses to any of this.

peace.

The Rhymes of Our Lives

I still can't understand half of what these cats are saying, and it doesn't matter.

There was a girl in my neighborhood named Tonya who had the uncanny ability to hear, understand, and memorize Bone Thugs-n-Harmony lyrics. It was downright spooky, because no one in the neighborhood could come close. It was almost as if we were witnessing someone decode some kind of encryption or linguistic algorithm. I found it particularly frustration because I spent a considerable amount of time trying to figure out what these cats were saying.

Listening to it now, I think I've discovered a bit of why Bone Thugs were so indecipherable. The traditional aesthetic of rap performance relies heavily on dynamic syllabic emphasis. Emcees have historically invested lots of performance energy into playing certain words and syllables for a given effect. However, Bone Thugs moved away from that tradition into a style that dissipated the energy of each word and/or syllable, giving them all almost equal weight or importance while keeping stressed words sparse. Thus, they created a vocal sound that became much more about the melodic and syncopative qualities of the lyrics rather than the intellectual ones. When this song was came out, no one had ever heard anything like it.

Enjoy.

peace.

Emcee of the Month: Nas

"One Mic" by Nas

For me, this is one of the handful of tracks that embodies everything that makes hip hop such a brilliant and transcendent musical art form. There are so many fantastic things about this song, I could go on all day. Instead, allow me to tackle the one element I feel is one of the main facets that makes this song great.

Over the course of his career Nas has experimented with his voice, both textually and aurally, with amazing specificity and courage. Like any performer he's had success and struggles, but has continued on a path of exploration in a way very few artists can sustain. With this particular track, I feel he put a lot of really good things together. Nas begins his first two verses playing a sort of sotto voce, gradually increasing his vocal energy through the 16 measures of rhyme. In the third verse he reverses this pattern, making the shift from a full voice experience back to the initial semi-stage whisper than began the first two verses. It's actually a very simply but highly effective way to move through this kind of text.

The wonderful thing about this movement is that, from what I can tell, Nas exhibits few of the traps or challenges with which so many speakers and performers grapple. Many times when actors or speakers attempt these kinds of shifts in vocal energy, a variety of learned habitual patterns may impede the release of freer vocal discoveries. Often these impediments are revealed through loss of breath, vocal stridency, and even physical pain. The popular course of action is usually formal voice training designed to bring awareness to these patterns in service of allowing their release. However, Nas doesn't seem to have any of this stuff going on here. The constant reinvestment of his vocal energy throughout the song seems incredibly progressive, and he follows the impulses of his voice with remarkable clarity. And there isn't one moment in the four minutes that feels forced or insincere. We are witness to an emcee who has discovered the resonant intricacies of his own voice, and has found a firm, well-defined, yet flexible sense of grounding. And like most emcees, he's done it without any formal performance training.

This is an extraordinary track.

peace.

Emcee of the Month: Nas

I fell off the map these past couple of days. Sorry about that. I'll be sure to warn ya next time.

Anyway, where were we?

Other than the Scott-Heron specials, Nas is by far the most prolific and established artist I've highlighted on this blog. His resume spans some 17 years and includes nine studio albums, three compilation albums, countless notable guest appearances, and nine Grammy nominations. He is considered by most to be one of hip hop's most influential artists, providing inspiration for many emcees that have followed. For a more complete view of Nas' career and accomplishments, have a look here.

So this month will be a little different. Instead of interview or performance videos, I will spend this month musing upon some of my favorite Nas tracks in the hopes of illuminating elements that interest me and/or finding things I may not have noticed before. This cat has quite an extensive catalog, so we'll most certainly not be at a loss for material. And we'll begin with this:

"Nas Is Like" from I Am...

By far, this is my absolute favorite Nas track.

Nas' strength lies in his immense lyrical and textual prowess. To be honest, he's never really performed with much vocal variety; you'll always get that dependable hint of raspiness and a range of only a few notes. Unlike emcees such as Chubb Rock, Tupac, or Cee Lo (That's right! Cee Lo can rap!) Nas has never really played the full potential of his voice. Rather, he transports listeners with his mastery of poetic expression, navigating text with as much effort as removing his hat. He is particularly adept at phrasing each thought of the verse. He's keenly aware of which thoughts are best strung together for optimal effect, which need to be separate so as not to cause confusion, and the overall trajectory of the verse.

For example, he says this at the beginning of the track:

Freedom or jail, clips inserted, a baby's being born/
Same time my man is murdered, the beginning and end/
As far as rap go it's only natural I explain/
My plateau and also what defines my name.

Listen carefully and you'll hear that he really drives through the first two lines here with very little indication of where the separate ideas begin and end. I feel that Nas is establishing not so much a set of individual thoughts in the first two lines, but rather a landscape of imagery that will build the foundational sense of the record. Hence, the highlighted bit of the two lines becomes "...the beginning and end"; a thesis for the rest of the piece.

In the second two lines, Nas plays a bit more with differentiating thoughts (for the sake of playing the rhyme pattern) even though this is really all one sentence. He starts by playing up "rap go" and "natural", setting them apart from "explain". Then he repeats the pattern with "plateau" and "also", once again making a pivot on "my name" to match the feel of the previous line. And with the syllabic emphasis and variety present in these two lines, it's almost as if he's creating a stylistic antithesis to the previous two; first many thoughts become one then one thought becomes many. It's a brilliant way to begin a verse.

Have a listen to the track. I hope you enjoy!

peace.

A Quick Thought About Questions

There has been some concern at the Voice Intensive this year about disclosure of confidential events that occur during the daily sessions. This past weekend the core faculty had a very thoughtful and multi-layered conversation about this new phenomenon of social media and networking. During the debate, I offered to the faculty that I maintain a blog that looks into questions about music, politics and theatre. I wanted to make it clear that I recognized their concern and asked their advice for how I should proceed with any thoughts on our work this month.

David replys, "Ask the questions, 'What is music? What is politics? What is theatre?'" In other words, how can I be in process with my blog in a form parallel to my process associating at the Voice Intensive.

Crap, David. You gonna make me think!?

In the coming weeks I hope to look into some of these questions with more detail. Please stay tuned.

And I'm sorry about yesterday. Blame it on Susan!



peace.

Handle My V.I.

Yes! The Voice Intensive is among us!

Today I had my first meeting with David and the other two associate instructors for this year's Voice Intensive. This year the associates are Patricia Darbasie, David Huber, and myself. The energy between all of us felt incredibly positive and progressive, and since we've all been so influenced by David (Smukler) and his work it's fascinating how we almost effortlessly complement each other's vocabulary and perspective. And of course it was refreshing to see David again. That's my homie.

Tomorrow we meet up with some of the senior faculty to discuss our roles as associates. From what I remember last year, the primary role of an associate is to "hold the work", which means to be a model/guide/ear/witness to the participants' journey throughout the Intensive. I've often described it to some as a liaison between the participants and the senior faculty. Because some of the sessions can have over 20 people in a large room for two hours, we serve as a second or third set of eyes and ears in order to appropriately address specific challenges of our work and communicate our observations with the primary instructors.

Most of this communication helps the associates in our paths to becoming better teachers ourselves, especially for me. I'm most certainly the least experienced of the associates this year, as both an actor and a teacher. So the evolution and clarification of how we talk about what we're doing is extremely helpful. This past year in Philadelphia for me has been about how to grow my experience simultaniously as actor and teacher; most won't respect me as the latter without the former. The Voice Intensive will be a much welcomed outlet for my desire to teach.

I'm so thankful to be here.



peace.

p.s. If you don't get the reference of this post's title, see here.

Vancouver Trek

This week I found out I'll be heading back to Vancouver to serve as an associate instructor at Canada's National Voice Intensive, (check this) and I feel like I've won the lottery or something. As I've mentioned here before (here!), my experience at the Intensive has immensely influenced the way I approach my practice of theatre. As I told someone in conversation recently, I think CNVI is the closest thing to a pilgrimage I'll ever have in my life.

It's a pilgrimage of practicality, mind you. I think there is a stigma that exists in the world of theatrical education that views voice teachers as the pseudo-shamans of actor training. Supposedly, we are closer to spiritual healers than acting teachers, who pass off our work as a form of quasi-ethereal enlightenment or awakening rather than functional artistic awareness.

For the Intensive, nothing could be further from the truth. The work there is designed for professional actors or actors in training who desire a "re-inspiration" ("re" meaning "again", "inspire" meaning "breathe in") of their work. The practice gives the participants a way to reliably access the wealth of their actor energies with a repeatable, yet malleable, progression of voice and text explorations. And yes, it's true some of the work can have therapeutic resonances, but the foundational purpose is, and has always been actor training.

I just ordered a few books that I'll be needing for the Intensive and I'm making plans to let my cat live with my parents for the month. I don't know how my blog will function while I'm there; my access to internet will be limited. But I'll cross that bridge when I get to it.

We'll have a new Emcee of the Month tomorrow! YEEEEEEEEAAA SON!!!

peace.

A Quick Thought on Theatre Collaboration

It's rare when I meet someone who practices a brand of collaborative diplomacy that is useful to the development of theatrical art. Mind you, I wholeheartedly identify with good intentions, and this thought is not to insult or expose any of the wonderful artists with whom I work regularly. If any of them lack collaborative diplomacy, most likely it isn't their fault.

I feel the real fault lies with our society. We live in a world that doesn't view specificity and precision as worthwhile practices. Our daily conversations are bloated with upward inflections at the ends of statements, the words "like" and "kinda" and "just-a" softening our declarations, and a passive aggression that pollutes verbal undercurrent as vocal fry.

These habits in communication breed sloppy, misshapen thoughts and ideas that prove more effective in handicapping conversation rather than improving it.

Since theatre is a collaborative art (though some would have us believe otherwise), this disconnect in communication is often the death knell of collective progression in the work. Until actors, directors, and designers are consistently able to translate their artistic impulses into precise and workable information for the rest of their company, the quality of theatre in America is in great peril.

peace.

Emcees of the Month: Pac Div

For me, live performance is the most impactful aspect of emceeing. Here's a clip of Pac Div's show at The Voodoo Lounge in San Jose earlier this month.

My training and experience is in professional acting with a concentration on voice teaching/coaching (speaking, not singing). As a voice teacher, my hope is to guide my students to an honest and natural experience of voicing the physical and emotional impulses that are inspired by their on-stage circumstances. There are many traditions of vocal training that attempt to accomplish this for their practitioners; I happen to practice in the Warren/Linklater tradition (try this). From these traditions have arisen numerous theories, ideas, and insights as to how best free a performers' voice.

However, most of the emcees I find impressive and engaging have had very little formal performance training, if any at all. So as I watch these emcees perform, I'm continually astounded by their ability to make real and truthful connections to the impulses that live inside of them. And sure, there are some technical items here and there that could benefit from training. (I'm looking at you, Mr. Greene! Hoarseness after a show is not healty! Holla at me!)

But all things being equal, the most skillful emcees are making brilliant vocal connections.

I'm writing a thesis right now that hopes to examine this in further detail. My hope is that it can evolve into a significant publication. It's gonna take some time, but I'll get there!

For me, this is a very clean, simple, and traditional example of emcee stagecraft; nothing fancy or clever, just one and one equaling two. I'm impressed by the sense of grounding each of them have when their turn to rhyme comes around. There are emcees who have a habit of flopping around the stage as they rhyme, failing to see anyone in the room, and making an honest connection with an audience incredibly difficult. These cats have that covered. They see their audience and are quite successful at communicating to them during their verses.

I will say, however, that I would like to see them explore their attention to the audience when they aren't rhyming. It's a tricky thing to do. I have experienced many moments on stage in which I'm not speaking for long periods of time. The challenge is how to stay engaged with the room while allowing other performers their space to play the scene. There are many avenues they can take, and I'm sure they are developing with each performance. (Get at me, fellas, if you get stuck! I'd be happy to help!)

But yea, I dig these cats. I hope they do a show in Philly soon, 'cause I'm in there.

peace.

Voice Intensive, I miss you.

Canada's National Voice Intensive is a five-week voice, speech, and text workshop that's been happening in Vancouver, B.C. every summer since 1986. Under the brilliant direction of master voice teacher David Smukler, the Intensive has served as a safe and accessible laboratory for participants and instructors to explore and examine the limitless textures and nuances of the human voice. Although CNVI is primarily focused on voice for the actor, it has served participants from numerous professional disciplines.

I've had the unique pleasure of attending in the Intensive twice; once in 2006 as a participant and again as an associate instructor in 2010. I have little doubt my path will guide me there again in the near future.

Today I had the chance to reconnect with a couple acquaintances from both of my CNVI experiences. I am always pleasantly surprised at how much these conversations allow me to remember ('re' as in 'again', and 'member' as in 'body'; so 'embody again') the wonderful and inspiring times I've had in Vancouver at the Intensive. I'm pleased today.

For more information on Canada's National Voice Intensive, have a look here. I'm on the homepage!!!

peace.

The Homeless Casey Kasem

Disclaimer: Most of you have probably seen or heard this by now. Sorry!

Get this man a job, right now.

The astonishing thing about this cat is the comfort and effortlessness in his speech. There is nothing in this to suggest he's not allowing his voice to release from his body naturally or unimpeded, and the resonance and texture he finds is both bright and alive while remained foundational and grounded. It's especially noticable in the second part of the video when he's giving the quick story of how he's found himself in his current environment.

What's really exciting is that as of 11:30am, this video has 4 million views on youtube within 48 hours of being posted. Hopefully, one of those views is from someone who will have the capability and will to find this gentleman.

The bigger picture, however, is that there are so many people who are homeless and disadvantaged with gifts and abilites such as these. I can only imagine benefiting to our local and global societies by finding ways to nurture these individuals, and not let allow them to slip through the cracks of indifference or neglect.

peace.