Sunday, February 17, 2008

Voices


A voice communicates in many more ways than just with the words that are voiced. Each voice has rhythm, there is character and there is quality. I have known many people who were cursed with the wrong voice. Big burley men with high squeaky voices, little guys with a deep baritone and people who are very bright who happen to have an accent or a word usage pattern that that detract from their intelligence.

I spent my youth listening to the radio. The announcers or personalities all had distinctive voices to which my mind would draw a picture of how they looked. Most of the time my mind lead me to believe they were much better looking than they were in reality. Late night radio was populated with soothing voices of friends in the night that you just couldn’t see. These voices kept me awake while I worked nights putting myself through college. Long after that I stayed on as a night owl, and these voices were my companions and probably rounded me out into the calm character I am today.

There are some soothing voices in the musical world as well. I’ve kept a short list in my head and I’ve found Dock Watson, Don Williams, Mel Torme, and Dianna Krawl to be the most soothing in my book.

Oddly Leonard Cohen's voice is soothing to me as well. However if his voice gets any deeper it will only be audible through elephant feet across the plains along with other earthly deep rumbles.

8 Comments:

Blogger Beth said...

Your post reminds me of a comment my son made the other night while we were watching the hockey game. One of the men providing commentary possessed a marvelous voice but was so homely it was distracting. My son noted, "He has a radio face." (Took me a few seconds to catch on...)

(I love Leonard Cohen too.)

6:12 AM  
Blogger Auntie said...

Diana Krall. And some are high-talkers and some are low-talkers, huh? You have a really cool voice, if some of you have heard it you know what I mean. With a cold, he sounds just like Barry White, remember?

8:10 AM  
Anonymous Anonymous said...

I concur with your grouping of soothing voices. Another voice with a soothing quality for me is Natalie Mains of the Dixie Chicks. "Not Ready To Make Nice" is the departure from that sweet spot. It has a shrillness that I guess was aprapo to it's message but.....

9:04 AM  
Blogger Unknown said...

I love Leonard Cohen

12:36 PM  
Blogger Mike S said...

I grew up with 'night voices' on an old 'crystal set' and the voices were indeed 'friends'. Most of the shrill talking heads on today's radio could use some lessons. Samuel L. Jackson has always been a favorite of mine. Voices very often don't match the appearance, Kristen Chenoweth(sp?) is a great example.

12:49 PM  
Blogger The Guy Who Writes This said...

Beth, it was before our time, but a lot of silent film stars lost their jobs when talkies came about. Also You are Canadian, you have to love Cohen.

Auntie, Oh Baby!

Anon, another one would be Alison Kraus now that she has matured. Her early stuff was wired.

Chantel, remember how deep we thought his voice was early in his career? Now it's really much lower.

Mike, probably because talk radio used to be entertainment, and now it's politics.

4:37 PM  
Blogger Undercover Mother said...

Every night, I listen to Old Time Radio on my XM. The Shadow, Hermit's Cave, Suspense, Dragnet, etc. Love them!

1:07 PM  
Blogger The Guy Who Writes This said...

Those shows are always better at night, aren't they?

12:35 PM  

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