One of the first passions and attractions to broadcast journalism for me was the use of the voice. I originally started in student media co-editing campus magazines and newspapers, but my passion was really set alight when I entered community radio.
I was excited by what a voice reading a radio script could communicate. All at once I could be transported to wars in Sudan, a cricket match or someone eating chocolate cake. But I wasn't just interested as a listener - I became passionate about what goes into a broadcasters ability to communicate the words and make the listener forget about everything but the ideas being transmitted.
So at about the age of 21 or 22, I started voice lessons. One of the first things I learnt was that a well practised ability to read and communicate a script enabled the listener to forget about the broadcasters voice and simply listen to the words. If the script itself was beautifully written, then the duo of voice and words in radio would come together and produce that magical result: compelling radio.
After 13 years of singing lessons (many with the Alexander technique queen in Sydney, Jenny Vergison) and about 6 years of private voice coaching with two wonderful teachers, James Hagen and Arch McKirdy, I started to pass on what I had learnt by voice coaching beginner broadcasters in community radio.
In the interest of open information and education, I'd like to leave some of the basic voice coaching techniques here on this blog for you to use. I'll try and go through different topics in voice coaching over the weeks and months so that together they take you through the basics and give you something to work with.
But these posts are somewhat of an experiment. The difficulty is - voice coaching is done face-to-face for a reason - it requires the student to listen to sounds and sentences and practice them during the session. It's rather hard to translate those sounds by text alone. But I do love sharing these tid-bits of information, so let's give it a go.
First though - the best voice coaches have time and again relayed to me this one core rule: Voice coaching is not about getting our voices to sound beautiful so all will marvel at our brilliance.
It is about learning to communicate the meaning of words without our voices getting in the way of the listener. We don't want to draw attention to the sounds we're making, rather than the ideas we're communicating. The best broadcaster sounds like nothing at all and keeps you fixated on what she/he is saying.
To start with:
When we communicate with our friends, such as telling them a funny story or talking about the day we've had - we naturally emphasise the important bits. Try recording yourself talking about walking to the shops and buying something or what you did on the weekend - you'll find you highlight the important words and underplay others and get the inflection and tone right without having to think about it. You're a natural!
And that's the genius of an excellent broadcaster - they do all of that, but while reading a script. Being able to read as if you're speaking naturally is what we all strive for. We do all the exercises and practice and learn all the tips and tricks so that we sound one thing - natural. A little counter-intuitive I know, but stay with me.
At this point I'll insert a note - a large part of voice coaching is diagnosis. A teacher will have a student who might have nice, clear articulation, but struggles with reading naturally - or she'll have someone who reads naturally and emphasises all the right words - but finds the student mashes parts of words together so that it's hard to understand some of what's being said. Because these notes aren't tailor made for a specific person - they can only be a guide.
If you're in broadcast media or any arena where you use your voice and want to improve it - it's a good idea to seek out a voice coach who can go further in depth with these principles.
The tongue:
Tripping up on words as a broadcaster is a problem - not because it makes us look bad - but because it gets in the way of the listener soaking up the meaning of the script we're reading, and draws attention to ourselves and away from the what we're saying. It is one of the most common problems for new time broadcasters. The solution is rather simple: strengthen the tongue!
Here's a basic one:
Red lorry, yellow lorry, red leather, yellow leather.
If you do nothing else, do this 10 times in a row, a few times a day - or even ten times at night - you'll hear and feel an improvement in the flexibility of your tongue and its ability to get around letters. Make sure you articulate the whole phrase - don't let yourself get away with sloppiness!
I remember being told about one famous and talented broadcaster in Australia who does nothing else but this exercise. So if you do nothing else - do this one! The first 5 might be easy.. but as you try and hit ten in a row without pausing, you may find you trip up, or stop articulating the 'l's or other letters. This will get better the more you do it.
What else can I do?
Stay tuned for the next post!
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