the voice

I'm listening to Alan Alda speaking in the movie the Aviator as I type this. He has a great voice. I LOVE his voice. There are some people that just have wonderful voices that are so smooth on the ears. They have just the right timbre, accent, strength, pitch, etc. His has a very slight nasal quality to it, but not one that irritates- it enhances his sound in my opinion. Here are a few other examples- think of that smooth as butter deep voice Barry White uses to speak at the beginning of a song. Imagine Martin Luther King Jr.'s voice delivering a speech to a crowd. The rhythmic cadence of Maya Angelou with a slight grandmotherly wobble. I'm sure everyone has had the experience of listening to their own recorded voice and realizing it sounds nothing like how they imagined it. The problem is that we hear our own voices reverberated in our heads. It changes the sound to hear it coming from outside our body.

I miss singing. I loved being a part of a large chorus...each bringing their part together to form a beautiful rich sound. I miss singing solo, although I always hated it when I had to do it back then. Every other week or so in college I had to perform an art song in front of the rest of the music majors. I dreaded it. I always felt self-conscious. I could never overcome my nerves. I felt I was a waste of talent, since I had so much trouble using it. I had professors tell me I had the kind of voice that could really make it- professionally. I was young in college, graduated at 20...my voice teacher knew my voice could be even much better as it matured, with training of course. But, I never pursued it. I wonder sometimes what I could have done with my voice as a career. My secret desire these days, although I guess it isn't secret anymore, is to sing with a band- jazzy stuff, classic songs, smooth rich music. Maybe one day when my kids are grown up a little, I'll think about pursuing some vocal endeavors.