Always a source of fascination, Radio 4 is launching Vox Project – researching the oldest instrument on Earth – the human voice. Listeners/readers are invited to send recordings of their voice, engaged in one of various comparative tasks, to the researchers at UCL. The one which particularly interested me (and possibly many of you) is the difference in one’s voice when teaching as opposed, say, to chatting to friends. Schools are full of digital recorders now so why not get involved.
You can send recordings via Audioboo (if you have a iPhone or Android Phone) – otherwise you can upload to Youtube and email a link to info@whistledown.net
The site also features:
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an interesting article entitled Why do human voices sound the way they do?
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an audio slideshow featuring Clare Balding in an MRI scanner employing various registers and accents
I’ve said it before but I’m often struck by how important our voices are in teaching and how little we really know about them. Or is it just me?
Hope you enjoyed the Festive Season.
Great to have your voice again Mr Coady.
As always, it was worth waiting for your latest blog.
This interests me even though I no longer teach.
Politicians get vocal training. I think teachers should all be given the same chance. Perhaps this inquiry will help.
I had an interesting experience about 10 years ago.
I was walking a few paces behind two women in a MGS corridor.
A lad came running along an adjacent corridor and ran in front of the two ladies. One of the women called out in a loud voice ‘stop running’……the boy who must, surely, have seen and heard them continued running without even looking round. Two seconds later another teacher, this time a male member of staff, walked along the adjacent corridor and in a normal voice said ‘stop running’.
The boy put on breaks immediately. I wish I had had a camcorder with me!
Did the boy not hear the female voice? Does the male voice carry? Did the boy recognize the voice? Was it the tone? This encounter led me to ask so many questions.
The human voice is so unique and distinctive….it blows me away when we can identify people within seconds simply from their voice. What is it that gives our voices their individuality? I think that we have som much to learn about human beings…we’ve simply just scratched the surface.
Happy New Year! x