Don't They Realize I'm An Artist?

Today I read an op-ed article by a voice-over artist describing, with weary condescension, a “pitch” recording session.  In Canada we call these demos -- rough versions of commercials recorded on spec for a client who will decide if the spots should be made for real.  If it’s a yes, the same voice artist may be brought back, or the job may be re-cast, but the original artist is paid for their time regardless.

In this instance, it seems the agency executives were too focused on their phones, they didn’t give the right kind of direction...the artist felt under-appreciated. 

I get it.  It’s not always easy to relate to the people on the other side of the glass.  Often I’m twice the age of the agency creatives (they’re mostly millennials).  And sure, we all like to joke about the kind of direction we’re given in sessions:  I do, my colleagues do, and so does Joe Cipriano in the movie “In a World”.  But we do it with respect, I believe.  And appreciation -- most important, appreciation.  I’m grateful to be able to earn a living on the mic.  In my work as a voice artist, I have not only been challenged and supported, I’ve also learned more about acting, about the human voice, and about listening than I could have imagined. 

I hate the cynical attitude.  I know not every session is ideal.  The people you work for sometimes seem disengaged.  I know it’s advertising, and it’s hard not to feel cynical about that sometimes, even when you have chosen to work in this industry (and there are many people out there who’d love to get work in this industry).  And we are talking about a job that pays well above minimum wage for work that involves no more heavy labour than lifting a pencil.  It’s not a huge hardship.

The Unbreakable Kimmy Schmidt says you can bear anything by taking it in ten-second increments.  “Just count to ten.  And when you’re done, start over and count to ten again.” 

I know that’s what I did when I finished reading the article, and it seemed to help.  

Play Dead

Waking up this morning, it drifted through my mind how Shakespeare liked to have actors play dead. Of course, the actual death toll in the Complete Works is substantial, and people have compiled lists, created pie charts, and performed new plays to illustrate the many ways characters are sliced, diced, pummeled and poisoned.

But there are also characters who only pretend to die, and that event is usually the turning point in the story. There’s Hero in ‘Much Ado About Nothing’: she ‘dies’ because of being shamed at the altar, and so that Claudio can feel the grief and loss and regret for his mistaken punishment of her. In ‘A Winter’s Tale’, Hermione is another virtuous woman accused of being false. She too must appear to be dead until her husband truly recognizes her innocence and mourns his loss.

This summer at Bard on the Beach, you will see Juliet pretend to die to avoid marrying Paris. In ‘Pericles’, Marina will be thought to be killed by the evil Dionyza’s henchman, and Thaisa, believed to have died in childbirth, is thrown overboard a ship by Pericles.

Sometimes the audience is in on the secret although the characters are not. The deaths, real or pretended, are always important. Men really die and their ghosts often return to haunt the killer (or an indecisive child). When the women die they don’t haunt anyone. And sometimes they have to pretend to die just so the men can grow up. 

The Beast is Back

Years ago, I was hired to tag some radio and tv spots for Playland, the Vancouver amusement park. Rethink had taken over the account, and they wanted to try something new for this well-loved summer family tradition. Instead of a cheerful, friendly announcer voice inviting listeners to come and enjoy fun rides, these ads featured the Cranky Megaphone Lady. She was tired, bored, fed up. With an irritated sigh, she gave the information ("Playland, now open daily"), but she really did not give a... you know.

I thought this would be a one-off, I really did, but the campaign was a hit.  Rethink was ahead of the curve, anticipating the shift away from "perky". Cranky Megaphone Lady was an early-days version of what's now the ubiquitous "anti-announcer" read.  And she has returned every summer to (sigh...) remind you to check out new rides, like The Hellavator, The Beast... We recently recorded the 2016 campaign, and the guys at the studio and I were counting how many years it's been. I think we're at 14 now, right, John? Which, in advertising, is what's called a campaign with legs.

Poor Megaphone Lady will be working a longer shift this year.  The Beast is back, she's got legs, and she knows how to use them.

Burned Out On The Fry

Who isn’t talking about vocal fry these days? Google will give you 509,000 responses in .28 seconds and they come from journalists, speech therapists, actors, job coaches, physicians, singers, politicians…

In a Guardian newspaper article, Naomi Wolf called on young women to “give up the vocal fry and reclaim your strong female voice”: 

http://www.theguardian.com/commentisfree/2015/jul/24/vocal-fry-strong-female-voice

A response to that article accused Wolf of “missing the point”. Complaining about vocal fry, says Erin Riley, is just another excuse not to listen to women:

http://www.theguardian.com/commentisfree/2015/jul/28/naomi-wolf-misses-the-point-about-vocal-fry-its-just-an-excuse-not-to-listen-to-women

In some ways I agree with both points of view. It seems (anecdotally, at least) that we are often more critical of women’s voices than men’s. Traditional authority figures still, in 2016, try to discount the voices of young women in particular. However, standing up for the right to be heard also means resisting pressure to conform to a popular sound which could damage your voice. I hope that women, especially young women, can be true to themselves -- expressing themselves with authenticity, and saving and cherishing their precious voices. Our voices are the means with which we tell the world who we are.

This debate came up for me again in a recent visit to a Women’s Studies class at Vancouver Island University.

The students expressed differing points of view, and some admitted they had not previously been aware of vocal fry, or had never carefully considered their own voices. By the end of the discussion, they were excited to continue reflecting on these questions, and inspired by the possibility of harnessing the power of their authentic voices in their careers and their personal lives.

That Was Then, This Is Now

Here's a photo I found in a old file folder, taken when I was coaching ‘Romeo & Juliet’ at the Bard on the Beach Shakespeare Festival in 2007.

...and here's another one, taken recently by the genius Mark Halliday, during rehearsals at Bard on the Beach again this summer.

These pictures track a decade of my coaching life.  I'm now bespectacled, goofier, and apparently still unable to speak without the hand.

Revisiting Romeo & Juliet

At the Bard on the Beach Festival, we are on the cusp of previews for this season’s production of ‘Romeo & Juliet’. Bard last produced this play in 2007. It was a beautiful production, directed by a beloved colleague whose passion for Shakespeare’s language has always inspired me. And I confess I have a sentimental attachment to that production, as it was the first one that I worked on as a voice coach for the company.

Now, almost a decade later, we return to this story. Much has changed; we have moved into a new tent, and we now have a whole new facility at the BMO Centre. Our new cast of beautiful, talented actors are working with one of this country’s most innovative directors, and her vision for the show is thrilling. 

And, as it is with Shakespeare, there is still more to discover… there’s always more to love.

Gregory Doran on Shakespeare

This is why I do what I do. 

Watch the first five minutes and you'll be hooked.