By the time you read this, I’ll have announced my last sporting event for the fall season. It’s always exciting to start a new season and a little depressing to do the last one, but I know that once the winter sports seasons start, it’ll be a consistent part of my life for three months again.
I don’t like listening to my voice.
Let me clarify: I don’t like listening to a recording of my voice. I’m guessing most of you are the same.
We hear ourselves every time we speak. In my case, that voice is amplified when I’m at a game. And I hear it and use it to gauge how to proceed with volume controls, etc. But anytime I’ve listened to a recording of me speaking or announcing, I just cringe. Other people might compliment what I do, but it’s hard for me to hear the same thing. If you’ve heard recordings of yourself, we’re likely in the same boat. And with how many videos there are these days, thanks to cell phones, I can imagine that many people will be cringing in the future, listening to what they said in those days from the past.
I was thinking about this one day while listening to some music. What about the great singers, the ones whose voices resonate so much? They make a living out of their voices. Do they dislike what they hear when they put on an album they recorded? Or are they all just on another level from the rest of us?
Freddie Mercury, the late singer from Queen, might be one of the great all-time singers. He had such range that fit the wide variety of music that group created. I’ve heard a lot of takes on “Bohemian Rhapsody,” but nothing can ever match what Mercury was able to do with perhaps the most unique song ever sung.
Do you think Mercury and his bandmates ever sat down while reviewing a recording and just went blah? Did they wonder why people were paying money to buy their records and attend their concerts? Or did they keep working at their trade, getting better all the time?
Steven Tyler of Aerosmith is another singer who has a distinct style. The raspiness in his voice wouldn’t seem to indicate a great singer, but there’s something about it that makes fans scream in pleasure when he sings. Like Mercury and Queen, Tyler and Aerosmith evolved throughout their careers. While Tyler’s voice is easily recognized, the music and range of his voice have both changed over time.
Do the boys of Aerosmith ever wonder what people hear in them? Does Tyler ever listen to himself and just laugh at what he might perceive as a bad voice? There are always people who don’t like particular singers, but based on their continued popularity, that seems to be a minority for Aerosmith.
There are plenty of other singers who have great voices, but then I started thinking about people who speak for a living. Let’s start with actors. If you could pick one actor that you could only ever watch their movies and shows, who would it be? I’ve got two that would be hard to choose between.
James Earl Jones is one of them. Naturally, that would mean I could still watch Star Wars since he voices Darth Vader. But beyond that, Jones’ deep voice just echoes in any scene that is penetrated by his lines. Think about The Lion King or The Sandlot or Field of Dreams. You can probably recite some of his lines, even beyond, “No, I am your father.”
The other person that makes the choice tough for me is Morgan Freeman. His voice is so soothing that if he’s in a show, I’ll watch it just for him. In addition to movies like Lean on Me and The Shawshank Redemption, he’s done a number of documentaries, voicing over the scenes from nature or space. I think I’d want Freeman to recite a narrative of my life.
I listen to a lot of audiobooks. My favorite narrator is Scott Brick. I often say I could listen to him read the dictionary. There have been books I’ve finished listening to, only because he was reading. The story had long since become disinteresting, but he’s known as having a golden voice.
Jim Dale is another great audiobook reader. He’s well known for the Harry Potter audiobooks. I can guarantee that if you listen to him read those well-loved novels, it will be like reading them again for the first time. It’s pure magic!
I enjoy listening to other announcers at sporting events, whether it’s at a pro event or college or high school. It’s always interesting to me how different people approach pre-game announcements as well as how they adlib throughout a game. Sometimes I’ll note something that I can include in a future game at NRHEG.
After all, so many of those names I mentioned are always evolving and getting better, and that’s what I strive for, whether it’s reading in my classroom, singing at church, or announcing a game. Maybe, if I keep working at it, I’ll even enjoy the sound of my own voice at some point!
Word of the Week: This week’s word is schemozzle, which means a state of chaos or confusion, as in, “At the height of the schemozzle at the Twins game when Chuck Knoblauch was being pelted with hot dogs in left field, the voice of legendary announcer Bob Casey rose above the clamor.” Impress your friends and confuse your enemies!