Far be it from me to say that I am a musician. I love listening to music. I was a student of music in high school, and in the chorus in college. I read music. I like to sing. I wish I could play an instrument. I encourage those who play an instrument to continue their craft. Keep on keepin’ on.
Instruments aside, I once wrote an acronym for the word “SOUND”. ‘So Others Understand Notes Distinctly.’ This is the acronym I played around with one time, and I never forgot it. As someone who dabbled in broadcast radio (true: I was once a radio personality), I always played around with sounds.
Never playing with the definition of sound, the dictionary defines sound as: mechanical radiant energy that is transmitted by longitudinal pressure waves in a material medium (such as air) and is the objective cause of hearing. (Merriam-Webster Dictionary)
Of course, of the three definitions listed in the dictionary, I chose the most wordy, yet poetic, and argumentative definition I could find. I write argumentative, because the word ‘mechanical’ bothers me. I use the word ‘bother’, because, as a wordsmith, I would never “trash-talk” the dictionary. I interpret ‘mechanical’ to mean ‘synthetic’. I know the dictionary had another intent, but as an mobile DJ who dabbles in ‘mechanical’ sounds I wonder if a better word could have been used.
‘Synthetic’ dictionary interpretations aside, as former on-air personality, I’m constantly critiquing others’ voices. “His voice is too high for radio,” I always think. “Her voice is just right,” I usually think. ‘There is nothing mechanical’ about ‘natural’ human voices.
Diction, articulation and cadence are important things to me. I’m always listening to people tell me that I “should work in radio”. Usually its a male friend with a voice pitch in a slightly higher register than mine. I accept that as a compliment. When a woman tells me this, I usually accept that as a compliment, as well. Thank you to everybody.
However everybody perceives my voice, “deep”, “dark”, “radio-like”, “husky”. Honestly, my voice sounds as if it is in a higher register in my head. Now I find myself critiquing my own voice, and its sound.