One of the ways to get to be good at something is to adopt the belief system of someone who's really good at it. Nils Fredland, who actually makes a living as a contra dance caller, an amazing fact in and of itself, knows that his continuing success relies heavily on his ability to quickly establish himself with a new crowd as someone likable and reliable. This gets easier, he admits, as word travels and he faces new crowds who expect in advance that they will like him and have a good dance experience. Nothing like crowd expectation to lay the groundwork for a good time.
But he also has certain principles that help create that expectation, and they really work for him. One is to be rested, calm and centered, and focus on patience, sensitivity and flexibility. If you are calm and centered, and patient with less-skilled dancers, people feel that they can trust you, and listen to what you say. If you are sensitive to what it feels like to be in that "everything's new and there's too much to remember" stage, you will explain more clearly and gently, and people will learn. And if you are flexible (and don't take yourself too seriously) all sorts of good things can happen.
Other people in the workshop augmented what he said as well. Nils talked about the importance of trying to reconstruct dances in your head after you've danced one you like. Even if you don't get it all, if you get the part that made the dance fun, you may be able to fill in the rest (the glossary moves) and it will help you memorize new dances. Then Peter Yronwode told us that he and his wife (Paula Farling) often reconstruct from memory the entire dance they've just attended on the way home. Wow.
I also like something Jerome Grisanti said about what to do when the crowd just keeps chattering when you're trying to get the dance started - he said it's important to frame all that talking as "They're having a good time socializing," rather than "They're not paying any attention." You still need to get folks paying attention, but you'll do it with a good attitude rather than petulance, which never works.
We talked about voice production - that ability to get the folks in the last part of the hall hearing you. And we talked about speaking "interestingly" - which also involves having good vocal production. Nils said we should use "our own voice", which I didn't quite understand. That's great for someone like him who could probably make a good living doing those deep voices in documentaries, but I figure the rest of us probably need to figure out how to improve the voices we have. He did recommended doing some vocal exercises before one of our Calling Parties (which I interpret as saying "Ha Ha Ha, Ho Ho Ho" from the diaphragm in various interesting rhythms, possibly to really good music) and see if it improves people's delivery.
There was much more in the workshop, but this is the part I remember best. Perhaps someone else who was there will fill in some of the rest.
M
E
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5 comments:
First let me say I really wish I could have gone to the workshop. Thank you, Martha, for sharing some of what Nils had to say.
With respect to using your voice. I think calling is akin to other public performance activities. Singing, acting in a theater, public speaking, and teaching come to mind. We might look to those for techniques that will help us call better.
We talked about this a little at a recent calling party. Later, I remembered one technique Jeannie used with her very-much-amateur actors to help us learn to speak so we could be understood.
She would sit in the back row of the theater and have a conversation with the actor on stage. The goal was to raise the volume, but keep it in a speaking voice. No yelling was allowed.
I'm thinking we could try a similar experiment at a hatchling party with some people sitting in the front room and others in the kitchen.
Another technique I use in public speaking and teaching is to pick several targets around the room and switch among them. At any time I am speaking directly to a particular person and watching that person for feedback rather than trying to speak to the entire room at the same time. I try to change to a different person often so no one feels singled out, or feels like their portion of the room is being neglected. The downside of this is you might be distracted into very specific instructions for one person which can confuse everybody else.
Anyone have other techniques we can use?
Here's a vocal technique I picked up from a chorus master: Speak in a volume ranging from soft to normal, but exaggerate your enunciation. See if people can understand you from across a room.
Really move your mouth and tongue much more than you think you should. Feel your lips pop the consonants B&P in Bob or Pop. Feel your tongue tap the T&D sounds in Test or Dude. Feel the back of your tongue scrape the G&K sounds in Greg or Coke.
Pronounce those final consonants with a phantom vowel afterward. For example, a preacher says "Lor-dah" whereas most people say "Lor" and swallow the "d."
When exercising, really exaggerate. When actually speaking with a microphone, just picture your words being crisp.
Contra-specific words: parTner (not parner). "Women" and "Men" are easily misheard, so I say "Ladies" and either "Men" or "Gents." Circle LefT not lef.
Thanks, guys, for this input on vocal technique. I'd love for you to critique this little plan I've put together for making my voice better for calling:
First of all, if anyone ever saw or heard me when I was driving my car, they would laugh their heads off.
I have started saying "Hah!" a lot, with only my diaphragm to provide the air, sometimes without engaging the vocal chords at all, just heavy breathing, but sometimes pretty loud, as if I was getting the Very Last Laugh. Loud, but no squeeziness anywhere near my vocal chords (or so I imagine).
Then I move to something that used to drive me crazy when I used to practice in the old Con at Oberlin when the windows were open and a soprano or tenor was warming up in the next practice room - May Me My Mow Mooooo (or Me Mi Ma-i Mo Mu)- actually singing the words, on the premise that singing is just speaking on pitch. I haven't sung in years, but I can see that singing will strengthen my deterioriated voice.
Then I read road signs with exaggerated enunciation "NO Right(a) Turn on(a) RED!"
And I sigh a lot, starting at the highest pitch I can muster, going down to a low one.
What I read was that everything should be relaxed AROUND the vocal chords - shoulders, jaw, cheeks, throat, etc. - but HOW DO YOU KNOW when you've achieved that state? I try, but how do I know I'm not straining my voice when I'm loud?
M
E
And another little comment on pronunciation:
People from St Louis and surrounding areas have to be very careful in squares because of the broad "ar" that our regional dialect puts on the sound "or". We are famous for saying "farty" for "forty" and "far" for "four".
So "CORner" ends up sounding like "CARner". The "T" in "ParTner" also often gets slighted, so "Partner" sounds like "PARNER". From only a short distance away "CARNER" and "PARNER" sound exactly alike.
Speaking of regional dialects, does anyone else agree with me that a Southern dialect seems easier and more pleasant to listen to in a caller?
M
E
On the dialect issue: I find myself sort of "channeling" Kathy Anderson or Cis Hinkle. They each have different inflections in their voices, one of which (Cis) is Southern. I like it. I use my "own voice" most of the time, but theirs creep in.
And I agree with Martha about "partner" and "corner" sounding almost the same the way many callers say the words. Same thing in contra, often, with "partner and "neighbor." Confusing.
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