Call-Centre Woman Revisited!
When was the last time you thought “Ooooh, I like that voice”? Or maybe the opposite when you heard one that made you want to move on quickly or reach for the off switch? A while back I was stuck on hold for ages, listening to music to go mad by, in the hope of speaking to a member of that endangered call-centre species – the human being. As I waited, I idly speculated that if one did turn up, would David Attenborough be close behind? I also wondered if people even notice voices much at all these days.
Eventually, I did get through to a human – a woman. Sadly, there was no sign of Sir David, but when she started talking, I was so surprised that I almost forgot what I was calling about. What a voice! I could have listened to her all day. I complimented her, and she told me that a lot of people say how much they enjoy the way she speaks. I found that really encouraging, because as I mentioned, I’d been wondering. What I didn’t tell her is that she’s now my superhero: Call-Centre Woman!
Of course, it wasn’t just her voice that was captivating, it was her personality. She was warm, friendly, and sounded interested in what both she and I were saying. If she’d had a nice voice but sounded like she didn’t care two hoots about me, I’d soon have lost interest. If she didn’t have an attractive voice but was helpful and friendly, that would have been alright. But she had the voice, the personality and the interest! One of my favourite sayings is that your voice can be your secret weapon… and the way you communicate can be your other one. And why are they secret? Because not many people put much thought into either of them. Having one can make you stand out. Having both is the ultimate, which can take you far down the road to self-confidence and success in all aspects of life that involve speaking – whether in public or in private! From the boardroom to… any other kind of room in which you might talk.
Just about all of my working life has been centred around voice and communicating. I’m a vocal coach, with a background as an actor, singer, radio presenter, voiceover artist, compere, celebrant, and wait for it: a ventriloquist. (I haven’t moved my lips once while writing this!) I’m passionate about voices, and over the years I’ve distilled my various voice experiences into an innovative, transformative way of bringing your spoken word to life – whether you’re in business; a broadcaster; a celebrant; an actor; or a podcaster.
Inevitably, fashions change. That applies to voice just as much as anything else. 50-60 years ago, you’d be hard pressed to hear anything other than old-fashioned BBC-type voices on radio and television. That way of speaking is still known as received pronunciation – or RP. Nowadays, you can hear all sorts of accents in the media. I’m a big fan of that. But I think with the acceptance of all these different sounds, something’s gone missing. The necessity for voice training is thought to be less than it used to be because fewer people need to learn RP in order to be broadcasters. Unfortunately, the baby has been thrown out with the bathwater. Speaking with RP isn’t necessarily an advantage: but speaking clearly whatever your accent, with a voice infused with warmth, connection, sincerity, and if appropriate, strength and authority, definitely is!
Despite its “posh” connotations, one of the benefits of the old-style RP training was that even if you disliked the accent, the tone of the actual voice (as opposed to the accent) in some people’s opinion, was pleasant – like a well-tuned instrument. Nowadays a lot of the voices heard in the media, including even the RP ones, are hard on the ear. And because radio and television have traditionally been where we’d find voices we might like to emulate, or that we might subconsciously absorb, our ears are becoming more and more accustomed to harsher sounds – which is why I was overjoyed to hear Call-Centre Woman.
I hardly ever listen to BBC Radio 3, but I did chance upon a podcast by a poet from Barnsley, Ian McMillan. He didn’t write the line ‘A thing of beauty is a joy forever’ (it was Keats, according to Google), but I enjoy his broad Yorkshire voice. It’s slightly bluff, and has a pleasant resonance (you can substitute the word resonant with attractive). And it’s attractive because there’s not much tightness in his throat. His voice has room to resonate. It’s a well-tuned instrument, that, like Call-Centre Woman’s, I could listen to all day. And he’s a communicator.
I don’t have any links for Call-Centre Woman, but you can find Ian McMillan here: I Saw A Star – YouTube
If you’re interested in adding something special to your voice and how you use it, I’d be glad to have a phone chat or Zoom (at no charge) to see if you’d like to take things further.
Here I am – paulyrobinson@outlook.com Paul Robinson Voice Coaching – Voice Coaching
07469 957 199