"Don't strain your vocal cords too much, you'll get calluses on those friends."
30.01.24 - 13h00
Jorge Bruno Ventura
Candidates: don't strain your vocal cords too much and you'll get calluses on those friends. That will only lead to trouble and problems in the future.
Until the elections, scheduled for March 10, the candidates for the Assembly of the Republic, and by virtue of the Portuguese model that elects the Prime Minister, need a good stomach lining because of the lots of roast meat they will be eating (possible exceptions because some menus are extensions of political ideals) and to have their voices well tuned for the prepared or improvised speeches.
I'll leave the stomatological issues to those who know. However, I'm not depriving myself of the opportunity to share some ideas about the voice in this space because of my career as a radio announcer, which is approaching 40 years...
The voice is unique to each of us and therefore an element of identity. It transmits information to the listener that can, in some cases, call into question the veracity of what is being said. This is how some liars are discovered...
Man has understood the importance of such an important tool from an early age. Plato, Cicero, Jesus Christ, Gandhi, Obama and Martin Luther King are just some of those who knew how to use the potential of their voices. The sound recordings made possible from the turn of the 19th to the 20th century make it possible to study some cases. We know nothing about others: What timbre would Aristotle's voice have had? How did Plato speak? What eloquence did Jesus Christ use in the Sermon on the Mount?
Today, the spoken word as a commitment depends on one's morals and ethics. What is said for what is not said causes the word to fade and lose its value. It's the opposite of expressions/feelings like I give you my word and my word of honor, which try to give the voice a stamp and a fixation.
A good voice doesn't have to have bel canto characteristics or be suitable for radio and television spots. A good voice is one that makes itself heard in a pleasant way with good diction. It makes itself heard at the right time and at the right pace. It must have the right amount of eloquence required by the text being read or the dynamics of the moment. It has to captivate.
Returning to the voices that will be heard in the electoral campaign, and without wishing to be presumptuous, I would like to offer two pieces of advice. Until election day, there will be times when the voices will be ugly, shrill and loud. Candidates: don't strain your vocal cords too much and you'll get calluses on those friends. That will only lead to trouble and problems in the future. Second piece of advice: in tense moments, drink some tea. Purple everlasting tea is great for the voice and to combat hoarseness... in short, to calm down.
Jorge Bruno da Costa Ventura - University Professor
Director of the degree course in Communication Sciences - School of Communication, Architecture, Arts and Information Technologies at Universidade Lusófona - Centro Universitário de Lisboa
Source: SOL
