Kate's Voice

So much after the fact, I am posting days 24 and 25.  Traveling took its toll on my ability to post, but I did make some entries in my journal and want to share them with you today.  My reason for traveling was to take my daughter to visit Belmont University in Nashville.  She is auditioning at colleges with the hope of getting in as a music major.  Belmont is a great campus and they seem to have a fine music program, offering commercial music as well as a degree in the business of music and entertainment.  Anyway, there we were traveling in the South.  Accents were very much on my mind, and I had two observations about that.

The first observation was about how friendly a Southern accent sounds.  It is the inflection, which is very open and inviting.  It also lilts and sounds sweet to the ears almost like music at times.  I know that some Southern accents sound twangy to the rest of us, but for the most case the accent in Nashville is easy on the ears.  What I was reminded of is that the cadence of a voice can add to a person’s vocal image.  A closed accent gives an impression of authority or even beligerence if we’re not careful.  An open accent brings to mind a nice disposition.  In fact, I heard the effect myself when I daughter said, “Wow. Everyone in the South seems to be so friendly!”  This doesn’t mean that I recommend that we all speak with Southern accents, but if you want to learn more about the difference between an open and closed cadence, please read the chapter on cadence in my book, or review my posting on December 22 last year.

The second thing that came to mind is how easily we imitate others, and how quickly that can become part of our speech.  I definitely found myself speaking with a bit of a Southern accent after just a few days there!

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