On the day after Christmas, my sister and I went for a run in Carmel. A nice, brisk run that concluded with a jog along Carmel Beach – and a few good minutes of letting Chief (my sister and brother-in-law’s exuberant, overgrown-puppy-like labrador retriever) play in the surf for a bit.
I hadn’t run on the beach in quite awhile, and it was a lovely, lovely thing. We were only going for about 4 miles, so I had decided to run in my Vibram Bikilas. It was an enjoyable thing to run a bit in them again, in lieu of my more standard trainers. And anyway, I think they liked their first exposure to the ocean.
As I stood there, listening to the crashing surf, I started thinking of Demosthenes. No, I’m not just saying that to sound nerdy (I’m happily nerdy enough to sound that way without trying, most of the time). 😉 Seriously, I really did think of Demosthenes. About how he used to run along the shore of the pounding sea, shouting out his orations – often even through a mouthful of pebbles – in order to strengthen his voice and hone his enunciation. And he certainly did. He is known to have been one of the foremost Greek orators and speech-writers of the ancient world.
I think Demosthenes came to mind because of the uncertainties that were buzzing around inside my head that day. An explanation for that: I’m the kind of person who likes to get things right the first time. When I run into a difficulty, I have to pray for patience, and then make myself jump in with both feet and work at fixing it until I get it right. And I’m pretty tough on myself until that happens. Not always a good thing. Especially when accomplishing something requires a long road of practice stretching out ahead of me.
I love voice acting. It’s one of those wonderful things in this life that makes me smile before I know I’m smiling. So you might imagine how very much I want to be the best voice actor I can be. And that, of course, requires lots and lots of practice. Lots and lots and lots of practice. Good thing I have two very imaginative kids who won’t let me get away with any skimping on their bedtime stories.
I’m currently reading North and South for LibriVox. I truly appreciate the novel, and I’m thoroughly loving the experience of reading it aloud. But I am just now getting into the thick of it with the Northern English dialects. I really want to get this right. I want my character voices to do justice to Gaskell’s beautiful dialogue. And I’m trying my best. But “best” certainly requires practice. Lots and lots of practice.
On the beach that day, thinking of that long-ago orator who would shout over the roaring waves to practice his speaking, I found myself inspired all over again to become as competent and competitive as possible – especially when it comes to versatility with accent and dialect. This is one of those goals that has me so very thankful for all the amazing people with whom I’ve come in contact through LibriVox.org – friends and acquaintances from all over the States and across the globe – who inspire me and help keep me accountable for getting my character voices sounding as authentic as possible. I’m still learning (aren’t we all?)…and still have a long way to go (again, don’t we all?). But I’m finding joy in the journey. And I’m hopeful that someday soon I’ll be able to shout out a relatively believable Lancastrian accent over the crashing surf – providing I’m not laughing too hard at myself at the time – mouthful of pebbles and all.
Cheers…
…and enjoy the journey.
