Speaking Of... Conversations on Voice, Speech, and Identity with Ryan O'Shea

Today on Speaking Of... I’m joined by actress, writer, director, and producer, Cara Myers.

Cara asks about some specific challenges she’s experienced in performance. We start by talking about why she sometimes has a tendency to drop off of her words in performance and how to overcome this difficulty. Then Cara mentions an upcoming project where she’ll be performing on stage, and her concern about her ability to project her voice in a larger venue.

Like many Los Angeles-based actors, most of Cara’s acting experience has been on camera, so finding ease in projecting her voice is a relatively new requirement for her. We talk about the major differences for speaking on camera vs. on stage, and I offer some tools for finding ease in projection regardless of the medium.

You can find complete show notes and links to everything we’ve mentioned in the episode on https://www.voiceandspeechwithryan.com/podcast.

On this episode of Speaking Of... I’m joined by my friend and colleague, Rachel Finley. Rachel is an actor, director, spoken-word artist, writer, and teacher specializing in acting, voice, and speech. Rachel is currently researching dialects of the African diaspora and I invited her as a follow-up to my last episode. I asked Rachel “What are your thoughts on the “So-Called African American Vernacular of English?” We talked about why AAVE is a useful term for linguists, but less so as a term to describe the accent of an entire race. Rachel shared her thoughts on what might be a better term, and offered perspectives on how she approaches researching and teaching accents of the diaspora (and beyond).
You can find complete show notes and links to everything we’ve mentioned in the episode on https://www.voiceandspeechwithryan.com/podcast.

On this episode of Speaking Of... I’m joined by one of my oldest and dearest friends, Brandon Piper. In this episode, Brandon asked the question, “Why do we make assumptions about people’s race based on how they sound?” We talk about the technicalities of accent including the dialect, African American Vernacular of English, and what linguists have to say about his question, but we also talked about our personal experiences related to the biases and assumptions we experience in our own lives.
You can find complete show notes and links to everything we’ve mentioned in the episode on https://www.voiceandspeechwithryan.com/podcast.

On this episode of Speaking Of... I’m joined by my wonderful friend, actress and writer, Lisa Ermel.

Lisa’s initial question was “What is a woman’s voice?” We quickly discovered that another way of asking her question is “When am I managing how I sound because I’m trying to manage how I’m perceived?”

This was a really important conversation that has relevance to anyone who has ever found themselves adjusting the sound of their voice in order to fit some ideal of how they *think* they should be. We talk about some of the reasons why womxn, in particular, might change the sound of their voices, and how this is likely limiting their power.

You can find complete show notes and links to everything we’ve mentioned in the episode on https://www.voiceandspeechwithryan.com/podcast.

Today on Speaking Of... I’m joined by my partner, Cameron Cramer.

Cameron is a non-performer working in YouTube marketing, and he asked: why do I feel fine having conversations in meetings, but feel really nervous giving presentations? This question is a really common one for people in the professional/corporate world, but it’s also relevant for performers who often feel a shift in their ability to be present in different performance scenarios.

Cameron and I talk about how the context we give ourselves around speaking engagements ultimately decides how we respond to those scenarios, and why we must give ourselves a positive context in order to find enjoyment in any speaking scenario. We also discuss some of the public-speaking tips he’d been given over the years and how that “one-size-fits-all” approach has been unhelpful.

You can find complete show notes and links to everything we’ve mentioned in the episode on https://www.voiceandspeechwithryan.com/podcast.