My Mom tells me she has a few cassette style tapes that were recorded back in the eighties. On these tapes are my father, brother and possibly my niece. She can't be certain as she hasn't listened to them in quite some time. I asked for and she said she would try to make a copy for me. I'll need to purchase a tape player, I'm certain they are still around. I sure hope she follows through on this promise as I'm excited about the prospect of hearing Dads voice again. There were many times when I didn't want to hear what he had to say but those days are long since past. Dad passed away in 1990 and his voice is getting a bit dim. Now the words he spoke are ingrained into my subconscious and I hear him everyday, but it is the sound of that voice I want to hear again. No doubt I will recognize it.
Isn't it funny how when we hear our own voice recorded it doesn't sound anything like we hear it. You know what I mean ? I don't sound like that is the immediate reaction I always get. Strangely when we hear other people they sound just perfect. How can that be ? It's a mystery I haven't been able to solve. I'm thinking it has something to do with resonance. My voice must really resound in my head because of the pitch. Sounds kind of hollow ! And that doesn't sound good. I would rather have that deep bass voice of authority. a voice like Morgan Freeman. When he speaks, you listen. What's more, you believe what he is saying. The very reason he is such an effective pitchman. It is the pitch that matters.
A while back I did make a recording of my voice. I did that to satisfy a curiosity. I was wondering if others thought I had a particular accent. The results were mixed. Some did think I had retained a particular inflection and manner of speech, where others said they heard none. It was interesting. I had read a prepared piece, a blog I had written and just read that. Since that experiment I have wondered what if I hadn't been reading from a " script ? " What if I had just been engaged in a conversation and not conscious of being recorded ? I'm certain it would sound differently. No, my voice would be the same but the choice of words, of phrasing, certainly would be different. It would also depend upon whom I was speaking with. We do change our manner of speech to fit the occasion. We make subtle changes depending on the social situation.
I'm anxious to hear those recordings my Mom has. Surely it will be a trip into the past. I'll be hearing a familiar voice once again. I've got lots of old pictures, grandparents and such. Even though the technology was readily available I have no " home movies " of myself, my brothers or sister, no one like that. I have hours of video footage on the grandkids that I hope they will enjoy some day. I do wonder if they will just take that all for granted much the same way so many did with old family photographs. I let a great deal of them go unnoticed and unsaved in my younger days. They weren't important at all back then. Would I have done the same with film ? Just can't say as my family never had a camera capable of such. I'm certain the cost of processing also played into that decision. Home movies were for the " upper " class folks that went on family vacations and the like. I'm told that my videos, stored on SD cards will not degrade much in years to come. I'm just praying that the technology stays around long enough for the grandkids to enjoy those recordings. If the technology to play it back exceeds the value of the memory, they will be lost. That is the key here, the value of the memory. Memories are like antiques, they are all old, but not all are valuable. The value is dependent upon the a number of factors. The least of these is sentiment. That's why people collect such things as Troll dolls. Once the sound of my fathers voice was free, but now has become priceless to me.
Well okay, maybe that is a bit dramatic, but you know what I mean. What was once taken for granted has become a treasure. In the future perhaps we will have our loved ones and even our pets with us in virtual reality ! What do think about that ? I'm thinking it would be a bit creepy. I'll settle for some tape recordings or video footage thank you very much. Memories are more valuable than any of that and will never be replaced. That's my thinking anyway.
Isn't it funny how when we hear our own voice recorded it doesn't sound anything like we hear it. You know what I mean ? I don't sound like that is the immediate reaction I always get. Strangely when we hear other people they sound just perfect. How can that be ? It's a mystery I haven't been able to solve. I'm thinking it has something to do with resonance. My voice must really resound in my head because of the pitch. Sounds kind of hollow ! And that doesn't sound good. I would rather have that deep bass voice of authority. a voice like Morgan Freeman. When he speaks, you listen. What's more, you believe what he is saying. The very reason he is such an effective pitchman. It is the pitch that matters.
A while back I did make a recording of my voice. I did that to satisfy a curiosity. I was wondering if others thought I had a particular accent. The results were mixed. Some did think I had retained a particular inflection and manner of speech, where others said they heard none. It was interesting. I had read a prepared piece, a blog I had written and just read that. Since that experiment I have wondered what if I hadn't been reading from a " script ? " What if I had just been engaged in a conversation and not conscious of being recorded ? I'm certain it would sound differently. No, my voice would be the same but the choice of words, of phrasing, certainly would be different. It would also depend upon whom I was speaking with. We do change our manner of speech to fit the occasion. We make subtle changes depending on the social situation.
I'm anxious to hear those recordings my Mom has. Surely it will be a trip into the past. I'll be hearing a familiar voice once again. I've got lots of old pictures, grandparents and such. Even though the technology was readily available I have no " home movies " of myself, my brothers or sister, no one like that. I have hours of video footage on the grandkids that I hope they will enjoy some day. I do wonder if they will just take that all for granted much the same way so many did with old family photographs. I let a great deal of them go unnoticed and unsaved in my younger days. They weren't important at all back then. Would I have done the same with film ? Just can't say as my family never had a camera capable of such. I'm certain the cost of processing also played into that decision. Home movies were for the " upper " class folks that went on family vacations and the like. I'm told that my videos, stored on SD cards will not degrade much in years to come. I'm just praying that the technology stays around long enough for the grandkids to enjoy those recordings. If the technology to play it back exceeds the value of the memory, they will be lost. That is the key here, the value of the memory. Memories are like antiques, they are all old, but not all are valuable. The value is dependent upon the a number of factors. The least of these is sentiment. That's why people collect such things as Troll dolls. Once the sound of my fathers voice was free, but now has become priceless to me.
Well okay, maybe that is a bit dramatic, but you know what I mean. What was once taken for granted has become a treasure. In the future perhaps we will have our loved ones and even our pets with us in virtual reality ! What do think about that ? I'm thinking it would be a bit creepy. I'll settle for some tape recordings or video footage thank you very much. Memories are more valuable than any of that and will never be replaced. That's my thinking anyway.
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