Letters to the Editor
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Content!!!
What about all the above (All six points that you correctly mentioned barring the tentative conclusion)?
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scary gender stereotype
Hillary needed a drama director and speech coach. She has tried, I know, pitching her voice lower, speaking a little breathy, the pale lipstick, the wan foundation, just a little misty.
But when she gets frustrated, the schoolmarm takes over: "Shame on you, Barack Obama!" And when she's in more control, she's Madame chairman or Club lady. She actually does look down her nose, shuts her eyes, opens them, raises her eyebrow and archly delivers some cold bit from her CV.
The suits are all wrong, the severe brow line, the cheek implants, the over groomed hair--when will she understand that in public speaking at this level, in t.v. land, style always trumps substance. It's not WHAT you say Hillary, it's HOW.
Breathe from the diaphragm. Open the mouth. Tousle the hair a bit. Or wear your spectacles and take that law professor look all the way out,
Wear a long scarf.
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FREAKY
About 2 weeks ago I saw a close up clip of Obama - hard to describe this - speaking at a rally. I saw how he pursed his lips and threw his voice DEEP into the microphone.
That stuck with me. Good to know someone else has picked up on this.
Just who is behind Barack (worship ME or else!) Obama? Who is pulling his strings?
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truly idiotic content
Salon! Stop it! Please!
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Salon
Just who is behind Hillary (nominate ME or else!) Clinton?
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Intention
A quality of any great voice is the ability to communicate through clarity of intention. While timbre and beauty may go a long way to seduce an audience, they will leave you quickly if the connection to what you are trying to convey, emotional or intellectual, is not there. The sense that he is connected in the moment to what he is saying is a quality Obama projects with ease.
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@kenkapkk re:Lincoln
It's true, historians say that Lincoln's voice was like a high pitched trumpet.
The interesting part of this history is the electrified microphone. Prior to its invention, the higher pitched voice was able to carry farther. So, the speaker whose voice carried further had a natural advantage. It's also why tenors were more popular singers before electric amplification.
Once baritones were able to project their voices as far as tenors, the advantage seemed to change; in politics and entertainment.
Bing Crosby was one beneficiary of amped mics.
There seemed to be something calming and reassuring about the lower voice. A sort of paternal protecting quality.
This isn't just Americans.
It is a shame that we give such superficial qualities (height, build, hair are others) so much weight in our deliberations. But humans do take these physical traits into account, and that's a simple fact of our species.
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It's technique
If you look at tape of Hillary's first run at the Senate, it's clear to me that she has worked at it. She has a voice which can go up into her throat when she speaks louder, a throat voice, which, with her basic so-so timbre, can sound screechy. In terms of speaking voice alone, I would advise her to stay away from large rallies. She is very good at "close-up magic," when she's just talking to a few people. Another thing would be to work with a good voice coach, and the other thing is to relax, so her voice could travel down to her diaphragm, where all voices are supposed to be.
There was a voice teacher who used to be on TV out in LA who could demonstrate a throat voice and the strange, strangled voice of Henry Kissinger. The point is, though, lots of politicians have less than great voices, but we like them anyway. It helps, for a politician, to have a pleasing voice. But it's not everything.
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The content is unspectacular
People seem so intoxicated. I'm still waiting for it. I see a guy who was endorsed by Ben Nelson. I see a guy whose health care plan is almost like Edwards', which Hillary copied, and he didn't, all the way, because I can only guess he wants Republican votes -- which he gets more than 50% of -- in the fall? I doubt it -- and young people's votes, so he's doing them a favor somehow by not covering them. Wow, thanks Obama!
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Obama's sister also has a very beautiful voice
I heard Obama's sister, Maya Soetoro-Ng, speak at a rally here in Honolulu. I was very impressed, not only with what she said, but how she said it. I bet they must have inherited the special voice genes from their mother. Maya has a lovely low voice, and even though she was sick and slightly hoarse, she sounded great. (Try this link -http://blip.tv/file/332972) I remembered thinking that if Hillary had that voice and demeanor she would be doing a lot better. Not only does Hillary sound bad shouting and scolding "shame on you," but she sounds even worse when she is hoarse and tired. Yes, this is superficial, but one can not help but think, can I listen to this almost every day for next four years?
Women do have a disadvantage, and I think women with lower voices do sound better on tv. Rachel Maddow is another example of a woman on tv and radio with a very nice low voice; maybe that is one reason (among other good ones) why we are hearing and seeing more of her.
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Oh my goodness
Does anyone know what candidate had the most problems with their voice?
John F. Kennedy. Apparently his Boston accent was so thick he could barely be understood. His campaign advisors told him to fix it immediately or he would not be elected. The difference? He worked intensively with a speech coach, by some accounts to the point where he almost came to physical blows. He is now remembered as one of the greatest speakers of the twentieth-century. If this is a real issue, with all due respect, possibly Hillary's campaign should have worked on it.
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Warren G. Harding, A Great Baritone
There is no doubt that voices are important for public speakers. There is no telling where a great voice, a great presence, and a great height can take one.
I picked up the following strange tidbit from a poker site. It is from a post by one of the site's writers called Grapsfan titled "The Best Poker Book Ever." The author says that Malcolm Gladwell's boook Blink is the best poker book ever because it teaches about the power of momentary impressions. Go to the link to see what the author says that Gladwell said of President Harding, whose administration was connected to the Teapot Dome Scandal if you want to read more than the quote I provide below.
http://www.pocketfives.com/DDCB77CA-CB87-44FC-AE05-9628023A05F9.aspx
An entrepreneur and political strategist in turn-of-the-1900s Ohio had a chance meeting with a tall, strikingly handsome and poised man named Warren G. Harding, who was running for the state senate. Sitting next to Harding at a shoeshine stand, the strategist’s first impression was “doesn’t this man just LOOK like a President!?” And so he became Harding’s right-hand man for the next 25 years, from Ohio Senate to U.S. Senate to, indeed, President of the United States.
It didn’t matter that what rumbled out of Harding’s tremendously rich baritone voice was usually confused or mostly meaningless clichés. It didn’t matter that Harding was probably of below-average intelligence, and performed very poorly in every office he held. The strategist’s first impression remained unaltered by reality, and he guided Harding to the highest office in the U.S., where he was one of the three or four worst Presidents in history. The truth is that tall people make an impression of skill and power, and good poker players use it to their advantage.
You can read more about Harding and see his very presidential looking photo at this wikipedia link:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Warren_G._Harding