Your voice

I just had an interesting idea. I'm excited about this. Could the members of this group post a url where we can hear your voice? It would be very cool to be able to "hear" each other, even if briefly. I'll post a YouTube url. You can hear me say, "Keep playing!" and you can hear me laughing behind the camera.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=SME5pWJya5U

another smile. ohhhh, you're a mischevious one. unfortunately, work doesn't let me get in to youtubes or the whatnot. what else? I like the idea of exploring each reader/writers "voice", that is, have you found you can recognize your authoritative "imprint"?

so much of what i write seems to have the same "tricks", for lack of a better word. it's like i keep coming back to the same sentence structures, the same themes, even down to the same groupings of words. at times i've found this very limiting when trying to say something in a poem, and at other times, i've become quote comfortable in the language of it all.

does that make sense?

has anyone else fought there way through this, only to finally become happy with it?

i'd be interested in others thoughts on this ...

now, as for my actual voice ...

a laugh. I'm thinking of the opening scene in "king of marvin gardens"

Tim, first of all, try really hard to get something on YouTube with your voice on it. That would be so cool. We don't have to see you, just hear your voice. In my video, you'll see several of my students (they are so sweet) and you'll hear me prodding one of them along. It was an exercise in letting go, not being so conservative about their choices. You have to be fearless.

Perhaps you need more interaction, or a different kind of interaction, Tim. I think it's okay to have familiar territory that you return to: we all need that. You should be growing, too. You should have the sensation of having a wild ride as you write. You might run into dead ends and you might hit some really open spaces, but it should never feel too familiar. We have to keep pushing ourselves. Failing is better than not trying.

Did I address your concern, or not? :-)

Anyway, got on over to YouTube, so you can hear what I sound like.

Maybe there are other ways of getting our voices to each other; I don't know that much about it. But YouTube just seemed like an obvious way.

Not that I think my voice would be of interest but I have a technical problem. I have no access at this time to a microphone. I know the computer is capable of recording sound because it has a dedicated port for that purpose.

But for now, all are spared my voice.

I will try to do this. I don't do YouTube, but I have an mp3 of myself reading a poem (mine, called "Double Negatives") on the web, and it should be accessible from here! I'll try this (I hate typing url's in tags when I don't know how the site will display them). If it doesn't work, I'll come back and try and fix it.

Cheers...

xenchu: do you have a digital video camera? You could record anything--a lake, flower flowergarden, etc-- and just talk as you're recording. Just a few words so we can hear you. Then upload to YouTube.

abirdman: that was a treat! A witty poem, indeed. Your voice is clear and strong. How or where does one upload one's voice like this?

Come, everyone, let's not be too shy.

Theresa, the recording came from a local CD made almost 10 years ago now, called "A Big Bang of Bards" with about 14 Portland, ME poets participating. I ripped the recording to mp3 and uploaded it to an internet domain that is no longer active, but which I happen to own. The key is to have access to a bit of disk space that also happens to have a url (a web address) that's publicly accessible. I believe it's possible to get a domain name and a web host for about $60/year, and perhaps less if you shop around. It's also possible there are places that will host an mp3 for free, and just give you the address to access it. They do it for photos (Flickr, Picasa), and obviously videos (YouTube, etc.). You might even be able to do it in your Blogger space, though I don't know how that would be done.

I have another poem I'll share, here, called "Lizards".

And I'll formally introduce myself... I'm Jay, with the childhood nickname of Jaybird, hence birdman, which is always "taken," so I often use abirdman as my user name. I hope you're enjoying LibraryThing as much as I am. Your groups are giving me some interesting reading. Thanks.

Theresa, I have no video camera of any type. If I can think of a way to record myself I will do it.

Its not me reading or speaking, but its me singing. Hope you can hear it:

Beyond The Sea

Yes, loud and clear!! That song ("Somewhere Beyond the Sea") opens a fascinating film, "Funny Bones,"which is not at all what its blurbs describe. I wonder if many of you have seen it? It took us several viewings to truly understand it. . . Esta1923

Oh, them small, stripey lizards! I definitely understand that idea of "reptilian" and "tangible." What a wonderful poem, Jay, and how wonderful to hear you reciting it! Thank you!

And I loved hearing "Beyond the Sea." I can't carry a tune in a bucket, so you have my absolute respect in that regard!