Wednesday, June 4, 2008

Finding Your Voice

Self expression is incredibly important, especially in a time when we communicate so often through mediums that do not require any actual talking. There are so many ways to connect with a reader, whether it is one's tone, choice of phrasing, level of formality, use of visuals; everything we do in terms of presentation effects our voice.

Eddie Louise and Chip of the blog entitled Interchanging Idioms, have decided to use their voice to express their feelings about classical music, the performing arts in general, as well as their own efforts to create an opera that speaks to modern audiences. The initial feeling one gets from reading their posts is that these bloggers like writing a very cohesive way so as to give the reader an informative and straight forward post.

In one blog entitled Is the Monkey searching for Immortality, or is Opera searching for something new, the bloggers create an informal, yet incredibly insightful and informative atmosphere.
The original production was done at the Manchester International Festival last year to rave reviews and will likely get the same in the US. Damon Albarn, the composer and lead singer for British pop band Blur, says "Monkey" is a "new kind of thing." And so it is, sort of...

I was struck by his last phrase that ends with the "...". He choice of words was interesting to me because it is more as if he is in the room talking to you rather than writing his thoughts. Instead of "sort of", he could have written "to an extent", or something along those lines. While he writes a bit more as if he is actually talking, he likes to be descriptive by giving several details. In this section be brought up the Manchester International Festival and the rave reviews the play received at this festival.

In a second post entitled, Broadway, Music worthy a listen, I found the choices he made in tone to be interesting. There were a couple of instances in which he could have gone on into a rant, or used a touch of sarcasm, yet he avoids both entirely to keep the integrity of his post.
Maybe it's not the music that is treated so disparagingly - but the performers. Maybe, because Broadway is ultimately about making a profit so fewer musicians are hired (often a sticking point for negotiations with the musicians union), or orchestrations are trimmed to make it easier to mount productions without extensive rehearsals. The drive for profitability drags down the quality and so the classical world looks down on the music form in general.


There is a lack of adjectives in this section of the blog. The words used are very safe and to the point. The writers do not take time to poke fun at or demean the topic by using flowery language that would create more of a mental image for the reader.

I found that this blogger's voice is a bit more serious than some other bloggers on the internet. The topic of classical music and the performing arts is incredibly important to them, especially since they are in the business and creating an opera of their own. I feel as though they sometimes let their writing get in the way of their voice. It is clear they like the idea of being more informal with their readers so as to create more of a discussion atmosphere. However, I think there was room for them to be more light hearted with their posts. Their "too the point" voice could have been a bit more fun had they used different adjectives. By doing so, they would still provide the reader with an educational post, but they would have shown a bit more personality.





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