I listened to an audio recording of a talk I gave recently on my research, and I sound horrendous. Any lingering hopes of my ever becoming a singer are now completely dashed. My voice is not melodious at all and do not get me started on the accent. (My little girl has managed to change her accent in just four months and now sounds more like her teacher who is English than she sound like me, which is probably a good thing. I, unfortunately, am too old to change my accent).
I had my suspicions about this problem because I often get bored listening to myself when I have to give long lectures to my students. So to break the monotony of my dry voice I try to make my classes as interactive as possible. (But maybe I should not worry too much about how I sound in class because most students don't listen anyhow seeing as they have earphones permanently attached to their ears).
The one good thing about my voice is that it can be very loud. This is useful when I am in the club or when I am having fun with friends because I can scream and shout, and draw a lot of unnecessary attention to myself. (I went wine tasting yesterday and I think I made very good use of my voice by the time we got to the third wine farm. I also vaguely recollect dancing though I doubt if this is typical behaviour in a wine tasting tour).
My plan now is to record a few more of my talks and see how I can improve my speech. Maybe there is a home remedy for this and if so, I am sure it involves honey (refer to my article on 'home remedies'). I will however not put too much effort into it because my energy is better spent on things that I am already good at, like painting and writing. The good writing, by the way, is a pleasant surprise because I have never given it much thought. I am just amazed at how much people enjoy my blog and compliment me on my writing and now, I am dangerously close to writing a long article. cheerio.