Episode 54: Zooming In on Voice and Speech with Ashleigh Reade
How to reach Ashleigh:
Email: areade@berklee.edu
Boston Conservatory at Berklee
Transcript:
Melissa Milner 0:09
Hi, this is Melissa Milner. Welcome to The Teacher As... podcast. The goal of this weekly podcast is to help you explore your passions and learn from others in education and beyond to better your teacher. The Teacher As... podcast will highlight innovative practices and uncommon parallels in education. So I want to welcome Ashleigh Reade to The Teacher As... Hi, Ashleigh.
Ashleigh Reade 0:31
Hi.
Melissa Milner 0:33
Can you introduce yourself to the listeners?
Ashleigh Reade 0:34
Sure. So I'm Ashleigh Reade. I live in Somerville, Massachusetts, and I'm an assistant professor of theatre at the Boston Conservatory. And then I also teach vocal production with Harvard Extension School and the summer school.
Melissa Milner 0:48
Wow, tell us more about everything that you do and how you got started doing...
Ashleigh Reade 0:54
Yeah, of course. So I teach something called voice and speech and this vocal production class. And it's sort of a nebulous thing. People think that I teach singing, but I don't. I actually teach people how to speak better and communicate better in whatever setting they want to communicate in. And I found this work in college, I actually went to the Boston Conservatory in their musical theater program. And sophomore year, I went into voice and speech class, and the first day I said, "Oh, my gosh, I'm gonna do this with my life." So that's how that happened. And I've been working on it ever since. Yeah.
Melissa Milner 1:32
Wow. So when you decided you were going to start doing this? Did you see it... Like, did you see it... Oh, this will help... Like, what group of people were you thinking it would help?
Ashleigh Reade 1:45
Yeah. Well, you know, I went to graduate school. I have an MFA in voice pedagogy. I went to a now non existent program at the American Repertory Theater, they used to have a graduate program. And so there I was really studying voice and speech for actors. And I still do that work. I mean, I teach at the Conservatory, and I'm working with actors. But my favorite thing to do is to work with what I call Muggles. No offense to nontheater population, but I use that word. Because I feel like everybody deserves to say what's inside their head. I mean, it's a, it's a uniquely human ability to talk about things that aren't concrete that aren't directly in front of us. And so, a lot of folks, they get stuck in that, oh, I have an idea. But I want to express it. And it's in that expressing where a lot of our tensions and our insecurities happened. So now my favorite thing to do is work with the Muggle population as it were, because a lot of actors, they can say whatever they want, right? They're used to communicating. But it's, it's a lot more fun and a lot more rewarding, frankly, to work with folks who feel like, Oh, I just can't express what I'm thinking.
Melissa Milner 3:03
Yeah, that's so interesting. So it sounds like it's not necessarily just, you know, not saying um.
Ashleigh Reade 3:13
Exactly,
Melissa Milner 3:15
Yeah.
Ashleigh Reade 3:17
We call um a vocal filler, and everybody uses it. What we don't want to do is start with the um where we say, um, well, I think that it ended up that can sometimes get distracting. But an um hearing there an ah here and there, no big deal.
Melissa Milner 3:30
Right? Right. And I know, I do a lot of editing for this podcast, and a lot of the times people (tsk smack sound) before they talk, take all those out. And like, is that like a nervous thing? Or is it just just a habit?
Ashleigh Reade 3:45
Yeah, you know, the smack is interesting, because we all we all do it at times, it usually comes from inhaling from a closed mouth. I'll do a little bit of biology here, a little bit of anatomy. So we can breathe in either through the nose or through the mouth. And the interesting thing about breath is our body takes care of it through our, through our autonomic nervous system, the body breathes itself. And then we switch over when we want to communicate an idea, we switch over to the central nervous system. So it's moving our diaphragm up and down to get the air in and out. autonomic can do it without us noticing it. And then we have an idea and the central nervous system moves the diaphragm. So when we have that idea, if we're breathing in from the closed mouth, we hear that smack. Right? So we have that idea. And we take in the breath for that idea. And we start to talk but if we can think about having more relaxed, a more relaxed jaw, or slightly open mouth space, that we don't hear that smack before we take a breath in.
Melissa Milner 4:48
Oh, that makes so much sense.
Ashleigh Reade 4:50
Yeah.
Melissa Milner 4:52
Yeah, cuz it's always right before the person talks. It's so funny I can completely see the sound waves and it's just this little boop. And I have to take those out that's so interesting. Yeah the ums, the ums come at the beginning, throughout, yeah, but the (tsk sound) comes right at the beginning. Interesting. So back to the Muggles.
Ashleigh Reade 5:14
Yes, the Muggles. We love the Muggles.
Melissa Milner 5:17
You know, I have some theater experience, but I would not ever call myself a theatre person at this stage in my life. You know, I'm a teacher, I'm trying to podcast with my students, and I'm trying to remember all the vocal warm ups and, and, you know, all those, how do I get them ready to then do the vocal performance. And then during the vocal performance, you know, their pace, their emphasis, their diction, their tone, their you know, volume and and, you know, the volume? I mean, there's so many things the volume, if they're in front of a mic with a with a wind with a wind screen, or are they across from somebody, and they have a little small pocket recorder? Like how you know, ah, help.
Ashleigh Reade 6:01
How do we do it? Yeah. So, you know, voice, voice and communication are an action, right? We don't actually make sound until we decide to do so. Sound is it just a vibration of the vocal folds that's manipulated in these weird face bones and muscles that we have. But but it comes from a thought. And because of that, I like to always think about a point of intention or a point that I'm trying to reach. So even if they have that, that screen in front of the mic, and are sort of talking to nowhere, can they bring their eyes to a point that they're trying to hit? Can they have a sense of trying to affect or reach an audience, even if that audience is a coffee cup? Right, so that you're giving them something to reach for even now, you know, I'm looking at a black screen, but I'm looking right in an icon to try to feel like oh, yeah, I'm reaching Melissa, even though I can't actually see her.
Melissa Milner 6:55
Right.
Ashleigh Reade 6:57
So that's really helpful. I think
Melissa Milner 6:58
That makes it more feeling like you're performing or connecting.
Ashleigh Reade 7:03
Yeah, that you're in conversation. It's a feedback loop that we're looking for. by that. I mean, we breathe in, we express the thought, we see it reached the person or the coffee cup or the, you know, flower pot, and then we breathe back in that response. So speaking is as much listening as it is actually making sound.
Melissa Milner 7:26
Yes.
Ashleigh Reade 7:26
It's in that constant loop. And then you ask me another question about warmups, but I forget what it is.
Melissa Milner 7:31
Yeah, I'll get back to that. I just back to what you just said is the listening. So you know, we did do... We did do a segment where I had two students one was like, knew everything about snowboarding, the other knew everything about skiing, and they wanted to do like a debate and they wanted to write a script. I said, No, you guys don't need a script. Just talk. And I felt it was amazing. But when a kid has a script in front of them, it definitely changes it to more of a stilted performance. The chat was so dynamic. And how, you know, again, I have a theater background. I was a theater minor, but I didn't teach theater like how do I how do I get these students to understand even though it's scripted, try to make it sound conversational. Try to make it sound Yeah.
Ashleigh Reade 8:29
So this is a really interesting thing. And it's something that I think all voice teachers are constantly dealing with. And, and to me, we have sort of two points of entry into it. The background of this is that our brains help our diaphragm and our lungs and our respiratory system, take in the exact right amount of air to express our thought. Meaning that I'm not telling myself Oh, breathe in this much or breathe here. When I'm talking right now, you know, I'm talking conversationally or extemporaneously to you, right? So our brains know exactly what to do. It's unconscious. It's an amazing thing that we learn in childhood. If you have children in your life, you kind of they sometimes run out of breath, because their respiratory system in their brain isn't quite lined up yet. But then we get really good at this. So then we're presented with a script, and it's not our own thought process. So our body goes, Oh, where do I breathe? Do I breathe at the end of this sentence? Do I do it on punctuation? What exactly am I doing here?
Melissa Milner 9:33
And just to interject, it's a script that they wrote it, you know.
Ashleigh Reade 9:37
Doesn't matter.
Melissa Milner 9:38
Exactly, exactly. I'm like, do we literally treat it like a script and like highlight or put a note where you should breathe? You know?
Ashleigh Reade 9:46
No, I think that's really, that's going to make it harder.
Melissa Milner 9:50
Okay.
Ashleigh Reade 9:51
I like to remind people that when we read, we're reading in words and sentences, but when we communicate when we actually speak, we're speaking in thoughts and images. So if you can go through that script that they wrote and bracket around the thought, right, instead of saying, Oh, this is a sentence, a thought might be a few words, or it might be three sentences, but where are you switching subject matter? And then you can start to offer these thoughts with that intentionality to the thing that you're talking to, again, coffee pot, another human, whatever it is, you can offer the thought, rather than simply read the sentence. And the biggest thing that that can start to happen when you think about thoughts versus the sentences is you combat what I call devoicing. Devoicing is this. If I were to say, "Hi, my name is Ashleigh Reade." That's no fun. So when we when we devoice, we kind of trail off at the end of that thought, or we trail off towards the period if we're reading a script.
Melissa Milner 10:55
Yes, that's what the kids are doing. Yes, yes.
Ashleigh Reade 10:58
But if you saw them actually talking to their friends, they probably drive their energy through to the end of the thought.
Melissa Milner 11:05
Yes.
Ashleigh Reade 11:06
And they would do what I call lift it up before you put it down. So instead of saying Hi, my name is Ashley Reed, they can say, "Hi, my name is Ashleigh Reade, RE-ADE." And so I'm lifting up before I put it down, and it feels a little mechanical at first, but then you start to practice it, and it's no big deal.
Melissa Milner 11:23
Huh. Okay. I'm just my brain's like exploding right now. So how do you practice it?
Ashleigh Reade 11:32
Yeah. Well, you have that script. And it's really about habits. So it it's so hard to take on a new vocal habit because we're, we are our voice. You know, we have all this, these phrases in our language, you don't have to have a voice. I'm voicing my idea of voicing my opinion, right? So it's very personal. But if they're reading that script, they can point out to each other and you can point out to them or they can record themselves.
Melissa Milner 12:01
Yeah, yeah.
Ashleigh Reade 12:02
I'm constantly doing this downward devoicing inflection.
Melissa Milner 12:06
Yes.
Ashleigh Reade 12:06
Duh de duh de duh. Duh de duh de duh. Or some folks do up talk Duh de duh de duh. Duh de duh de duh Duh de duh de duh...Right? That's another one that we hear.
Melissa Milner 12:16
Yeah.
Ashleigh Reade 12:17
But if they can hear that habit, then they can start to put a new habit in. My name is Ashleigh RE-ADE. And they might have to really you know, I went to the store or they might have to practice it that slowly.
Melissa Milner 12:29
Yeah.
Ashleigh Reade 12:30
But they'll start to get it and it's about... what's the... see I just smacked? Listen to that. It's, it's about stopping yourself when you hear the habit. Yeah, no, I'm going to create a new neural pathway in the brain here. And I'm going to do something different. I just did it there diff-erent.
Melissa Milner 12:51
So are there YouTube videos about about this devoicing and how to combat it? Can you create something that teachers can use? Because cuz I can hear what's wrong with what the kids are doing? They're, you know, they're racing through their words. You know, the diction is just not there. They're nervous, like, but like, I can hear what's wrong. I don't necessarily know how to name it and fix it for them.
Ashleigh Reade 13:19
Yeah, I think recording again is a really useful thing.
Melissa Milner 13:24
Yeah.
Ashleigh Reade 13:25
If you can record them or they can record themselves explaining something that they're very excited about, or teaching something that they're very excited about sharing. You'll hear all this wonderful vocal variety right we'll hear different pitch will hear different rate so the speed through the words we'll hear different volume, and we won't hear played as much devoicing.
Melissa Milner 13:48
Right, that's what happened when those girls just came on and talked about what they were passionate about and knew a lot about it. I mean, it's it was such a contrast. The the other perform the other work was great, the other you know, recordings were great. It was just so different to listen to.
Ashleigh Reade 14:07
Yeah. One is alive, and one isn't. One is based on thought process. And one is written language.
Melissa Milner 14:14
Yeah.
Ashleigh Reade 14:15
Right. And so that's really the difference. And I think too, I work with a lot of acting teachers, and I'll come in and I'll teach voice. And and folks tend to get in their heads when we say, oh, bring your volume up here or bring your pitch up here. They get very self conscious and we don't want to hear a self conscious speaker. But if they can hear themselves when they're passionate when they're really trying to explicate something to someone, they'll hear everything that you want in that scripted version.
Melissa Milner 14:46
Yeah. Oh, that's so interesting. Wow. So So again, I am I am asking you to start a web series or
Ashleigh Reade 14:56
I know. I need to do this in my in my spare time.
Melissa Milner 14:59
But specifically for teacher, you know, for teachers who are wanting to any public speaking, you know, high school teachers, I think would really, you know, how can you help your students sound more natural when they're, you know, this is amazing.
Ashleigh Reade 15:14
I do a lot of coaching for folks who are again, Muggles, but business folks, I recently coached somebody who was auditioning to, she wrote a book, and she was auditioning to read her own audio book to be the audiobook voice. And we were working together and she wasn't quite getting it. And then all of a sudden, she said, "Ah, oh, it's like, I'm reading to my grandchildren."
Melissa Milner 15:39
Awww...
Ashleigh Reade 15:40
And I thought, Oh, yeah, that that might really be it that you want to make these images come to life, because when we're speaking, we can't give the audience another chance to go back on the information. If they have a book in front of them. They can reread as many times as they want. But if you have that one chance, and you think about talking to you know, a five year old, oh, well, then I did this. And then it was so cool. But then we did this, and then it looked like that. And then you get this great expressivity in the voice.
Melissa Milner 16:10
Yeah. And it's funny because I took a course to see if I could maybe do voiceovers. And yeah, and you know, they had me read like a commercial type of script. And I was done with it. And they gave me feedback. They said, "Yeah, you should be doing audio books for kids." I'm like, yeah, I'm too dramatic. I'm too... I emote too much.
Ashleigh Reade 16:33
Well, it's a fine line. Right. So I tend to be overdramatic, too. But again, it's this question of habit. So for some folks, you know, they are, quote unquote, dramatic is going to be just enough expressivity.
Melissa Milner 16:46
Right.
Ashleigh Reade 16:47
You know, so when you say to a 16 year old, who tends to be a little bit maybe downplayed in their energy to talk as if they're reading to a child, they're going to come up to the amount that you want.
Melissa Milner 16:58
Right? Oh, that's so interesting. So with this, this is very helpful. Thank you so much, because then now I can, I can go and do my research and see if I can find these types of resources for teachers who want...
Ashleigh Reade 17:14
Well, I'm gonna start a web series now.
Melissa Milner 17:16
A web series or a blog, even, you know, just you know, here are some great ways you could just curate, you know, here are great resources for this year. Great. That would be amazing.
Ashleigh Reade 17:29
But it's also good to just hear examples, right?
Melissa Milner 17:32
Yeah.
Ashleigh Reade 17:32
So you can play an example of someone constantly going like this, and constantly going like this...
That's what I did.
Yes.
Melissa Milner 17:39
In my episode, I think it was Episode Two vocal performance for podcasting with students. I played, I'm like, so what did you hear? Like I played it? And I said, so what did you hear? And I said, and I heard this, and then this is what I could do to help that. So I did some of that. But that was from a very novice, you know, I don't know. I'm like, get your speech and language people on this. Get sure you know, that, yeah, you have people in your building that might be able to help with you know, diction, and, you know, slowing it down. But I think sometimes like you said, if you're going for the meaning, your pace might automatically slow down.
Change. Yeah, it's going to definitely change and that the thing about going from meaning as we start to elevate the operative words, that's a word we use a lot in voice and speech land. But operative words are the most important word in the thought.
Yeah, like the, where you put the emphasis?
Ashleigh Reade 18:36
Exactly. But if you're speaking extemporaneously, if you're really trying to communicate something, your emphasis will automatically be correct.
Melissa Milner 18:43
Yes.
Ashleigh Reade 18:44
If you're reading a script, and maybe not quite so much, and you have to go through and say, Oh, yeah, that's the operative word that I want to elevate in some way. But that's the amazing thing about passion is it takes care of so many things.
Melissa Milner 18:58
Yes.
Ashleigh Reade 18:59
Intentionality takes care of it. And the other thing to remember, you know, in terms of diction, so articulation, the movement of the speech, muscles, everybody is going to do that differently. Depending on the setting that they're in. You speak to your grandparents differently than you speak to your friends, you speak to your teachers differently than you speak to your partner. Right? And that's okay, it's okay to have a different way of using those muscles. I was gonna say musculature and I said muscles like, I put them together, you're gonna have a different way of using it depending on context.
Melissa Milner 19:31
Yes.
Ashleigh Reade 19:32
Just like we you know, we go to ballet class or we go running, we're using the muscles differently. And that's okay.
Melissa Milner 19:38
Interesting. I do wonder so I mean, are you a fan of a tongue twister or do you not see them as valuable?
Ashleigh Reade 19:47
You know, it's a party trick, right? It's fun to do. What we're going for, I think as speech teachers and this is definitely a change in the past probably five or 10 years. We're going for options, we're going for flexibility, there's going to be moments where you want to be more precise. Right now when I'm talking to you, or when I'm talking to my students, I'm going for more precision because I'm explaining ideas. When I'm speaking to my husband and my daughter, well, A. my range is probably a little bit up here. And then I go down is a simple fry and stuff like that. And my articulation is pretty sloppy in I wouldn't use the word sloppy, but an outside person might, I might say, "Can you hand me that thing (slurred)" Which is can you hand me that thing? Right? Because I have a familiarity with that. And, and I think folks are sometimes hesitant to, to not quote unquote, be themselves.
Melissa Milner 20:42
Yeah.
Ashleigh Reade 20:42
But we have many different selves.
Melissa Milner 20:45
Right. So a tongue, doing a tongue twister.
Ashleigh Reade 20:50
Yeah.
Melissa Milner 20:51
Before something that you know, you know, you have really medical words to say they're really hard to say, yeah, that's when you would
Ashleigh Reade 21:00
I like them. I mean, I think there are other maybe more effective warmups, one of my favorite things to do
Melissa Milner 21:05
Good segue. Excellent job.
Ashleigh Reade 21:09
It's like I teach. It's so weird. One of my favorite things to do that I did before I came on to the podcast with you, is just tongue circles. So I circled the tongue around my teeth, like I'm trying to get my breakfast out of my teeth, and you go both directions. And then we can do some tongue trills. Kind of like you're blowing a raspberry. Like that.
Melissa Milner 21:32
I have a quick question.
Ashleigh Reade 21:33
Yeah.
Melissa Milner 21:34
Is your mouth open or closed, when you're doing the tongue circles?
Ashleigh Reade 21:38
It's basically closed, but you might have a little bit of opening, I wouldn't worry too much about it.
Melissa Milner 21:42
Okay.
Ashleigh Reade 21:43
So think closed and if it opens a little, that's okay. And then I always end with a very attractive exercise, where I stick my tongue out, and I keep it out. And I try to say the alphabet is clearly as possible. A,B,C, D, E, F, G. And at some point, I have to pat myself on the back. I think I'm pretty clear. H, I, J, K, L, M, N, O, P
Melissa Milner 22:08
Wow.
Ashleigh Reade 22:11
You want to be as clear as you can. And that's going to create some space that's going to get more flexibility in the tone.
Melissa Milner 22:16
Oh, that's great.
Ashleigh Reade 22:18
Yeah, that's a fun one. So I always ended with that. But I think that's probably even more useful than a tongue twister, because you're actually moving things in a new way.
Melissa Milner 22:28
So speaking of warming up, I usually have, you know, I'm usually doing these interviews in the morning. And, and now it's happening again, but I usually have some hot tea. But there's always that little bit of phlegm. And so, I mean, anytime I just, you know, do some of my old vocal because I was also I also sang in high school, and yeah, I do some of those. And that helps a lot. But I mean, is there any, like for teachers, teachers, you know, we talk all day long. And after a vacation, I have such like an actual sore throat the first couple days back. Do you have any like, like switch switching gears here? Like an actual practical for teachers' voices?
Ashleigh Reade 23:18
Yeah, it's a great question. I get a lot of emails about that on my LinkedIn, frankly. So as far as hydration and hot tea and things like that, to me, that's a 24 hours before game, because you have two different little again, anatomy here, you have two different pipes, basically. And when we say it went down the wrong pipe, we really mean that it went down the wrong pipe. So you have your trachea, where your vocal folds are and your air goes through, we call that the wind pipe as well. And then you also have the esophagus where your food and your drink goes down. Right? So when you drink water, you're actually not getting to the vocal folds. That would be really bad. You'd be choking. So you have to hydrate the day before so you canit can get through your whole body. And you know, maybe you have a dry mouth and you want to have water with you totally but it's good to know that it's not actually going to that place where you're feeling the mucus.
Melissa Milner 24:13
Oh, that's fascinating.
Ashleigh Reade 24:15
Yeah, exactly. It's it's a it's a fool's game in a way.
Melissa Milner 24:19
It's really about hydrating your body ahead of time. Yeah.
Ashleigh Reade 24:22
Exactly. The vocal folds are these very delicate little mucous membranes that we vibrate together mean that we're asking so much of them. And the thing about you know, warming up and that mucus that starts to happen, the minute we start to talk, there's a lot of vibration going on. So anything that's up in the the nasal pharynx, that's up where our noses and the back of the throat and then the sinus cavity that kind of gets vibrated down. So, if you can, you know, a walk, some yoga, even just running around your bedroom to get things moving before you have to talk is really useful. Sleep is really important. Nutrition is really important. Again, it's a systemic sort of thing. We're using the whole body to do this.
Melissa Milner 25:09
Yeah. And is it like should you avoid dairy? Like, you know, that whole...
Ashleigh Reade 25:13
I don't I think obviously, if you have a dairy allergy you should eat right? If you're feeling especially mucousy, maybe. But it's, that's not something that I'm super concerned with, I'm sure other people would have a different opinion. But I think you know, as long as you're eating well, you're moving your body, it's going to help with this action of voice that is that is a multiple system action.
Melissa Milner 25:37
Right? So the talking all day thing, like is there a certain pitch or register, we should be talking in to save our voice or...
Ashleigh Reade 25:49
You know, to me, most vocal fatigue comes from excess tension. And it's usually in the neck, the throat, the shoulders, the abdomen, it can even be in our butt muscles, or in our feet inside our shoes. It really is where are you holding that you don't need to hold. And that's why I always recommend yoga or even Alexander Technique. So you're thinking about posture, and where you're gripping, and where you can maybe let go of a little bit.
Melissa Milner 26:24
And then and then yeah, I mean breathing, obviously would have breathing. Yeah,
Ashleigh Reade 26:28
That's the next thing. So we breathe into our lungs, but we also have to have a softness in in the abdomen, the belly muscles to allow the diaphragm to move. So releasing there, releasing in the shoulders, releasing in the rib cage is really important. And then I often tell teachers or public speakers to think up and over, so they're not sort of pressing down into their voice which is going to get very fatiguing, if they're kind of bogged down in here to think that you're speaking out the third eye or that space right in between your eyebrows. So we're just up and over a little bit more and then you won't press down on the vocal folds and on the larynx.
Melissa Milner 27:05
That's very interesting. I like that too. I would assume most of our listeners know what Yoga is but I think I think you said Alexander Technique?
Ashleigh Reade 27:14
Yes, Alexander Technique. FM Alexander he was an actor I forget his main years of operation so forgive me for that but an actor who found he was continuously losing his voice. And so Alexander Technique is is basically a postural modality it's a bodywork modality that focuses on the spine and having a lengthened back of your neck so often when we say you know stand up straight people over arch in the chest. And that's just another form of tension. But Alexander Technique focuses on this lengthening through the back of the neck, energy up and out through the forehead, so that you're not leading with your chin.
Melissa Milner 28:00
I do it all the time. Oh my god, the PT person was like put your chin in...I was like what?
Ashleigh Reade 28:08
Yes, exactly. So that that's what we're thinking about here. If we have that long back of the neck, we can think up and over in the voice we can release excess tension in the torso so we have more space for our breath. And there's a bunch of Alexander practitioners in Massachusetts the Alexander... Alexander Technique center of Cambridge is where I go and it's just a masterful technique.
Melissa Milner 28:32
Wow. Like you go there like you'd go to a yoga class?
Ashleigh Reade 28:35
No, private lesson so okay, she's in bunches and bunches of Alexander teachers there's probably if you went if you googled Alexander Technique you would find...
Melissa Milner 28:45
Yeah.
Ashleigh Reade 28:46
Tons of resources.
Melissa Milner 28:47
Oh, another rabbit hole. Okay.
Ashleigh Reade 28:49
No, it's extremely useful it it kind of blends into OT as well occupational therapy.
Melissa Milner 28:54
Okay.
Ashleigh Reade 28:55
And folks who are doing repetitive sort of movements so standing all day at a Blackboard or writing at a whiteboard and typing all day. That's something that could be very... it could benefit from some Alexander.
Melissa Milner 29:07
That sound... I've.. sign me up. Okay, cool.
Ashleigh Reade 29:10
Yeah. It's awesome.
Melissa Milner 29:11
So what are you zooming in on in your work right now? (Zooming In soundbite.)
Ashleigh Reade 29:16
Yeah, so I just actually a little personal plug because I'm proud of my my getting my act together. I just presented at the voice and speech trainers conference was called VASTA conference. On this idea, I'm really interested in bringing a circular learning model into the college conservatory classroom. So that instead of thinking in a linear way, where we are doing this unit, and then this unit and then this unit, thinking of spirals through the semester, where we are applying a concept and looking at different ways to go through the concept in in three different projects. So it's also a project based learning model. It's really fun, I teach something called Fitzmorris voice work that is a linear sort of trajectory. We do something called destructuring. And then we do restructuring. And then we play. It's the work of a woman named Katherine Fitzmorris. She's a famed voice teacher. But I'm thinking about making that a spiral instead in the constant lens of application. So that's what I'm zooming in on.
Melissa Milner 30:29
I wonder if that's similar to, you know, project based learning that we do in K to 12. It sounds like a wonderful idea to bring that more flexible...it's focused, but it's more flexible. Yeah, to call to college to conservatories. Yeah.
Ashleigh Reade 30:47
Exactly. And these are artistic people who, you know, get very wound up and doing it right, in wanting to be good. And we can all share that feeling. So I've broken it down into these three projects. The first one is to tell a personal story. The second one is to create a radio play from a children's book. And then in the third one, they do a monologue.
Melissa Milner 30:53
Oh, great.
Ashleigh Reade 30:57
And we're exploring what it means to use this Fitzmorris voicework in each of the projects, and then I also completely gave up grading. So we're doing all student based assessment. Now I do assign a grade at the end, we have to you know, that's the departmental requirement, but they are grading themselves, and oh, my goodness, it's a much more pleasant atmosphere. It's certainly more joyful, and they do better work.
Melissa Milner 31:36
Yeah. That's like a whole philosophy discussion. Oh, yeah.
Ashleigh Reade 31:41
Oh, yeah.
Melissa Milner 31:41
That's fantastic. Do they still get an actual grade? At the end you said?
Ashleigh Reade 31:48
Yes, I have to that's right.
But when you're giving, you're giving feedback all along, I would assume?
Yeah, I created an assessment form. So they answer four questions. And then I answer the same four questions. And then we have a meeting to discuss.
Melissa Milner 32:03
Oh, that's See that's so much more meaningful.
Ashleigh Reade 32:06
Right? And I know them better. And you know, we we enjoy each other.
Melissa Milner 32:11
That's fantastic. How can people reach you we're going to wrap up Was there anything else you wanted to talk about first before I...
Ashleigh Reade 32:19
You know, I... this is always what I say whenever I'm teaching boys, but but I think our work now as much as we focus on sound and we want to sound clear, we want to sound professional, we want to sound all these different things, to know that everybody's going to sound different, and that's fine. To think less about a standard style of speaking and more about individual styles of communication and to honor that and encourage it. To know that you know, vocal fry is okay. And, and having a more nasal voice is okay, and having a really airy voice is okay. That they're all ways of sharing our ideas with the world.
Melissa Milner 33:03
Yes, that does remind me this vocal fry, can that actually hurt your throat like your...
Ashleigh Reade 33:14
If you're really pressing down with a lot of force, maybe but in general, it's it just means that you're no longer vibrating the vocal folds. And we all do it.
Melissa Milner 33:23
It's not damaging. It's not damaging. Ok
Ashleigh Reade 33:25
No, it's just a way of communicating.
Melissa Milner 33:28
Okay. Interesting. Because I try you know, that's one of the things I commented on, on one of my students was she was going like that.
Ashleigh Reade 33:36
Yeah, but you know, you listen to commercials these days. And most of the voiceovers have vocal.
Melissa Milner 33:41
Yeah. Yeah.
Ashleigh Reade 33:43
You know, it's casual. It's familiar. It's contemporary.
Melissa Milner 33:47
That's so it's that is really, it's so true. Like you said earlier. It just depends on the circumstance, you know. Yeah,
Ashleigh Reade 33:55
Exactly.
Melissa Milner 33:56
Absolutely. So is LinkedIn the best way to reach you? Do they have other social media?
Ashleigh Reade 34:05
Yeah, you know, you can also find me on the Boston Conservatory website or on the Harvard Extension School website. I'm there I am actually leaving Facebook and Instagram. I'm leaving it behind.
Melissa Milner 34:15
AHHH...
Ashleigh Reade 34:16
I know. I'm very pleased. It's my gift to myself. But LinkedIn is still going to be there. So that's great. Or or on my school's websites.
Melissa Milner 34:24
Excellent. Excellent. So here's the last question I ask every guest.
Ashleigh Reade 34:28
Yeah.
Melissa Milner 34:29
What is your favorite movie? And why?
Ashleigh Reade 34:32
Oh, oh, my gosh.
Melissa Milner 34:36
I'm a movie buff. So that's why ask.
Ashleigh Reade 34:39
Oh, I love that. Okay. My favorite movie is a movie called Synecdoche, New York.
Melissa Milner 34:45
Ah.
Ashleigh Reade 34:47
Have you ever seen it?
Melissa Milner 34:48
Yes.
Ashleigh Reade 34:49
Oh, starring the late great Philip Seymour Hoffman.
Melissa Milner 34:52
Love him.
Ashleigh Reade 34:52
Catherine Keener. I know. And I find it to be the most incredible story and I just want to be in the the brain of the person that thought of it.
Melissa Milner 35:02
Yes. Was that no that wasn't Kaufman. Was it?
Ashleigh Reade 35:07
I think it may have been.
Melissa Milner 35:08
I can't remember who did it. Yeah. Oh, that Yeah, just so I haven't seen it since it came out. Now I'm gonna have to watch it again.
Ashleigh Reade 35:16
I own the DVD. That's how much I like it. And do I even have a DVD player?
Melissa Milner 35:21
I know at this point, it's not even in our laptops anymore. Well, this is great. So you just think it's you just love it because it was just so different creative and real.
Ashleigh Reade 35:37
It's so real and it speaks to I'm a big another conversation for another days mental health. And so I I'm just such an advocate of speaking more about that. And I feel like the movie touched on that. And I felt like it just spoke to the uniquely frustrating the horrifying, joyful, act of being a human.
Melissa Milner 36:01
Yes. Oh, wow. Wow. Yeah, I definitely have to revisit that one. So thank you so much, Ashleigh. This was amazing. And I will definitely be picking your brain throughout the school year.
Ashleigh Reade 36:14
I love it. I love it. I'll talk about vocal health all day or anything. Awesome.
Melissa Milner 36:19
Thank you.
Ashleigh Reade 36:20
Thank you.
Melissa Milner 36:22
If you enjoyed this episode, and have not done so already, please hit the subscribe button for The Teacher As... podcast so you can get future episodes. I would love for you to leave a review and a rating as well if you have time. For my blog, transcripts of this episode, and links to any resources mentioned visit my website at www.theteacheras. com. You can reach me on Twitter and Instagram at Melissa B Milner. And I hope you check out The Teacher As... Facebook page for episode updates. I am sending a special thanks to Linda and Lester Fleishman, my mom and dad, for being so supportive. They are the voices you hear in the Zooming In soundbite and my dad composed and performed the background music you are listening to right now. My intro music was Upbeat Party by Scott Holmes. So what are you zooming in on? I would love to hear from you. My hope is that we all share what we are doing in the classroom in order to teach, remind, affirm and inspire each other. Thanks for listening. And that's a wrap.