The Voice

Check out the audio recording and then read my reflections afterward. It's not playing on Firefox for me but is on Google Chrome so try that if you have issues:

http://www.schandler.net/LaurensGranny.mp4
(Kudos to my super savvy techy law school buddy for setting up this audio link for me)

(Sorry for the "this is just a test" because it ended up working alright and not being a test after all.)

For this assignment we were asked to make a 3-5 minute recording of a conversation with a friend in order to analyze the voices for pace, volume, energy, pitch, and tone. I try to call my 89 year-old grandmother every week so when I was considering which of my friends would serve as a good subject for this audio assignment I figured I might as well kill two birds with one stone and get my weekly chat in with my granny while updating the blog.

As far as content goes (not the point of the assignment) I'll give you the brief recap: I called thinking we would talk about Thanksgiving which my grandmother is hosting at her house here in Austin this Thursday. She chatted about who was coming a little bit, but then she jumped right into her concerns about my aunt, who has been in a rehab facility since she broke her hip. I just learned from this conversation that although she had been progressing and was using a walker that she's recently had to use a wheelchair again. My grandmother sounded very down about it, and I could tell she was distracted by something the moment she picked up the phone.

Back to the real assignment:
Volume: Sorry folks, I'm much louder than she is because I had her on speaker phone and I was right next to the recorder (and she's hard of hearing so I pretty much always pick up the volume when I'm on the phone with her). Since my grandmother is doing most of the talking, I'll talk more about her voice here. Her volume is pretty consistent but her voice gets lower and she sounds more upset generally as she's lamenting the fact that her daughter/my aunt is back in a wheelchair and may not be making it to Thanksgiving. Her volume is the lowest when she said something along the lines of "oh boy, that girl... something's always wrong."

I was pretty loud the whole time so it's hard to really gauge differences in my volume, but I got a little louder (with the "Oh no!") when I heard my aunt was back in a wheelchair. Upon listening to this I think I don't really sound as concerned about the situation as I am/ought to sound and I think that's probably because I was conscious that I was being recorded.

Pace: I tried to keep the pace picked up because my grandmother sounded a bit slower than usual. I thought maybe she was just tired since I called after 9:30 but I think she felt a bit down because of the disappointing news. Her pace slowed quite a bit as she discussed my aunt's regression but then picked back up when she directed the conversation at me and asked how I've been doing.

Energy: Maybe it's because I was being self-conscious but I can tell now that I was trying to get her to talk so I could avoid talking a lot on this recording. When she asks me questions I answer briefly and then redirect her back to Thanksgiving (at the beginning and at the end). I usually try to keep the energy up when I talk to her because her favorite pastime is to worry about all the family members so I try to give her as little to fuss about as possible with regard to being stressed about law school, life in general, answers to questions about things she doesn't need to concern herself with.

Pitch/Tone: I'm not sure if this belongs in tone, but I realized when I listened to the recording that I asked a question she had already told me the answer to (whether or not my aunt would be joining us for Thanksgiving), and you can also hear me typing in the background (bad granddaughter, multi-tasking while on the phone getting bad news about family members... for shame). You can tell that I'm a bit distracted (watching to make sure I'm not recording for too long, typing something up in the background, thinking about the sound quality) so my tone changes where I'm not really paying attention contrasted with my interjections and exclamations when I remember I need to respond and stay engaged in the conversation. I think overall my tone during conversations with my granny is a lot peppier and more bubbly than the way I actually speak in real life. Or maybe I'm just not used to hearing myself recorded.

Not sure that this was the best example but I'm betting no one else records their octogenarian grandmother for a class assignment...