It’s October. Some people are back in school. Some people are back in the office. I don’t know anyone who thinks we’re back to normal. Looking out my window the leaves are turning colors in the Hudson Valley and the Berkshire Hills, and I’m reminded that change is the only constant we can count on.
When I was a student at Brown University, I drove the BCO (Brown Community Outreach) van to the south side of Providence and tutored underserved grammar school students in English and math. Growing up on the south side of Chicago I rode in an Art in the Park van, and we set up arts and crafts activities in playgrounds around the neighborhood. Helping others has always been a source of pleasure for me.
So I shouldn’t be surprised that since I began coaching my “medical students,” (voiceover actors who want to further their understanding of and proficiency in medical narration), a year ago, I’ve found a new source of joy in my professional life.
Coaching, Teaching, Mentoring… All Take Trust
My voiceover career is nearing the 20-year mark. Over that time I’ve had coaches (and still do). I’ve had teachers. I’ve had mentors. Just because someone hangs out a shingle saying they provide XYZ service doesn’t mean they are a great teacher, or the right teacher for you. The first person that you have to trust is yourself– trust that you can make an assessment as to whether this person is a good fit for you. Does this teacher have your back? Does your coach celebrate your wins or is there an undercurrent of competition? Does your mentor know that you are the subject of the lesson and not them? Do they have knowledge that you can benefit from? Can they share that knowledge in a way that you can learn from? Can you trust that they are kind and supportive, even as they push you in ways that may feel uncomfortable at first?
If you’re a parent, you know the deep sense of gratification that comes with seeing someone you are nurturing grow; recognizing when something you’ve said resonated in a way that made a difference to them, whether that learning happens over time or in an “Aha!” moment. More Than One Way To Learn
I always excelled in school, finished HS after 3 years, and graduated college Magna Cum Laude. So when not one, not two, but all three of my kids presented with learning differences, it was a challenge for me to understand why and how they were struggling to learn, to read, to express themselves clearly, or to manage the details of a school kid’s daily life. With the help of The Churchill School in Manhattan, (where not only my kids, but I too got an education by extension), I learned that there are many modalities of learning: Visual. Auditory. Kinetic. Not everyone learns the same way. And to teach in only one way means that many of your students will be left by the wayside.
More Than One Way To Learn
I always excelled in school, finished HS after 3 years, and graduated college Magna Cum Laude. So when not one, not two, but all three of my kids presented with learning differences, it was a challenge for me to understand why and how they were struggling to learn, to read, to express themselves clearly, or to manage the details of a school kid’s daily life. With the help of The Churchill School in Manhattan, (where not only my kids, but I too got an education by extension), I learned that there are many modalities of learning: Visual. Auditory. Kinetic. Not everyone learns the same way. And to teach in only one way means that many of your students will be left by the wayside.
Learning Goes Both Ways
As a coach, my approach is to individualize my instruction to meet the needs of each student where they are. Some progress only comes with time, exposure, repetition, study, rehearsal. For instance, the ear is a muscle that must be developed. You can’t get acute hearing just because you want it. I can hear so much more today than I could 10 or 20 years ago because I have worked my ears every day to hear finer and finer differences.
Experience is a great teacher that comes with time. But sometimes a student’s challenge requires me to be more creative in how I present the issue and various ways to address it. This happened recently with one of my students. Since we began working together I noticed his inconsistency with reading every word on the page exactly as written, not adding or subtracting words in the process. (A pretty important skill for any voice actor. Our scripts are our bibles!)
Although I called this to his attention every time it happened, that was not enough to break through this obstacle. So I thought about tools he could use and tasks he could do to address this. One idea was to point to every word on the page as he read his script. Another was to read his script 20 times (a couple of times silently, and the rest of the times in a variety of fashions- slow, fast, without emotion, with emotion, with an accent, and not.) A third approach was to paraphrase the script so he understood its meaning more organically, from within. A fourth was to mark the script to create a roadmap for himself so he knew how to traverse it as smoothly as possible. I was thrilled beyond words to see the progress he had made after he tried these methods. His consistency was 1000% better and the few times he made a mistake he was aware of it and went back to correct it.
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As I continue to explore my passion for coaching and helping others succeed in their VO business, I’ve also been preparing a presentation to help serve on a smaller scale that I will be sharing on November 13th and 14th, 2021, at the MAVO online conference. As with all relationships, the healthy ones go both ways. Giving begets getting. So I’d like to give my readers the opportunity to sign up for this online conference where you can get a taste of what my coaching program has to offer. The 60-minute general session focusing on non-broadcast narration will take place on November 13th, 7-8 pm EDT. I will return on Sunday, November 14th, for a 90-minute breakout session, “Medical Narration: Can Anybody Do It?” from 4:15-5:45 pm EDT. Whether you can attend one or the other, or both, I’d love to see you there. And if you’ve made it this far, I’d also like to extend my gratitude by offering you a promo code (Debbie25) for $25 off your general admission or breakout session with me. This offer will expire on 10/22 at 9 pm ET.
Until then, be safe, be kind, and think about how you can share your gifts with the world!
-Deb
Just finished a session with 
This is a photo of one of my chapstick. My audition for this project was filled with alternative reads (also known as ‘alts’), amongst three reads, and they liked that.