It is less than gratifying to know that a vocal challenge I have noticed for years has now become a full blown “trend.” If you haven’t seen the “Vocal Fry” report by
Faith Salie (a PBS host, sometime actress and contributor to CBS Sunday Morning)
please click on the YouTube link. You
might have read about this “trend” in the New York Times or seen it discussed
on television morning shows. Google “Vocal Fry” and you can zip through over 6
million hits. Google “vocal fry
celebrities” and names like Kim Kardashian, Katy Perry and
Britney Spears pop up. And like,
uh, if you don’t know what vocal fry IS, then stay tuned.
Briefly, Vocal Fry is a particular style of speaking, heard mostly in young women- very little air supports the sound - so that
the voice has a puttering or rattling sound like a dying lawn mower (my
description). It can even lead to vocal
cord damage. I first came across this occasionally
in the late 1990's, when working with broadcast news anchors, but in the past
few years, I’ve noticed a definite upturn in the number of women with this particular
challenge. Now it seems that it may not
be a challenge at all, but the result of simple mimicry.
I mean, if a multi-millionaire celebrity does it, it must be right. Right?
The tendency to imitate what one is exposed to is
profound, especially when the exposure is frequent and from multiple sources. Add that some of these sources are popular
celebrities and stir in the internet and super phones and you have an
epidemic. The “Valley Girl” sound, more
recently known as “Up Talk,” took decades to take hold. While it is now firmly entrenched in women of
all age groups, (yes, and some young men) it still gets a bit of a bad rap, as
offenders sound unsure or you know, like confused?
The reviews of Vocal Fry (who knew it had a name?) are
mixed, but some researchers say the Fry is being associated with “educated,
urban oriented, and upwardly mobile” young women.
This is disheartening news for someone who coaches women still working to find their voice in the business world. Young women seeking credibility and authority
should not fall prey to mindless imitation in hopes of sounding cool. In my opinion the Vocal Fry sound suggests a
nonchalant, apathetic attitude and is not particularly pleasing or
compelling. There are ways to sound
dynamic, interesting, and interested, and isn’t that a better objective? I will explore vocal dynamics for women in
future blogs but in the meantime, beware of the Fry!
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