Today, one of my students told me to use my serious voice while I was teaching him how to structure his essay. He claims he wouldn’t be able to concentrate if I used my joking voice. A quick mental check and I realised that my serious voice is lower pitched, as compared to my joking voice which is – you guessed it – higher.

Then I was immediately reminded of my dear friend who once told me that she changed her GPS’ voice to a male voice cos it sounded more authoritative than the default female one. Guess whose voice had a lower pitch?

Do deeper voices really command more authority? According to my student and my friend, it sure seems that way. Naturally, I did a Google search to find out if there were theories on this. Here’s what I found:

- Deep voices ‘show leadership’
- Obama uses his deep voice and jutting jaw to project authority
- Why women who want to get ahead get a husky voice

There’s even an online video course (the video’s hilarious by the way):

I rolled my eyes a whole lot at first, thinking this theory needs dispelling, but it later dawned on me that it has some semblance of truth. I look back on all the times when I’m in full-on “lecture mode” and I always spoke in a lower tone. And the fact that many still make fun of boys/men with higher-pitched voices, does indeed suggest the lack of authority (we’d never make fun of a man with a rich-sounding bass tone).

I’m sure there are plenty of leaders out there who don’t have a James Earl Jones sound (you have to watch his take on Bieber), but people do tend to take you a little more seriously when you have that deeper tone. It lends credibility to the overall image, I guess. After all, it worked for Steve Urkel when he became… Stefan.

Yeah, I miss this show too.

. . . . .

Song of the Day, because the band did such a good job on that latest episode of SNL. :p

Beth/Rest, by Bon Iver

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Me: What’s your favourite subject?
Her: Recess
Me: That’s not a subject!
Her: It is! If not, why is it on the timetable?

- – -

(just after Liverpool scored)

Me: Woo!!
Her: What happened?
Me: My team just scored!
Her: Then why do they have to hold each other’s heads?
Me: Cos they’re celebrating!
Her: They should just kick each other.

- – -

(while playing Pictionary)

Me: What are you drawing?
Her: Do you give up?
Me: No!
Her: Okay, I’ll draw it easier for you. If you still can’t guess, I’ll press the give up button for you.

(There was no “Give Up” button. She just drew it.)

- – -

Her: I like your floor.
Me: Why?
Her: The floor is like Ikea!

- – -

Kids really do say the cutest things, don’t they? :p

. . . . .

Song of the Day

The Dope (Wonderful You), by The Dandy Warhols

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