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The Poetry of Obama's Campaign

Skillstudio Limited — Wed, 04 Feb 2009 11:45:46 +0000

What can our own politicians learn from the soaring public speaking skills of the new President of the United States of America? Marina Hyde (A bad week for the cause of banality and witless snidery, Guardian, Saturday 8 November) talks of politicians both past and present listening to Obama’s victory speech in Chicago in the early hours of Wednesday morning experiencing a ‘sobering, gut – sinking sense of their own inadequacy.’ How right she is.

Public speaking skills honed to perfection

In the opening gambit of his victory speech, Obama demonstrates a skill which has not only been honed and developed since the roaring oration at the Iowa Jefferson-Jackson Day dinner in November 2007, cited by Michael Tomasky as the most engaging speech of the campaign (The best of times, the worst of times, Guardian 8 November), but one that is also quite obviously natural and instinctive to him. It is a mixture of the stirring preaching of the pulpit and the inspirational poetry of the political heavyweight.

His use of Pace, Pitch and Pause is a masterclass

Technically, Obama is more than adept at his craft. His employment of the three ‘p’s – pace, pitch and pause – is a master class in itself. His opening sentence in Chicago contained 45 words and it took him, from the moment he started speaking to the beginning of his next point, 30 seconds to deliver. This equates to an average speech rate of 90 words per minute or 1.5 words per second. All great orators appreciate the importance of pause, and within that a variety of pause, and they ignore it at their peril. We want to hear what they say (mostly) and to see the images they paint and we cannot do that at the sort of speeds that some politicians speak at.

Obama’s long vowel sounds helps us connect with what he’s saying

His skill at extending the long vowel sounds in words such as ‘schools,’ ‘seen’ and ‘first’ not only draws those words out so that we can connect with them but also gives us the benefit of enjoying his rich, balanced and mellifluous resonance. And as for his diphthongs (words with two vowel sounds such as ‘time,’ ‘old’ and ‘poor’) he positively sings them bringing music into his voice.

His vocal energy is magnetic

Leaving aside the rhetorical skill of the text itself, he speaks each thought with a vocal energy that brings his audience to the crest of a wave and keeps them there until he, and only he, decides to bring it crashing to its climax. Lists, which lesser speakers clumsily reel off like the football scores, become great cadenzas which carry us with them on a tide of enthusiasm. His understanding of the power of repetition and how to add optimum vocal function to that celebrated phrase ‘yes we can’ is so simple it is seemingly obvious – repeating the same tune – but demands such confidence and excellence that few could achieve it so convincingly.

His vocal variety is inspirational

He adjusts his pace to suit the mood of his crowd, gathering speed and slowing down with effortless ease and he pitches his voice perfectly applying the range of notes that some of our most distinguished actors draw on in the great Shakespearean soliloquies.

Maya Angelou wrote: “words mean more than what is set down on paper. It takes the human voice to infuse them with deeper meaning,” and President – Elect Obama has that capacity in bucket loads. It is invigorating to be reminded of what an inspirational politician actually sounds like and our own leaders and would be leaders could do worse than to tear a leaf from Barack’s book.

Poetic legacy of the new president

Those lucky enough to have been at Grant Park in the early hours of that Wednesday morning for his victory speech witnessed the culmination of a long and fascinating campaign with an oration that will surely join the ranks of some of world’s greatest political speeches. They, and those listening around the world, could not help but be engaged and, to quote Homer: “he ceased, but left so charming on their ear his voice, that listening they still seemed to hear.”

Let’s hope his politics match his rhetorical ability.

About the author of this article

This article was written by Luan – one of Skillstudio’s consultant trainers.

Luan is an acomplished voice coach and public speaking trainer – and delivers voice coaching; public speaking and presentation skills training to Skillstudio clients.

You can read Luan’s training bio here.

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The Poetry of Obama's Campaign is one of many articles from Skillstudio Limited providing expert help, tips & advice on how to improve your business communication skills. See Skillstudio Help & Advice for the full list of articles.

Is Miliband morphing into Blair?

Skillstudio Limited — Wed, 04 Feb 2009 10:27:10 +0000

What’s happened to David Miliband’s voice? At the 2008 Labour conference he sounded like Rory Bremner doing Tony Blair. Or, to put it technically, the heir to Blair has abandoned the “dark L”. That’s not some sinister Labour faction plotting against Gordon Brown but the sound we make when pronouncing words with an “L” towards the end, such as “people”.

What has changed in his voice?

Listening to a clip from 2002 (tinyurl.com/549czy), Miliband is very clear and articulate. Back then, the foreign secretary used all of the consonants. Now, in a speech at the conference (tinyurl.com/3s9dp3) and elsewhere, as well as dropping the dark L – so the “L” sound at the end of “people” becomes a “w” sound – he is also dropping “t” from the end of words.

Take “government”. In 2002, Miliband pronounced it with three clear syllables and the little “n” – gov-ern-ment. In 2008, Miliband has joined those who replace the “t” on the end with a glottal stop: it becomes something like “guv-mund”.

The Blair influence?

He also repeatedly introduces this Blair-like glottal stop (a build-up of air beneath the vocal folds, which is quickly released) on phrases such as “down and out” and “important point”. As well as eliding words and syllables, Miliband also imitates his old boss by saying five or six words and then pausing.

His pace used to be fairly fluid. Now, it is too staccato, which can sound patronising, impatient and a little preachy.

I’m one of you … you can trust me

These changes are often subconscious but can also be chosen. People often adopt an accent that says, “I’m one of you.” I might do it too if a plumber is giving me a quote so they don’t assume I’m wealthy. But Miliband risks over-egging the pudding, as you can hear on radio phone-ins such as the Jeremy Vine Show in July, when he said: “We ‘ave a role to play.”

Deliberate or natural change?

Miliband’s dropping of received pronunciation could be a conscious effort to move away from David Cameron’s almost heightened RP as well as copying Blair. But Cameron has a much more flowing manner and pauses in the right place, at the end of a sentence.

Politicians don’t often admit to voice coaching because they see it as a sign of weakness. But Miliband should seek help from a coach. I would want him to be a lot more fluid in his speaking. He should also be himself – not another Tony Blair.

About the author of this voice coaching article