What’s the Timbre of your next presentation?

I enjoy listening to live music. Whether it’s in an intimate club setting like Nissi’s in Lafayette, Colorado or a spectacular outdoor venue such as Red Rocks Amphitheater in Denver. Music is created when elements such as form, harmony, key, melody, rhythm and texture all come together to produce sounds that can be dynamic and create colorful tones. Yes, I said colorful tones.

Did you know color was a part of music? Musicians know color or timbre (pronounced "TAM-ber") represents all of the features of a musical sound that do not have anything to do with a sound's length, loudness or pitch. Here’s an idea. When you write your next speech or give your next business presentation think about using more colorful timbre?

Far too often you write your speeches for the page and not ear of the audience. How can you capture your audience’s attention and keep them interested? Vocal Variety will provide the drama, however the words you use in your presentation will give you an opportunity to attract the audience, engage them and then connect. I suggest using more colorful words as an element that will add value to the listener’s ear. Writing with timbre in mind will give you the opportunity to use your dictionary, thesaurus and wiki’s to build your presentation with more powerful word play.

Below are some words used to describe timbre from a Musicians point of view. Many are interchangeable and some may have different meanings yet each help describe the idea of timbre. Say each of the words below out loud. Use vocal inflection to emphasize how each word sounds. Note: you may wish to check the room before you do this. Someone may be listening and think you are going off the deep end.

Brassy, Breathy, Bright, Clear, Dark, Flat, Focused, Harsh, Heavy, Light, Mellow, Piercing, Reedy, Resonant, Rounded, Strident, Unfocused, Vibrato, Warm.

Can you hear how these words add impact? Add these and other descriptive words as often as you can. Find the best, most elemental word to get your point across and then add the colorful seasoning that will have the biggest impact. The greater the timbre, the more you write with the ear in mind. Paint your next presentation with more colorful words.

Inspired by the work of Catherine Schmidt-Jones at Connexions http://cnx.org/content/m11059/latest/

Connexions is one of the most popular open education sites in the world.