How’d I do Three Voices Poem?

A number of blogging friends have asked about the process I went through to create and produce my podcasted The Creator: A Poem for Three Voices and One Person and so I wrote this in an email to Bonnie and figured I might as well share it through the blog.

I heard the voices in my head, quite literally. I was working with my
students on Poems for Two Voices (see this link) and figured they were having fun and so should I. Two years ago, I wrote a very cool Poem for Two Voices about Math and Writing, and then the math teacher and I read it aloud for the entire school one morning. But can I find the poem? No. Can he? No. (I am very frustrated).
So I decided to write a new one about a few of the views that I have of myself as a writer (short story writer/music composer/poet), and then thought, I might as well be all the voices, too, since I am all of the writers in the poem. I used Audacity (free open source mixing software) for the sound layering and it seemed easier in my head than it was in reality.
First, I had to read the first voice part and leave enough time and gaps for the other voices. What I was doing was reading and listening to the ghost voices in my head as I read. The second voice had its own difficulties. I had to make sure the words fit the gaps that I left AND that when words were to be in unison, that I phrased my words as close to the first “me” as possible. Turns out that first “me” wasn’t so thoughtful about how words were articulated and I found myself cursing myself at my imprecision. Darn it!
The third voice was just as tricky, except now I had two other “me”s to be impatient with, and neither one of those other “me”s seemed to know what they were doing. It was quite a quiet argument brewing in my head. My original intent had been to mess with the voices with some effects to differentiate the “sounds” of me, but I didn’t have the time nor inclination at that point. So I am relatively happy with the final result but not completely happy.
And maybe I should have added playwright and made it a perfect square of four voices. 🙂

If YOU have a poem for multiple voices that YOU want to share, I would love to learn from you, too. Or maybe you should give it a try. I can also imagine (in the back of my head) how people could do multiple voice poems from across the Net, by sending Audacity files to one another … hmmmm.

Peace (with a process),
Kevin

3 Comments
  1. Pingback: HVWP Tech Team ‘06 » Blog Archive » What a great process from Kevin!

  2. Thanks for sharing your process, Kevin. I love this about your blog. It’s my own personal tutorial on so many things! I’ve been thinking a lot lately about how blogs can be a really great place to store your writing so that you won’t be searching for that lost poem. Do you worry about folks lifting your poems as their own?

  3. Do I worry?
    Interesting that you ask, since my next OnPoEvMo poem is all about that question of art and the Web, and how I view it, often in the minority in any argument. I believe that art should be free and I know that is idealistic, for the most part, I try to practice this philosophy by not worrying if someone is stealing my work. Needless to say, I am usually outgunned in arguments on this one, which stems back to the old Napster-MP3 sharing situation.
    So, be on the lookout for my next poem next week, and see what YOU think.

    Kevin

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