Firstly, I’d like to say that I truly admire and respect who Martin Luther King Junior was, and what he has done. Secondly, I was honestly really surprised to find this podcast on our website noted as Martin Luther with his Language Removed. I now how his speeches and quotes are sources of inspiration, and of course were history changing events, but I did not think of ever finding pod-casts like this, playing around with his words. It wouldn’t have crossed my mind, ever, to twist the sounds of a man like him. After thinking about him and his work, I did realize how his speeches stood out. If I were to take his famous speech, “I Have A Dream,” and observe it now, I would now be able to pick out the few techniques he used. Personally, the way he spoke resembled a bit like how we might read poems, as he continued his sentence into the beginning of the next and then paused. However, the podcast that I heard from the site had gotten me to think differently. I have previously read and heard famous sayings and speeches by this great gentleman, but this was the first time I had heard his voice with incomplete words and sentences. I believe it was one of his speeches, possibly “I Have a Dream,” and whoever had edited it, had taken out some of the vowel sounds, and maybe exaggerated some other sounds as well. After totally listening to the podcast, I’d say it was quite difficult to listen to because of the incompleteness, and the fact that it seemed like he was unable to speak. That may have bothered me a bit as we all know him as a man who stood up for what he believed in, and from this podcast alone, it felt like he was being strained and being pulled back on his words. His words wouldn’t or more so couldn’t come out, and as a man who spoke out for the rights of people, I disliked how that’s how it came out as. This is very similar to the sound assignment in class we had, called “What the President Will Say and Do.” Both cases involved with a loud, strong voice, trying to say something, but only parts of their words and sentences were coming out.
Through this podcast, I learned how certain pieces of language can be cut up and removed to make it sound totally different, and may even send out the opposite kind of message. The fullness of sounds to me seem more important, and this podcast really proves that as it took an inspirational man’s speech, and made it sound more like a bunch of random noises, and not meaningful in that way. I realized that even small sounds like the vowels and basically any letter really, plays an important role to speech and sound, as the removal of one or more may change the tone, the message, and the emotions that are supposed to come from it. I found this version of Martin Luther King Jr’s piece very dull, random, and felt no concern to what he was saying, partially because I wasn’t sure of what he was trying to say. Just like John Cage had said, I now realize more than before that sounds should be known for merely what they’re made to be…sounds.
http://www.cliftonmeador.com/ihvdrm.htm
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