Analysis of “This American Life” Using McKee’s 4 Elements of Sound
As I listened to episode 538 of “This American Life” titled “Is This Working?,” I noticed all four of Heidi McKee’s elements of sound appear throughout the recording. She introduces her essay by claiming that “different modes” of discourse, some including language, music, and sound, play together to form one, overall meaning (338). This eased me into my listening of the episode knowing that there would be a variety of rhetorical elements that would affect my listening experience.
The first element of sound that McKee introduces is vocal delivery. She claims that speech has a way of portraying certain messages and evoking different emotions that writing does not possess (339-340). This was true right away in the episode. Immediately, the speakers were soft and clear, only moving up and down in pitch at appropriate times–the female interviewer was especially good at this. The different tones of their voices evoked in me different ways of perceiving the material. These “tonal elements,” as McKee calls them, affected how I responded to the subject matter (341). For instance, the tone became more upbeat when the spunky music and child’s voice came on in the episode. There were several people taking turns talking–only sometimes would the speaker cut to a brief snippet of an interview with someone. I think the clarity of voices and breaks in speakers are beneficial, but I also think they create a choppiness in the episode that makes it hard to follow exactly what is going on at times. There was a breathiness to some voices, which I think was a result of the silence and light music that would come and go in the background. Breathiness is one of the “culturally formed communicative meanings” that the voice has according to McKee (340). The elements of silence and music take turns lingering behind the speakers’ voices.
Music establishes tone and atmosphere (343). In McKee’s essay, she references Aaron Copland’s three ways of listening to music, which include sensuous (what stimulates the senses), expressive (emotions), and sheerly musical (logistics/order) (344). I listened to the light background music in a sensuous way. It wasn’t overwhelming, but the brief pauses between speakers allowed me to hear only the music, which was just enough to get a rise out of me. The music mirrors the calm atmosphere of the episode and is used as a buffer between scenes.
Silence is also used as a buffer. When there would be a brief moment of silence between voices, I would use that time to try and process whatever just happened and prepare myself to continue following the story. Even when there was no background music and just voices, I heard silence. Yes there were people talking, but there was silence within the voices brought upon by the calming tone and pitch that the speakers carried. McKee claims that in order to hear silences, you have to hear sounds first (348). Noises and silences work together to tell you what is and isn’t there (350-351). This is true in the episode because when the speakers and music stop, the silence is very prevalent. I did not notice the element of sound effects play a huge role in this episode because it was very simple and there was no big climax or dramatic scene that happened. I did notice that even though the speakers would shift in tone and pitch, there was almost a collective hum to their voices. I wasn’t sure if this was something that was done in the studio on purpose, or if it was just an accident. Overall, I enjoyed analyzing an episode of “This American Life” because it gave me the opportunity to see that just a recording alone, without any visual or textual elements, can be understood with regard to the different rhetorical elements that affect our listening experience.
________________________________________________________________________________________
Podcast Script—The Deterioration of Coral Reefs
(*I want to have some light music playing at the very beginning similar to the light instrumental music that was played in “This American Life.” It’s a good way to introduce the podcast. At this point, I’m thinking I don’t want there to be any music playing while I’m talking until the end, but I might end up deciding that I want there to be music playing close to the whole time.)
Introduction.
We all learned way back when in elementary school that 70% of the Earth’s surface is comprised of water. In recent years, the world’s oceans have become a receptacle for garbage and a setting where serious environmental degradation is happening. The deterioration of coral reefs is a major part of this issue that continues to worsen.
Take a second to imagine a world with oceans that are empty and devoid of life. If you have ever explored the beauty of our oceans’ aquatic life or seen pictures of coral reefs, then you know just what we have to lose. Now try to imagine swimming in an ocean where these things no longer exist.
If you are someone who enjoys going to the beach, exploring ocean depths, and studying the creatures that dwell there, then you should be aware of the causes that are destroying coral reefs, which are the life source for many marine organisms. In fact, anyone and everyone should be informed about this issue because in order to save and sustain something as vast as the ocean, it will take as many people as possible to make a change.
The deterioration of coral reefs has become a major issue in recent years. In order to comprehend this problem, we must understand the importance of coral reefs, the reasons why they are being destroyed, and the measures we can take in order to protect them.
(*I would like to find some kind of ocean sound effect to play before I go into each section. The sections are clearly divided in this script. I’m hoping I can find something like that on Garage Band. It would link each topic together nicely and very much pertain to the theme of this podcast.)
First, we need to know why coral reefs are important.
I read an article titled “Climate Change, Coral Bleaching and the Future of the World’s Coral Reefs,” where it states that coral reefs are known worldwide for three reasons: beauty, biological diversity, and high productivity (Ove Hoegh-Guldberg).
From a scientific standpoint, coral reefs produce nutrients that a vast majority of marine life depends upon for survival. Consequently if coral reefs continue to suffer, then there is a high chance that other marine life will suffer as well.
On the other hand, coral reefs are simply beautiful to enjoy and are living creatures just as we are. Take the very famous Great Barrier Reef in Australia, for example, which is the largest coral reef in the world and presumably the most incredible.
Secondly, it is necessary for us to understand the reasons why coral reefs are being destroyed.
Coral reefs are being destroyed due largely to sedimentation, caused by runoff from local construction, and coral bleaching.
I read a really interesting article called “Responses of Coral Reefs and Reef Organisms to Sedimentation” that explains how runoff (or “eroded soils”) ends up on coral and blocks light that is necessary for photosynthesis to occur. Photosynthesis prolongs the life of aquatic organisms; without it, they they are at risk (Caroline S. Rogers).
Coral bleaching occurs when ocean temperatures increase and, subsequently, the organisms that provide food for the coral leave. These organisms and coral reefs have a symbiotic relationship. If this is jeopardized, then neither can thrive–this will inherently decrease the life span of marine life that depends on coral reef ecosystems for survival. You can see here how it is really all just a cycle, but if one part of that cycle is interrupted, then everything else could suffer as well.
Maybe by now you are wondering what you can do to help coral reefs.
We must stay aware and be informed about the causes of coral reef destruction in order to understand the measures we can take to preserve them for the long run.
The excessive use of energy is one of the main causes of global warming, which results in the increase of sea temperatures.
Preserving coral reefs can be as simple as turning off a light as you leave the room, unplugging your chargers when you are finished using them, and overall lessening the amount of energy you use everyday.
(*As I conclude my podcast, I would like to have the same light music, possibly instrumental, playing softly in the background. I don’t want the music to end when I start talking like it will before my previous sections. I think if the music plays while I wrap everything up, then it will leave listeners with a positive vibe about my theme and what I propose here.)
To wrap up…
Protecting coral reefs may not seem like the most important issue to focus on–but after this overview, it is my hope that you realize it is and are now willing to do what you can to help increase the life span of coral reef ecosystems around the world.
________________________________________________________________________________________
Response to Feedback
I was really excited to present my podcast to the class because I worked hard on it and challenged myself in the process since I had never used GarageBand before. My peers gave me some really meaningful and helpful feedback that I applied to the final version of my podcast. One classmate said that my podcast seemed alive and that there was a lot of energy to it. I tend to be a high-energy person and I’m often animated when I talk and write, so I’m glad my personality shined through my voice. This was important to me as I was making the podcast. Matt said that after listening to it, he could tell that I really cared about the theme I chose. That comment meant a lot to me because the deterioration of coral reefs is something I care greatly about and I want to do what I can to raise awareness. Another positive comment I received was that I had a powerful use of sound effects and music. Someone said that I should change up the sound effects to keep it fresh for the listener, but I preferred to leave them as they are because I think the sound effects I have maintain my audience’s attention and keep the podcast focused.
A couple suggestions I received was that the music at the very end was slightly abrupt, so I turned it down in order to save my voice from being washed out. Someone else said that the music from the documentary clip and the ocean sound effects were too much together. I made the sound effects fade into the clip at the beginning. Once it begins, all you hear then is the background music of the clip and a slight fade of the ocean waves. I agree with my classmate and think it works better this way. I tried to use the ocean sound effects as a fade in/out tool throughout my podcast. Overall, I was grateful for the feedback I received because it helped me pull together a stronger, final podcast.
________________________________________________________________________________________
Rationale for Podcast
Composing a podcast was a new experience for me because I had never made anything like it before nor had I ever used GarageBand. I am glad that I had the opportunity to learn more about it because I know it will be a useful skill to have in the future. I knew I wanted to do my podcast on something related to nature or sustainability to correlate with the theme of my blog. Since I’m a certified scuba diver and have done previous research on coral reefs, I thought it was an appropriate topic to explore for my podcast.
I structured the introduction, body, and conclusion to form a cohesive story (this is mapped out in my script). For instance, I begin with my introduction where I provide a very brief overview of what’s happening to coral reefs and I try to put it into context so that the residual message of my podcast has a stronger impression on listeners. The body of my podcast was designed to lay out the facts of coral reef destruction. I used the clip from the documentary Nature is Speaking as a transition from the introduction to the body of the podcast. The clip provides another brief overview of coral reefs and it is meant to be informative and fun for listeners. I wanted to leave the audience on a positive note using the conclusion of my podcast to do so. I offered a few, simple ways to help prevent the destruction of coral reefs, which hopefully stuck with listeners after learning about this awful reality. I thought this was a good way to wrap up because I had provided some of the harsh facts on coral reefs in the body of my podcast, so I wanted to inspire listeners to help at the very end.
I knew right away that I wanted to incorporate some kind of ocean sound effects throughout the podcast because it provides a certain element that my voice or silence cannot provide. For instance, sometimes the ocean sound effects fall in the background when I’m talking. Other times the sounds effects stand alone, which I think provides a very calming element to the podcast. I wanted to design the sound effects in this way because I wanted them to mirror the actual ocean. What I mean is that the ocean is a very serene and vast part of the Earth. I wanted my ocean sound effects to be serene and realistic throughout the piece in order to help my listeners feel like they were really at the beach. The exit music at the very end of the podcast was meant to be upbeat and supportive of the positive vibe I was trying to portray in my conclusion. I picked this song because I thought it matched the more optimistic tone of my voice at the end.
I used my voice as a rhetorical tool by sounding animated when it was necessary and more serious when it was not. For instance, when I was describing some of the ways in which coral reefs are being harmed, I talk in a more monotone voice to prove that the issue is serious. When I mention the positive ways we can help coral reefs, I am more animated to prove that this issue is not a lost cause–that something can be done. I am more animated towards the beginning as well because it was my way of introducing myself and my podcast. Since this is a scientific subject, I didn’t want it to be boring in any way. I was glad that I was able to use my voice not only as a rhetorical tool, but also as way to make the podcast come alive.
Composing a piece to be heard greatly differs from composing a piece to be read because there are so many extra elements involved when composing a piece to be heard. These extra elements fall under McKee’s 4 elements of sound. I used several of these elements in the making of my podcast including vocal delivery, music, and sound effects. These three elements enhance a spoken piece in a way that a written piece cannot be enhanced. I didn’t use any silences throughout my podcast because I preferred to let the ocean sound effects fill in the blank spaces. I thought it was nice to hear just the waves and birds when I was talking–it seemed very appropriate. I am a writer, so creating something to be heard was a whole new experience for me since I am so used to putting it down on paper. But, I am happy with the overall results and hope that I’m able to do more work like this in the future.
sustainablelivingfall2014 