Karate and Voice-over

No, I’m not talking about voicing an episode of Jackie Chan. I’m talking about using the voice in karate. I was thinking about that during class this evening, as my mind sometimes wanders (telling me I am ipso facto insufficiently focussed on the art which is like OMG so totally not karatedo). That one needs to use the voice in karate to motivate the listener. We all get our turn to count for the class – counting kata, counting kihon techniques, and we carry a lot of responsibility when we do. An unconvincing count can suck the spirit out of the whole place – just as an unconvincing VO in a commercial fails to sell the product. I sometimes train with people who count as if they were singing a lullaby and I just want to lie down and take a nap. Or like – you know how newscasters talk, ending every sentence with a peculiar emphasis and on a minor key or something? It’s particularly weird-sounding when the newscaster is British, because the fashion in Britain seems to be to sort of slide down the scale on the last word. I dare say American newscasters drive the Brits nuts. So back to karate – my studied opinion is that the count should be strong and clear and energetic enough to lift people up, but not so in-your-face that one’s fellow karateka are distracted by it. Been there, seen that. Annoying. Who woulda thought a count could be annoying? Maybe I’m just a grump.