John Colapinto on the Power and Beauty of the Human Voice

The Next Big Idea

Next Big Idea Club

Self-improvement, Arts, Books, Society & Culture, Education

4.5 • 1.3K Ratings

🗓️ 14 July 2022

⏱️ 89 minutes

🔗️ Recording | iTunes | RSS

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Summary

Today, we are revisiting one of our favorite episodes: an interview with New Yorker staff writer John Colapinto. In his brilliant book, "This Is the Voice," John says that while opposable thumbs are handy, the voice is our species' greatest attribute. We rely on it to communicate and collaborate, woo our mates and protect our children, win wars and make podcasts. John would know. A vocal injury changed his relationship with his instrument and set him on a path to better understand what his voice means to him — and what the voice means to humanity.

Transcript

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0:00.0	Summer is a time for me of reflection.
0:07.0	We've now done over 100 episodes of the next big idea podcast, and of course, that we
0:12.1	try not to have favorites, we cherish each and every episode, we do have favorites.
0:17.2	We're only human.
0:18.8	On the short list of favorite episodes is this conversation with John Calapinto, author
0:24.5	of This Is The Voice.
0:26.7	No subtitle just this is The Voice, a book about the power and beauty of the human voice.
0:34.9	And of course, the podcast as a genre is a celebration of the human voice.
0:39.4	A podcast is so simple when you think about it, so minimalist, it's just someone talking
0:43.8	more often to people in conversation.
0:47.6	If a podcast is powerful, if it touches you, if it moves you, it's because the human voice
0:52.7	moves us.
0:54.0	It evolved over millions of years to do just that as you'll learn in the conversation
0:59.3	that follows.
1:00.3	With no further ado, our podcast episode with John Calapinto.
1:11.8	I'm Rufus Griskem, and this is The Next Big Idea.
1:18.8	Today, how speech made us human and why your voice makes you you.
1:36.3	One night, back in the late 90s, John Calapinto took the stage at a dance club in downtown
1:41.6	New York.
1:42.6	He was working at Rolling Stone at the time, and his boss, John Winner, had asked him
1:46.8	to sing a few covers of the magazine's holiday party.
1:50.0	That may not sound like a big deal, but this is Rolling Stone we're talking about.
	...

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