I sing in a choir surrounded by film stars! Well, that may be an overstatement, but while I was living in Virginia, my once-and-future choir at The First Presbyterian Church in the City of New York filmed the pivotal last scene of Greta Gerwig's 2018 film Lady Bird. When I saw my fellow choristers up on the big sceen I almost fell out of my seat! Now I am back singing with them. And I am envious when they talk about their quarterly residual checks. But I understand. I still get checks from Disney+ for my long ago role in Wall Street (though they keep getting smaller and smaller with time).

As a current choir member, I've been immersed in The Holidays for a few weeks now, since I have a mountain of music to learn for upcoming concerts and services to celebrate Advent and Christmas. Even as I try in every other aspect of my life not to be one of "those people" who rushes into Xmas before the turkey is defrosted.

But music has also been on my mind lately as I've been working with clients who want me to help them sound more conversational when they speak in public, whether in meetings, presentations, or in promotional videos. In my practice this issue comes up a lot, and of course I have thoughts! Melody is key. And I blogged about incorporating tonal variation in speech most recently in May 2021.

So, as you become inundated by holiday music in the next weeks, think about how to put more melody in your message. As the song says:

Soon the bells will start.
And the thing that'll make 'em ring
Is the carol that you sing
Right within your heart!