Episode 34
Imagine this…you’re finally going through items in your attic, you open a box and find a cassette tape labeled with the names of your grandfather and grandmother. What is this?!
You locate an old cassette tape recorder, put it in, and push play. And then you hear it. Your grandfather and grandmother talking about their lives. I mean actually telling stories in their own voices. How would that sound? How would that feel?
For me…just hearing my grandparents voices would be as wonderful and as meaningful as the stories they might tell. What a gift!
What would it mean to your descendants to hear your voice talking about a few adventures in your life. Probably not on a cassette tape…but that would certainly be better than nothing! And maybe kind of cool. I hear vinyl records are even coming back.
Making these recordings is something we all can do, and I think we should. But, when it’s too late, it’s too late. And too bad.
I’m Tom Hailey, and this is Bluegrass Region Voices and Views. This is where I tape and post stories mostly by creative and inspiring people around the Bluegrass Region of Kentucky.
Recently I’ve been inspired to begin a new project involving audio. It’s to promote this idea about legacy recordings. These are not for publishing for the public to hear. They are not podcasts. These are for gifting to family and friends.
Every senior family member and friend you have has a fascinating story that should be preserved and heard. And you do too. But very few of these stories will be recorded.
Oh, you might have some video clips showing them, or you, blowing out birthday candles or waving from the porch swing. But not telling stories.
If just a few of those stories could be recorded as an audio file, in that person’s, or your, own voice, preserved, and shared, it would be a treasure for future generations. But, I say again, most likely that recording will never be made. And that really is…well…sad.
My experience with podcasting has shown me, many times, just how valuable it is to my guest’s family, friends, and sometimes business connections, to hear some personal stories in my guests own voice.
There are of course lots of reasons the recording will not be made. Problems beginning with not even thinking about it, or not recognizing the value, to procrastinating, and often a sort of shyness or backwardness about putting oneself out there.
Another huge hurtle is that many people are unfamiliar with the technology needed to record, edit, produce, save, and share a quality audio file. And they don’t know how to structure the stories or ask the questions in a relaxed encouraging manner.
This month I’ve been researching ways we can get our voices and stories preserved for future generations.
Of course, there are at least three ways we can do this. Audio recordings, Writings, and Video.
This year I’m going to concentrate on audio and writing.
As we can get involved with the technology or tools, I think we should invest some time into being INSPIRED to do this project and to do it right.
Have you heard of StoryCorps or Storyworth or Connecting Our Voices?
They’re where I’m currently finding my inspiration, and I encourage you to study them yourself.
“The StoryCorps’ mission is to preserve and share humanity’s stories in order to build connections between people and create a more just and compassionate world.”
That’s from their website at storycorps.org and there’s a link to it in the show notes on my website at bluegrassregionvoicesandviews.com
Two things I encourage you to do on the StoryCorps website. Listen to some of the stories they have in their archives. Imagine the impact stories like those from you would have on your family.
To be clear, I’m encouraging you to record stories for private sharing with your family. Not for a podcast or for uploading to Storycorps for the world to be able to hear. Although that is certainly an option if that’s what you want to do.
The second way we can share our stories is with our writing.
A wonderful website for exploring that option is Storyworth. Their link is at welcome.storyworth.com
You’ll discover a fun and guided way to write stories about your life over the course of a year and then have it published as a book.
You could also learn to write your life’s stories by taking a local class that is specifically designed to teach you and inspire you to write. And to support you along the way.
Are you familiar with the Earl Nightingale story titled Acres of Diamonds? The lesson of that story is that often the treasure, or answer, we are looking for is right in our backyard. Well…we have acres of diamonds right here in the Bluegrass Region when it comes to learning how to write our stories.
That’s through a program named Connecting Our Voices…writing and sharing the stories of our lives. This program was created by my friend…Sylvia Lovely.
Begin by checking out her Connecting Our Voices website at sylvialovely.com
She facilitates these workshops at the Good Foods Coop and the Carnegie Center for Literacy.
There are also online courses that teach legacy writing. An excellent one that I’m currently taking in it’s beta stage is Legacy Story Course by Ron Ross. Once this is fully developed and published, I’ll mention it in a future podcast.
Now…here’s an announcement!
When you’re ready to make a private personal recording, I can help you with that.
This is a service I’ll offer this Summer 2023.
I’m working on a page on my website that will describe how this program will work.
When it’s ready I’ll announce it again during my podcast episodes.
I am currently working with a few people to do these recordings as a test or prototype to get all my ducks in a row so that it’s as fun and meaningful as possible.
If you’d like to have me do a test recording with you that you might decide to share with your family, let me know. I have room on my schedule for a few more of these.
Or here’s something you can do right now on your own for fun.
Use the Voice Recorder app on your phone and make a five-minute or so recording of you telling a basic story such as where you were born and raised, what your first ever memory is, and what the first job was that you got paid to do. Then save that as a file and email it to a family member to listen to and comment on and see how that feels.
You’re welcome to also email the link to me. I’d love to hear it. I really would.
Remember to check out StoryCorps, Storyworth, and Connecting our Voices. And listen for my announcement about Ron Ross’s Legacy Story Course being launched.
Let’s help our stories live on.
Links
Connecting Our Voices – Sylvia Lovely
