Studying with Marice Tobias in KC

I spent last weekend in Kansas City, studying with Marice Tobias. It was one of the best weekend workshops I’ve attended, both because of the breakthrough I personally experienced (more about that in a moment) and because of the wonderful group that gathered there in the Midwest.
Every one of these weekends is unique. No surprise. After all the mix of people is always different. The culture continues to change. Each of us, including Marice, have experienced a bit more of life (sometimes a lot more of life) since the last time we were together. But, this one was especially special, perhaps because of the way it started. Roberta Solomon, who lives in Kansas City, invited the whole group to her house for a party the night before the workshop started. She also invited a number of other voice talent and several other friends from around KC to join us. It made of a very relaxed and fun start to everything.

Ben Wilson and Caryn Clark stop for a photo with me as we arrive at Roberta Solomon‘s house. She’s coming out the door to welcome us just as the photo was being snapped by Karen Hutton.

As the evening progressed, we were treated to a rare acoustic performance set by The Snotrockets, headed by the amazing Doug Medlock. (Doug is the one wiping the sweat from his forehead in this shot.)
Marice managed to talk me in to singing with the group, by convincing them to do Amazing Grace. I looked up the chord progressions for them on my phone’s web browser and we did 3 verses to I would say a pretty decent round of applause. It’s the first time I’ve sung with a band backing me since sometime in the late 80s.
The next morning Caryn Clark, Ben Wilson, Karen Hutton and I walked the 3 blocks or so from our hotel to the wonderful CR Sound, the studio where the workshop was taking place. It was during this first day when, though I didn’t recognize it at the time, I found my biggest highlight of the weekend.
Marice has been talking for several months now about how challenging it is to move from one kind of voiceover work (let’s say an eLearning narration) to another kind (for example a commercial) and yet another and so on. It’s very easy for the echoes of one style to bleed into the next session. Getting a handle on what that means to me personally and my work was the big breakthrough of the weekend. Worth the cost of the entire weekend for that one thing.

After our Saturday of study, we gathered at Gates, a Kansas City BBQ institution. I enjoyed myself a great deal at this meal. I love BBQ in all its various flavors, but I think Kansas City style is my new favorite.
Sunday was another excellent day of study, working on mic, and culminated in a group photo just outside the back door of the studio.

Sadly missing from this shot because he had to leave before the photo was taken is Steve Stone, but the rest of us are here. What a great group. From the left: Ben Wilson, Karen Hutton, Marty Wall, Jen Sweeney, Caryn Clark, Leslie Wadsworth, Chris Rollins, Kimberly Justice, Doug Medlock, Roberta Solomon, Stacey Stahl, me and Dave White.