In her essays, Elena Passarello explores how the voice can be able to define human beings, refine them, as well as its ability to connect people to each other. Also, it is a masterpiece that easily explains and breaks down the relationship between a song and a birdsong. Elena is inspired by her acting background to writing the book and collection of essays which result in a nice blend of personal narration and reportage.
Elena carefully sets to find out what is the true feeling of making an utterance and what it really means to study the concept of human vocalization. In an exclusive interview with Harper’s magazine, she revealed her reasons for writing the essays in Let me clear my throat. First, she wanted to fully explore the vocal expressions by human beings. While she worked as a theater and a voice over actor, she became obsessed by the voice and human sounds. It is amazing she found out that the human voice and sound had the ability to trick, make us misbehave and even fail us (Passarello 54). At work, she notes that she found it funny when her workmates, especially those who had more vocal knowledge using phrases like “I do not know where my sound went tonight”.
A show she attended where Porter sang, really motivated her to write this book. She watched in awe how he continued to sing even when no sound came out of his throat. To
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On the contrary, Elena Passarello believes that the whole body participates in the process of making a sound. She makes her point clear about the contest between the diaphragm and the body’s role in producing a sound in the essay Hey Big Spender. She notes that vocal communication can draw out emotions contrary to the conventional knowledge that it was a physical aspect. “Elsewhere in the body, it sends a jolt of adrenaline to quicken the heart and tense major muscles, prepping them for a sprint across the veldt away from danger” (Passarello