Rhotacism

Rhotacism is a defective utterance of the "r" sound. Ironic that the word itself begins with that exact sound, eh?

Anyway, I've been aware for a long time that my "r" can sound a little like a "w". I've noticed it most on my song recordings - it's not major but I can hear it...

So, a couple of days ago I thought I'd have a Google and see what I could find...and...I found a cure!!

I'm 38 and I've only just learned how to pronounce the letter "r"!!

You don't really use the lips, this is what leads to a "w"ish sound. I found this: you make an "l" sound with your tongue touching the top of your mouth and then you just slide the tongue back wards while sounding and it become an "r" sound! I was amazed! A revelation!

I also found a drill to train your tongue to perform this new trick. You find a word with "tr" in it and replace the "r" with a "d". Stay with me here. So let's use "strumming" - you say "stdumming" over and over and the transition becomes natural after a time and it becomes the correct "r" sound.

For me, singing is all about confidence, and I have reached a level of confidence with which I'm happy - but - the "r" thing was in the back of my mind nonetheless. So, now I have a solution to the pronunciation problem I am OVER THE MOON :-)

2007 Curry Cup

My brother and someone he knows called Mike have been, for about 9 years, annually competing golfwise for the "Curry Cup" - a sad, laughable trophy made out of a tin on a bit of wood. About 5 years ago I joined them so that someone else could come last each year. So it was that the three of us gathered last Friday for 36 holes at East Horton with 18 to follow on the Saturday at Old Thorns.

All of us were extremely well prepared. I'd played twice or so this year and been to the range with our two sons the previous day, Pete hadn't played this year and Mike thought we were there to play snooker.

Anyways, we all had a lovely time. Which is unusual. Normally Pete seriously strops in a bunker, gives it a good hammering and sulks for an hour and Mike takes a vow of silence whenever it rains which can be the entire day. This year all was well - glorious sunshine and less chaffing than usual due to the competition being shortened to three rounds and the profligate use of ointments. A few years ago we played five rounds, I think, and by the Sunday I could barely even walk I was so sore.

Mike wasn't quite up to his usual standard - apart from his jamminess; whenever his ball hit a tree it would "conveniently" ricochet back to safety. He also seemed to struggle to summon the strength to putt the ball all the way to the hole. Nearly every time.

I was very happy with my game, hit my BLADES (that's BLADES right?) well and didn't suffer with the nerves of past years. And yes, I did come last. Someone has to.

Old Thorns, by the way, is a lovely course - just what I like, if not a little challenging hikewise - I tell you what, if you can make it to the third tee with enough breath left to swing the club you've done well.

Pete won, proving that the less you play the better you get - if he never plays again he'd be brilliant.

Shrink Wrap - Stephen Fry

Tonight was Stephen Fry and it was another fascinating programme. Pamela Connolly was more explicit in her aim to peek around the edge of the celebrity facade and discover the person behind. She was much more bullish than she was last night with Sharon Osbourne, pressing Stephen more and, it seemed to me, with more of a specific destination in mind.

The thing that jumped out at me most was his abiding impression of himself as a FRAUD. This is a very common condition - yet again Radio 4 has been the source of education. Most of us, it seems, are wondering just how long will it be before I'm found out?? We carry the nagging thought that we're just bluffing our way along. Very successful people on the Radio 4 programme were describing just this. To the onlooker, it is lunacy! These people are so clearly good at what they do, how could they possibly not be super confident and self assured??

However, even though the visible celebrity develops in response to increasing "success" the inner person remains with all the same hopes, hurts, insecurities and fears. Possibly the more lauded you are, the greater the fear of being uncovered.

In our Sunday morning get together at our house I was describing my "glass sphere". I am in this sphere and according to the situation in which I find myself I will paste to the inside facets of myself - real or affected - to present as good an impression as possible to the outside. Rather, this is the temptation, isn't it? Socially, of course, this is at times wholly appropriate; each of us will adjust our behaviours in line with the expectations of those around us. But, it is for us to decide when and where this is a good thing or a bad thing, and to what extent we reveal or conceal ourselves.

Celebrity takes this to the extreme, it seems to me, and glancing through "Hello" (not mine, I assure you...) it looks terrifying.

More4 Shrink Wrap

Just watched the first of 5 Shrink Wrap programmes on More4 - Dr Pamela Connolly (ne Stephenson married to Billy) is now a clinical psychologist and has been for about 15 years. In these programmes she's examining the psychological trauma of fame. Tonight's interviewee was Sharon Osbourne. What a fascinating thing to see - I heard about it on Radio 4 last week and put a reminder in my phone to watch it.

Celebrity does not look healthy to me and, at the very least without protection , looks precarious in terms of mental health. We can see, if we're that desperate, in Hello or whatever, piccies of Sharon with comment about how she's looking and how we think she's doing but, hear her story and it's a different story altogether.

What struck me was the demonstration that we're all the same. Same needs, insecurities, wants, hurts etc...etc...

Before God, we know that we are all the same. On the one hand, tiny, short lived, just one of billions, not that important. On the other though, loved perfectly by our Father who knew us even before we were born and for whom Christ was crucified.

Sharon said that she'd felt alone in her life. Alone although surrounded by many. This is not God's plan for us - Jesus will never leave me even if everybody else does. So many people are struggling through feeling alone when Jesus himself would be there by their side.

It is for us to be the message and reveal Jesus for the Good News we know him to be.

How? Well, after 2000 years we are still finding out.