Baltimore County, MD smARTS, 16 Jun 2016

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From YouTube: smARTS: A Career Ventriloquist

Description

Meet Valerie Smalkin, whose career has gone from singer to lawyer to ventriloquist.

A

Our next guest is a singer, composer, ventriloquist, and...lawyer? here to explain that very fascinating career is val smalkin,.

A

A resident of baltimore county and she is joined by her dear friend,, silly goose.

B

You're supposed to say, "silly goose is joined by her good friend, valerie.".

B

( laughing ) okay, I see, sorry.

A

You get top billing, right?.

B

Absolutely! silly goose and val.

A

Okay, well silly goose,, I'm glad that you're here as well.

A

Val,, what a fabulous and interesting and fun-filled career you've had.!

A

Can you give us just a little bit about how this all started?, because you did not start with the intention of being a ventriloquist.

B

No, I started with the intention of being a lawyer, and so I was in law school.. Well actually,. I started with the intention of being a musician., a singer,, a jazz singer, right?.

A

Right. finished goucher college.

B

With a degree in philosophy, -- very useful., so I thought, "what will I do?" and then, all my family are musicians., so I thought, "well, I'll go to music school.". So I went to berklee college of music in 1971-72.

B

Found that world a little distasteful, one might say, just rough.

B

And I thought, "I'm not going to last.".

A

It's a tough career, path., tough world.

B

And music school was making me hate music,, so I was looking around for other things to do..

B

It was the first year of environmental concerns, april 21st I think, 1971..

B

So I tried environmental engineering,, which was not to my taste either.

B

And then my sister one day, said, "well, why don't you try--,".

B

On the phone, "why, don't you try environmental law?" and I went, "okay! that sounds good." well you're, so easy, val.? Well, I'm the youngest of six children..

B

I go along with anybody,, which is one of the problems in my lifetime.

B

So I went to law school and I loved it and loved it and practiced law and then met my husband and had a baby.

B

And then thought, "well, I'm going to take care of the children,", and then I found children's music,, which had everything I love.

B

About music and none of the pitfalls. children do not smoke,, they do not drink,, they don't stay up late;. They are very, very sweet.

B

yes!. It's great.

A

Music speaks to people of all ages, too., but particularly kids,. I think it has a special magic to it.

A

Absolutely. okay, so then you're a singer..

A

But then how did you branch over into the area of ventriloquism?.

B

Into the area of what?, I'm going to put you down for a minute because you-- but,, but--, shh, shh, just be quiet.

B

she'll go to sleep.. She won't hear us.. We don't use the "puppet" around her.

B

so,. I was at an event.

B

It was at a country club, and there was 600 children in a very small room.

B

And two children in front started to fight with each other..

B

At that time, I was with pam miner of val & pam kindersingers.

B

And we sang and did songs.

B

two children start a fist fight.. I had sense enough to turn off my microphone because you cannot frown or look unhappy on stage,.

B

And I just leaned down and said, "if you do that again, I'll call the police.".

B

And they stopped.

B

I'm sure that wouldn't be quite appropriate today to say it that way.

B

But after the show, I turned to pam and said, "I could be a ventriloquist.. I could do this." so,, I started. and it takes a long, long time to practice and get good.

A

Oh, I bet., but I would think some of your abilities as a singer and with your voice,.

A

You're able to maybe do some of this more than the normal person could.

A

Right., I think singing does because you've already got your head voice.

B

So you have a lot of sound up there in your head.

B

But the really, really hard part is keeping those lips still,.

B

Because they want to move.

A

B

Labial explosives are the big ones.. "Be" is a very hard word.

A

That's quite a term,. I've got to say., but as a singer, I know about that. now,, so you perform all over the place, all over the world. Really.

A

You were talking about belgium before we came on air,, but in your spare time you have managed now to then do recordings,.

A

You have an award-winning book called "springtime dance," right?.

A

There you can see the gold award right on there., see that? ta, da!.

B

Moonbeam children's book award, gold, medal.

A

Yes. tell me a little bit about all these ventures as well.

B

Well,, actually it starts in law school.

B

when I went to law school and took the uniform commercial code.

B

And learned the word "widgets" -- that you make widgets., they always use widgets as the word for what you produce and sell,, and I thought, "I want to make widgets!", which could be anything.

B

And when I came to music,, then here are my widgets.. I have my cds and my books that I can sell.

B

And each one gets better.

A

And even a study guide,, which is fantastic. so, for kids and for teachers,, this is great.

B

For teachers, for pre-school teachers,, each song comes with the lyrics.

B

This particular one, "love bug,", which is being released in october,.

B

Has the sheet music and lesson plans.

A

Okay, terrific., so that's all that. and because silly goose is quiet,.

A

I know that you have other friends that you also do, and those are...quickly.

B

Rufus, the reluctant dragon -- ugh,, I'm too shy,, I'm too shy.

B

And there's magdalena --.

B

And finally, -- that was magdalena., okay, katarina, --, hello, my darling.. I come to see you.

A

Okay, well, obviously,, you are an international entertainer.

A

With international friends- and we are glad that you live here in baltimore, county and people can go on your website,- find out more, and maybe bring them to their own places for their own events..

A

Yes, absolutely. thanks so much, val. thank you., (, ♪♪♪ ).