The Voices That Holds Us Up

In an orchestra, the spotlight often falls on the soloist.

The violin that soars above the rest, the singer whose voice carries to the back of the hall.

But without the low, steady hum of the double bass, without the quiet chords of the rhythm guitar, without the drummer’s heartbeat the soloist has nowhere to stand.

We live in a world that rewards the loud, the first to speak, the ones who step forward without hesitation. This is the “Alpha” voice. It has its place. It leads. It pushes. It claims the air.

But there is another kind of voice, one that often goes unseen and uncelebrated. The “Beta” voice.

The Beta voice is not about taking the spotlight.

It listens before it speaks.

It creates the space in which the Alpha voice can be heard.

It anchors the moment so the melody can rise.

In truth, neither voice works alone. Alpha without Beta is just noise. Beta without Alpha is an unfinished sentence.

The poet Kofi Awoonor once wrote:

“We do not walk alone. The ground walks with us.”

The Beta voice is that ground.

It doesn’t demand attention. It earns trust. It steadies the room.

If you’re a Beta voice, you’re not “less than.” You’re not waiting for your turn to be an Alpha. Your role is different and vital. The world needs your presence just as much as it needs the Alpha’s volume.

In Shiftfolk, we work with both.

We explore how your breath, your body, and your voice can be a home for either role to speak when it’s time, to listen when it matters, to shape the silence so that when you do speak, it lands.

Because the real work is not becoming louder.

It’s becoming truer.

And that begins when you stop asking whether you’re Alpha or Beta, and start asking how your voice can hold others up

Randolph