Corinna Muntean and Merna Sadik

Performance Communication (COM 307) Final Exam

1. The word elocution originally referred to effective literary or oratorical style. Between

1650 and 1750, however, a shift in connotation took place, and the term elocution was applied to

the manner of oral delivery rather than to the written style of a composition. Pronuntatio, which

had meant primarily the management of voice and body, gradually took on our modern meaning

of pronunciation as the correct phonation of individual words. These shifts in meaning had taken

place by 1750, and the term elocution had come to connote a considerable degree of emphasis on

delivery.

Thomas Sheridan, father of the famous dramatist Richard Brinsley, Sheridan and himself an

actor, published his Course of Lectures on Elocution in 1763. This book came out strongly

against artifialities and stressed the method of natural conversation in the oral presentation of

literature. Sheridan thus became known as the leader of the “natural school.” His thesis was that

elocution should follow the laws of nature. He held that body and voice are natural phenomena

and are therefore subject to the laws of nature. He pointed out that nature gives to the passions

and emotions certain tones, looks, and gestures that are perceived through the ear and the eye.

Therefore, he contended, the elocutionist reproduce these tones, looks, and gestures as nearly as

possible in presenting literature orally to an audience.

As often happens in the application of a theory, however, Sheridan became trapped in his

efforts to be specific, and he began to evolve a system of markings and cues for the discovery

and reproduction of these “natural” tones and gestures. By the end of his career, he had become

the exponent of a method that, judged by modern standards, was much more mechanical than

natural. Nevertheless, the term natural school has persisted to the present day.

The academic study of interpretation centered on the unique and powerful rewards

performance offered the literary study of texts. We study oral interpretation/performance

because we’re showcasing a person’s abilities to get inside the author’s head and be creative.

We’re valuing literary works and recognizing that technical skills enhance and refine the act of

performance both for audiences and interpreters themselves. This class allows the student to

have confidence and help them become disciplined and learn how to be persuasive in making the

audience believe they’re the characters in the scene. The audience can give a lot of feedback by

clapping, laughing, and screaming. The reactions from the audience and feedback from the

professors and teachers’ assistants will help the performer grow tremendously. Plus, the class

involves a lot of memorization. Students are required to rehearse scripts and gain muscle

memory by doing so. This help students during job interviews because they can find out if

they’re not moving enough or if they’re moving too much. The audience can learn a lot when

their classmates perform, especially if people make the same mistakes as they do. Students can

also ask each other for advice. The variety of literary selections (prose, sonnet, humorous prose)

can bring out different sides of the performer and help them find out what they’re passionate

about. The final performance can help the performer reflect on their mistakes and work on

trying to fix them, so they can own the piece.

By the beginning of the twentieth century, a number of colleges were offering courses in

elocution or expression, but most students did not include speech in their program of studies

unless they were preparing themselves for the ministry, politics, or law. Most of those who

wished to do “platform work” as “readers” enrolled in private schools or studios. There they

worked under teachers often three or four times removed from the originators of basically sound

theories, receiving instruction that, having filtered through several personalities, was strongly

flavored by the individual teacher’s own taste and understanding.

Professors teach: specific hand gestures, highly obtrusive vocal technique, and the use of

materials of questionable literary merit, thus perpetuating not only the more regrettable excesses

and misconceptions in vogue in the early years of the century but also a confusion in terminology

and in standards of performance. According to WiseGeek’s website, “Reading an excerpt from a

book or poem out loud allows a speaker to make that excerpt as dramatic or banal as they

choose. The excerpt can take on new life depending on how the speaker interprets its meaning,

nuances, and vocal patterns. Such a reading -- and the process of assigning one's own vocal

performance to the excerpt -- is called oral interpretation.

An oral interpretation can apply to any type of writing, from poetry to prose,

from fiction to non-fiction, from humorous to dramatic. The performer will interpret the lines of

text to deduce what key emotion they want to convey, and they will give their vocal delivery

based on that emotion. The idea of oral interpretation was borne from the desire to give texts

more character and emotion beyond a dry, flat, or monotone delivery.

The style of an oral interpretation depends less on the actual text and more on the reader's

performance, which allows the reader to transform the words into any mood they wish to

achieve. It is not unheard of for a reader to take a dramatic excerpt and read it in a humorous

manner in order to play up the subtle melodrama in the subtext, or vice versa. While the actual

text of the excerpt certainly does matter, the manner in which the performer delivers the text can

enhance or detract from what's written by stressing ideas or emotions of the reader's choosing,

rather than those of the author.

2. From earliest times, the spoken word has attracted audience and influenced their

thinking. The history of public speaking has been traced by numerous authorities, which have

shown that its thread has been unbroken from the fourth century B.C. to the present. Oral

interpretation, too, even though its genesis and growth as a distinct art may be less easy to define,

has a long linage of its own.

The art of interpretation probably had its beginnings with the rhapsodists of ancient

Greeks, poets who gathered to read their works in public competitions. However, the emergence

of interpretation as a field of study in its own rights was delayed, because for a long time it was

subsumed in oratory and rhetoric. In the eighteenth and nineteenth centuries, actors and ministers

were given extensive training in what was, in reality, interpretation.

American colleges were already giving some attention to literature at the beginning of the

nineteenth century. As early as 1806, when John Quincy Adams, assumed the chair of rhetoric

and oratory, Harvard University, which from its founding had carried on the medieval tradition

of “declamations” and “disputations,” was offering a few courses that included the interpretive

approach to literary materials.

In the nineteenth century, two names stand out above all others in the history of

interpretation. The first is that of an American, James Rush (1768-1869), a medical doctor turned

speech teacher and lecturer. Rush confined hiself almost entirely to the study of vocal projection.

He believed that the management of the voice is in reality not an art but a science, and he went

on great lengths to develop an appropriate vocabulary for that science. Rush developed elaborate

charts and markings for pitch, force, abruptness, quality, and time. He was convinced that rules

could be developed to govern the analysis of vocal technique, although he was careful to point

out that the practice of these rules must be accompanied by concentration on the literature being

read. Rush’s use of appropriate scientific method and vocabulary and his studies of the

mechanisms of the human voice were valuable contributions to the field of speech.

The second significant name in the nineteenth-century interpretation of Francois Delsarte

(1811-1871). About the time Rush’s method was making its way in America, Delsarte was

delivering lectures in France on elocution and calisthenics. He left no writings, but so strong was

his influence that many of his students recorded his philosophy and system in great detail. The

Delsarte system concerned itself entirely with bodily action, and it became accepted complement

of Dr. Rush’s treatises on vocal management. Delsarte based his system on a philosophy of the

interrelation of the human soul, mind, and body and on a complicated and highly mystical

concept of a corresponding triune relationship throughout the entire universe. Despite this

philosophical premise, the system became mechanical in the extreme. The people Rush and

Delsarte influenced often concentrated on the application of techniques rather than on the reason

for the techniques.

Near the close of the nineteenth century, the natural school received new impetus under

the leadership of Samuel Silas Curry (1847-1921). His book, The Province of Expression,

published in Boston in 1891, was based on the premise that the mind, to express an idea, must

actively hold that idea and thus dictate the appropriate means of expression. This theory he

summed up in the admonition “Think the thought!” Many teachers began to assert that the

training of voice and body were wholly artificial and mechanical procedures, and that

comprehension of thought and active concentration on that thought will alone ensure adequate

projection of any material to an audience.

One of the most interesting and influential teachers in America at the close of the century

was Charles Wesley Emerson (1837-1908), founder of the Emerson College of Oratory. His

Evolution of Expression (1905) stressed vocal technique and gymnastics for their therapeutic

value as well as for their contribution to the techniques of communicating literature.

By the end of the nineteenth century, then, three distinct groups had emerged. One

militantly carried on the traditions of the mechanical school. Another, distrustful of mechanics,

relied on the natural method and developed in the direction of “think the thought.” A third was

composed of a few independents that found some values in each camp and attempted to blend the

two approaches.

During the same time period, Victorian interest in earnest self-improvement and

edification gave rise to emporiums for the dispersal of culture – for example, the Lyceum

Movement, and more prominently, the Chautauqua Institution. At its most influential time,

Chautauqua established nationwide book clubs and correspondence schools; great readers,

speakers, and artists performed on its lecture platforms. From across the country came the call

for performers and a full complement of touring guest artists and readers, who covered the

country with uplifting reading and speeches, lectures, and programs. Famous readers or lecturers

– Charles Dickens and Wendell Phillips, for example – were paid considerably for their personal

appearances.

20TH Century:

In the beginning of the twentieth century, a number of colleges were offering courses in

elocution or expression, but most students did not include speech in their programs unless they

were preparing themselves for ministry, politics, or law. The material presented in speech classes

was filtered through several personalities and was strongly flavored by the individual teacher’s

own taste and understanding. Each school had its own course of study and its own emphasis.

And each prided itself on its independence and its difference from others. Each school only

emphasized its own individuality rather than working with the others toward solidarity and unity

of purpose among all teachers in the field.

An important link between the theorists and teachers of the nineteenth century and the

present is principals of vocal expression (1897) by William B. Chamberlain and Salomon H.

Clark. This book, acknowledged a deep indebtedness to Curry, stressed the interaction of mind

and body and of “instincts” for a reason.

With the advance of the twentieth century, departments of speech grew in stature in

colleges and universities and became more fully accepted members of the academic society. The

period of the 1940’s was one of transition and stabilization. Interest in history and research

increased, as described by Mary Margret Rob in Oral interpretation of Literature in American

Colleges and Universities (1947) and as evidenced by the establishment of doctoral programs in

the field. In the 1950’s and the 1960’s, the academic study of interpretation centered on the

unique and powerful rewards performance offered the literary study of texts. It followed, then,

that during this period several analytical studies of individual texts, authors, and genres

influenced the development of theory. Each of theses studies identified and analyzed the unique

ways performance helped discover, understand, or appreciate different kinds of information.

During the 1970s changing ideas about the social responsibilities of literature and

changing perspectives on the nature of performance outside the academic establishment began to

affect the three prevalent theories of interpretation. Literary studies continued to influence

interpretation theory, but as literary theory began to reflect the insides obtained through

deconstruction, post-structuralism, and the decentering of the literary text, contemporary

interpretation theory had to confront new concepts of “text.” If the definition of text was

expanding, so too was the nature, variety, function, and extent of “performance,” such as

considering Marxist or Feminist perspectives.

The last decade of the twentieth-century and the beginning of a new century saw

scholars, studying performance in a number of venues and in a variety of ways. The field of

performance studies still centered of performance of literature, but also included many

interdisciplinary trajectories of both theory and practice. Among the many ways performance

expanded were performance in everyday life, performance of popular culture, and performance

of traditionally unrepresented groups. Performance that interrogated issues of identity and the

self, and performance that sought to make specific interventions in the world.

As we move into an era of even more dynamic communication, we must recognize how

social consciousness, political awareness, philosophical acumen, anthropological sensitivity, and

responsiveness to developing literary theory work together to make us all better global citizens.

For most present-day interpreters, it doesn’t so much matter what the performance of literature is

called as long as the literature is performed. Contemporary theatre itself is not confined to the

performance of plays. Novels are staged and performance art thrives. Today’s performance

practice celebrates multi-vocal texts that defy categorization and leave audiences to resolve what

they are or what they mean. Students of oral interpretation and performance study performing

any way they can, any place they find it, any way it’s done.

3. Sir Ken Robinson, a teacher and a professional speaker on creativity said that,

"creativity is an original thought that has value." When performing, a performer must be

innovative and put his or her creative thoughts into action. They should uses different voices

(tonecolor/onomatopeia and pitches) to set the mood and really own the piece. Furthermore, the

performer should also use bodily movements (face gestures, spacial relations, hand movements,

and posture). Spacial relations refers to the distance from the performer to the audience. A good

performer can be calm under pressure and use his or her creativity to improvise, so that every

movement seems natural. It shouldn't seem like the performer is thinking as she or he goes. Be

yourself because no one wants to see an imitation of someone else. Just go with your impulses

and have fun! Get inside the character's mind to figure out his or her thought process. As an

interpreter, you have to use your creativity and think about how they would react to this

situation. If they're cold, then they would shiver. The costume can also fit into the category of

creativity. It should correlate with the scene(s) that you're performing.

3. One touchstone of good writing is creativity – the writers own fresh approach to a universal

subject. This quality is revealed in choice of words, images, and method of organization. You cannot

decide whether the author has handled the subject with creativity unless you have some acquaintance with

a wide variety of literature. After some time and experience, you will be able to recognize that creativity

results in large part from the author’s selectivity and control and is reflected in both content and structure.

The creative process is important to the performance of literature because it is the process of

change, of development, of evolution, in the organization of subjective life. Every creative act overpasses

the established order in some way and in some degree. C.G. Jung remarked “The work in process

becomes the poet’s fate and determines his physic development.”

Creation begins typically with a vague excitement, yearning, a hunch, a generalization, an

adventure, a sense of self-surrender. It may appear spontaneously and involuntarily, but far from being

complete. There is a real opposition between the conscious and the unconscious and the unconscious

activity does subsist in the limitations, which the former imposes on the latter. What is needed is control

and direction.

The creative process in its unconscious action has often been compared to the growth of a child in

the womb. The creative and conclusion is never in full sight at the beginning and is brought into view

only when the process is complete. It must crystalize for the artist with self-surrender and concentration

and patient understanding, discipline and hard work. Sir Ken Robinson, a teacher and a professional

speaker on creativity said that, "creativity is an original thought that has value."  When performing, a

performer must be innovative and put his or her creative thoughts into action.  They should uses different

voices (tone color/onomatopoeia and pitches) to set the mood and really own the piece.  Furthermore, the

performer should also use bodily movements (face gestures, spacial relations, hand movements, and

posture).  A spacial relation refers to the distance from the performer to the audience.  A good performer

can be calm under pressure and use his or her creativity to improvise, so that every movement seems

natural.  It shouldn't seem like the performer is thinking as she or he goes.  Be yourself because no one

wants to see an imitation of someone else. Just go with your impulses and have fun!  Get inside the

character's mind to figure out his or her thought process.  As an interpreter, you have to use your

creativity and think about how they would react to this situation.  If they're cold, then they would shiver.

The costume can also fit into the category of creativity.  It should correlate with the scene(s) that you're

performing. 

4. The term technique does not imply artificially in the use of body and voice. In fact, the

finer the technique is, the less apparent it should be to the audience. Technique may be defined

as style of performance. The interpreter develops and uses technique as a means communicating

the text; the text is not used as a vehicle for displaying technique. You develop vocal and bodily

by practicing, so that your muscles will respond to the demands made on them without apparent

prompting or effort. Bodily action may be defined as any movement of the muscles of the body.

This movement may be an elaborate gesture or merely a relaxing or tensing of the small muscles

around the eyes or mouth, across the shoulders and back, or in the legs. It may be a combination

of any or all of these movements. All aspects of the bodily action speak to an audience, whether

the performer intends them or not. One common problem occurs when the performer’s gestures

or bodily habits override a character’s habits. We recognize that bodily action - like voice - is

one part of creating character. The performer must take care that the audience sees the bodily

action intended for the character, not some habitual (and easily overlooked) habit of the

performer.

The basis of effective bodily action is good posture, which is primarily a matter of

comfortable positional relations among the various parts of the body. Good posture is the

arrangement of the bones and muscles so that each unit does its job of supporting and controlling

the bodily structure without unnecessary tension or strain. Kinesics offers a way to look at the

interaction between what the voice is saying and what the body is saying. Kinesics is the study of

fine and gross bodily movement, gesture, posture, and locomotion. Its also known as body

language or nonverbal communication.

A gesture may be defined as any movement that helps express or emphasize an idea or

emotional response. Gesture includes both clearly discernable bodily movement and subtle

changes in posture and muscle tone. Many people still think of gesture in its narrowest sense - as

an overt action of the hands and arms and occasionally the head and shoulders. these parts of the

body do not function as separate entities, however. Rather, they involve a “follow-through” that

both affects and is affected by the degree of muscular tension in every other part of the body. An

effective gesture amplifies or enriches the meaning of the text; it does not simply repeat the

denotative information of the words. Gesture isn’t telling us anything more than the words tell

us, and thus it is a mimetic gesture. Your use gesture normally depends on two considerations.

The first is your material. You should use whatever bodily action is necessary to make the

meaning clear to your audience and to convey the emotional quality effectively. The second

consideration is the personality and capacity of the interpreter. Nevertheless, responsiveness is

such an important factor in the total process of communication that you would do well to work

on gestures consciously during rehearsal.When you rehearse gestures, this big action, forms your

muscle memory. Such personal mannerisms are called autistic gestures because they grow out of

your own personality, divert attention away from what you’re saying and to you and prevent the

audience from concentrating on your material

Muscle tone refers to the degree of tension or relaxation present in the entire body.

Muscle tone occurs as a result of muscle memory, complete response to the material, and the

interpreter’s concentration on sharing that material with the audience. Performance anxiety is

the muscle tone that is also affected by the performer’s mental and emotional state. The key is to

channel the tension into the performance so that it becomes an asset and not a hazard.

Literature rich in universality and suggestion depends for much of its effectiveness on the

skillful use of sense imagery. Images that appear predominantly to the sense of sight are called

visual;to the sense of hearing, auditory; to the sense of taste, gustatory; and to the sense of smell,

olfactory. the sense of touch is appealed to intactual (or tactile) imagery, which involves a

sensation of  physical contact, pressure, or texture, and in thermal imagery which refers to the

feelings of heat and cold. the first is Kinetic imagery, which refers to large, overt actions of the

muscles: running, jumping, sitting down, and walking away. The second type is Kinesthetic

imagery, which refers to muscle tension and relaxation. Kinesthetic imagery is closely related to

muscle memory and resultant muscle tone. you should identify fully with the how and the why of

the actions performed by the personae or the characters in a selection. A kinesthetic response is

also involved in our reactions to height and distance. Imagery contributes strongly to the

effectiveness of the intrinsic factors. The interpreter must not allow variety to overshadow or

violate the essential unity but rather use this variety to fulfill its purpose of relief, in a sense to

reinforce the unity. In the matter of balance and proportion, imagery is often used to weight a

unit with this added vividness the section is comparable to a more detailed unit.  

One of the interpreter's most powerful tools is the control and use of empathy, which

literally means "feeling into" and it results from the ability and willingness to project yourself

intellectually and emotionally into a piece of literature or any other type of art. This emotional

association enables you to embody to mental and the emotional states of the speaker and

characters in the selection. Such identification results in a corresponding physical response. The

interaction of these emotional and physical responses, as they intensify each other, is the basis of

empathy as it concerns the interpreter. As an interpreter, you respond fully to these words and

phrases. If you have not experienced precisely what the author is describing or creating, recall

some parallel or approximate situation that has evoked a comparable response in you. Empathy

works for the interpreter in three distinct steps: from the literature to the interpreter, from the

interpreter to the audience, and from the audience back to the interpreter. The participation

combined with intellect, emotions, and body is the first step to empathy. Thus, the first step in

empathy is your own response to the stimulus provided by the literature. Without this response,

the second step is impossible. The second step in empathy has to do with the audience's response

to the interpreter's material. During your introduction, you can use this element to establish an

emotional readiness in the audience. The third step in empathy is the interpreter's ultimate

reward: the audience sends back an empathetic response through its concentration and its

alternating tension and relaxation. You will feel listeners respond, see them lean forward, hear

them laugh. Thus, the cycle is complete: from the printed page to the interpreter, out to the

audience, and back to the interpreter.

Using your body in rehearsal will effectively help you during your performance.  Every

performance requires a careful rehearsal.  Eye contact will allow your body to speak the

literature, just as your voice does.  To do this, you must visualize whatever the speaker sees.  If,

as a performer, you see it before you describe it, your audience will see it with you; in a sense,

the audience sees it “reflected” in your eyes.  Focus your attention on the character who is being

addressed on the audience – your analysis has helped you to determine the focus of any given

time.  It becomes apparent how useful locus can be in directing you to the most appropriate

choice.  

Once you know who is speaking, determine from what vantage points the persona speaks.

Locus refers to the physical and psychological positions from which the speaker relates the

events to the audience. Locus encompasses both time and space. You already know some of its

related words: location, locale, and locate. In the most basic sense, then, the locus of the work is

the place where the action occurs. Locus also involves the relationship between the speaker of a

given line and the world that the speaker inhabits - not just the rooms or streets or buildings in

the story but the audience to whom the speaker addresses that line and the relationship the

speaker enjoys with that audience. Each time the locus changes is each time the relationship

between the speaker and audience changes. Finally, for some interpreters, locus has an even

larger scope. A poem, short story, or play evokes an attitude toward the events it recounts. This

attitude is not simply the same perspective as the point of view of the narrator, although the

narrative perspective obviously contributes to it.

Use aesthetic entirety.  Did you fix some of the problems from previous performances?

Did you achieve the improvement that you were seeking?  Any progress is something to be

proud of, so don’t be upset if you don’t meet your expectations. Although the following

questions relate directly to the chapters on voice development and the use of the body, they also

apply to any performance you give.  Why not ask a classmate to compare answers with you?  1.

Could you be heard?  Could you be understood?  These are not always the same thing.  Why?  2.

Was your breath control satisfactory and comfortable?  Did you find yourself running out of

breath at places you previously had under control?  What happened in the lines just preceding

these new problem areas?  3.  Were you able to control and vary the pace to support the demands

of your selection?  Remember, audiences listen at a much slower rate than you can speak.  Give

them time to understand.  4.  Were you careful to use pauses effectively, being sure that you did

not break the unity or destroy the harmony, but made use of variety and contrast to achieve

balance and proportion, to bring out the climaxes, and to suggest the fulcrum?  Was your

concentration steady during the pauses?  5. Was there a regional dialect or melody pattern in

your selection – or in your performance – that interfered with the audience’s full enjoyment of

the personae?  Was monotone a problem?  6.  Was your body communicating what your voice

was communicating?  Did your body and your voice complement each other?  Did you

remember that your performance begins the instant you leave your seat and continues until you

return to it?  7.  Did your body respond to the imagery honestly without ignoring the intrinsic

factors?  8.  Did you notice any physical mannerisms that inhibited what you were trying to

communicate?  

These questions were also helpful in analyzing the performances of other readers.

Remember to be descriptive: (1) select one striking moment in another’s performance and see if

you can describe precisely what the performer did to achieve such distinction.  Take the time to

sketch verbally exactly what the performer’s body was doing and exactly how the performer’s

voice behaved at that moment.  (2) Compare your responses with those of your classmates.  (3)

Now, together, compare all of these descriptions with the actual text of the selection.  Did the

performance coincide with the selection?  How?  Did it veer away from what the author

intended?  Where?  How?  Why?

There are major aesthetic components.  These intrinsic factors are unity and harmony,

variety and contrast, balance and proportion, and rhythm; which are not separate entities.  Unity

is the combining and ordering of all the parts that make up the whole.  It consists of elements of

content and form that hold the writing together and keep the readers' and listeners' minds focused

on the total effect.  Connectives such as and, then, next, a few hours later, and after this are

important because they hold the material together.  Harmony is the appropriate adjustment of

parts to one another to form a satisfying whole, the concord between the idea and the way that

idea is expressed.  Harmony is achieved in part through the author's choice of words, the

sentence structure, and the relationship of phrases and clauses within sentences.  Then, it

depends to a large extent on elements of style.  In poetry, rhythmic elements serve to enhance

harmony.  Next is variety and contrast.  Literature lacks variety and contrast, which is not likely

to hold a reader's attention for long.  Variety is provided when two things of the same general

kind differ from each other in one or more details.  Contrast is concerned with the opposition or

differences between associated things; such as dark against light.  

Because proportion provides balance, the two factors should be considered together.

Balance can be restored by an adjustment of proportions, either by moving the fulcrum toward

the end on which the heavier weight rests or by moving the heavier object closer to the fulcrum.

When equal weights or quantities lie at equal distances from a central point (or fulcrum), the

balance is said to be symmetrical.  For example, identical candlesticks placed equidistant from

the center of a mantelpiece provide a symmetrical balance.  Perfect balance is satisfying to the

senses, but sometimes the asymmetrical or unequal balance achieved by an adjustment of

distance, weights, and masses may be more interesting and effective.  Balance is brought about

by the intensity or the proportion of content on either side of the point at which the entire

selection seems to pivot and change direction.  This point of balance occurs at the crisis in a

story or a play.  In a poem, as on a seesaw, it is called the fulcrum.  The fulcrum, or point of

balance, may or may not coincide with either the logical or emotional climax.  In the literature,

rhythm is usually thought of as an element of poetic structure, such as the relationship between

stressed and unstressed syllables.  Rhythm, however, is an important aspect of content as well.

Rhythm of content evolves from the interaction of logical and emotional content.  The briefer a

selection is, the more important rhythm of content is likely to be.  Rhythm of content is

important to an interpreter because most people are able to concentrate fully and exclusively on

an idea for only a brief time.

There is no doubt that the manner in which we assume and command the platform has a

huge bearing on how well we are perceived as speakers, as communicators. And importantly,

how well the audience takes in our message. Speaking to people is in some ways the same as

leading them: it is essential to command attention and respect, not demand it. The manner in

which we stand and deliver our presentation, quite apart from the words we use, will always have

a significant bearing on the outcome. In the well-known 7/38/55 rule we learn how most of the

impression we make on our audience comes not from our words, but rather how we speak, and

how we physically conduct ourselves while presenting. With this in mind, let's take a look at a

few things that can make or break a great presentation. Remembering that these same principles

pretty much apply whether we are appearing in person before a small group, a 1000 people or for

that matter being videoed. Let's first take a quick look at some common distractions that beset

speakers. Actually, they distract the audience even more.

Some speakers maintain a poise like a statue, whilst maintaining a vice like grip of the

lectern like it was a matter of life or death. And keep that up for the duration of their speech. This

conveys the impression that the speaker is delivering bad news. Really bad news. Or that they are

really terrified. I suppose I should add that the first few times I appeared before a significant

audience I felt like it was life or death! Now, there is nothing wrong with periodically resting

our hands on the lectern, or the like, but just don't fasten onto it like a drowning man. Nor is it a

great idea to resemble a gymnast or a dancer by continually prancing around the stage. OK,

unless you are one. It is trendy for speakers today to be continually mobile whilst on the

platform. Some mobility can be a good thing, depending on the event and the speaking

environment. But it is not helpful to resemble a prowling lion in a cage: continually walking

back and forth from end to end of the platform. Like salt in food, a little bit goes a long way and

more doesn't always equal better. This can become little more than a distraction to the audience,

and can be real a pain for the AV team if we are being videotaped, or the lighting team if they are

continually trying to maintain lighting on us.

It's always good if we have the time and ability to rehearse our stage manner with the

event team, no matter how large or small the event is. This will identify audio dead spots, ensure

we don't block out any visual screens and generally allow them to best perform their job.

Remember, we as speakers are there to serve our hosts, not ourselves, and make their event a

success. Some speakers forget this. It is always best to try to be as natural as possible. Maintain

good eye contact with our audience. Use some whole of body gestures, our body language to talk

to the audience. By example, I sometimes say that when speaking to an audience requiring

translators, it should almost be possible to speak without the translators and have the different

language groups understand us, if our voice tone and body language are working properly and in

sync. If we are reading our audience and listening to them, and they are doing the same with us.

This means that physical gestures, our entire body movement should be as natural as if we were

simply speaking to two or three friends at a BBQ. As with most elements of great public

speaking, an ounce of experience is better than a ton of theory once we have the right

understanding of it.

5. The importance of an introduction is to inform your audience about the background of the piece

they are about to hear; not necessarily what the piece is about, but what they need to know beforehand in

order to understand the meaning of the piece. Providing information such as the title and the author of the

piece is needed unless the piece is common and your audience is familiar with it. Though many members

of the classroom audience are likely to be familiar with the selection that you’ve chosen, you can’t be sure

that the entire audience knows its intricacies. Moreover, if you have excerpted a section from a larger

work, the audience needs to know what happened just before you join it.

It is best to make sure that your introduction identifies the title and author of the selection. Also,

the introduction should prepare the audience for the events that occur as you join the selection; if you

have excerpted your selection, you need to bring your audience up to the point you join work. Finally,

you should establish the persona who will present the work: are you the narrator who describes what

happens to others? Are you the narrator/character who lives within the selection? You could introduce the

piece “New Words” by saying:

My son – who is a fully active two-year old – is learning words pretty rapidly these days. Because

last night was so warm and clear, I took him outside to see the night sky, and though I wanted

him to learn, I think maybe I discovered more than he did. He was in my arms and we were in the

back yard and of our house, and I said to him:

You then begin the poem just as the author did. This introduction mentioned neither the title nor the

author, but if your audience already knows the work, mentioning them may not be necessary.

Alternatively, for your introduction you could select a sentence that features a key phrase, make

brief additional comments in your own words, and proceed directly to the performance. Don’t tell the

audience what they are about to hear; prepare them to listen and watch intelligently. For example, perhaps

a literature class is reading American women’s fiction, ad you volunteer to perform Kate Chopin’s story.

Your introduction might go something like this:

Sometimes we think not much can happen to us in the space of an hour, but Kate Chopin tells the

story of a woman who in even less time came to understand what her life could be. Writing at the

end of the nineteenth century Chopin’s subtle economic stories distinguished her among the

women writing at the time. This is Kate Chopin’s “The Story of an Hour.”

In short, tailor your introduction to the work you have selected to perform, as well as to the audience that

has assembled to experience your performance.

7. Plays are organized on the principles of unity and probability. We said their basic ingredient

is conflict. The ways in which conflict is presented, developed, and resolved vary widely. In

general, however, the opening scenes of a play are devoted to exposition through action and

dialogue. Then comes the challenge that introduces the inciting or exciting force. Several such

units may develop. The subsequent moves and countermoves among the characters produce a

tightening of conflict (the rising action). The rising action comes to a point of decision in the

crisis. The crisis is that moment of limitation that directs the action to its final outcome. The

crisis makes inevitable and brings about the climax, and the culmination of all the elements of

the conflict. The climax is followed by the denouement, or resolution, or, in tragedy, the

inevitable catastrophe. Most dramas follow some variation of this general form; in the changes

and alterations, each drama achieves its unique pattern. These events or occurrences should not

be confused with plot. Plot can’t be separated from the characters. We call plot all that the

characters say and do, and we know about characters from what they say and do and from what

others say about and do to them. A plot is not a play, and a play is not simply its plot. Anton

Chekhov’s the Three Sisters, some people say, is about three women who don’t go to Moscow.

It is true that the sisters never reach that destination. Still, this description shows very little

understanding of what the sisters do reach, or how they get it, or what it costs, or what happens

along the way.

Examining a scene will help you find explicit and hidden clues about characters. The

Three Sisters is a play about time filled with the minutiae of life. Much of the action seems not

to get anybody anywhere. But Chekhov recognized what we all know: Only rarely do lives

change because of drastic or melodramatic events. Admittedly, characters must speak if an

audience is to achieve the fullest possible understanding of their lives. But in drama some of the

most moving moments are silent ones. That is probably also true of your life. Don’t presume

that nothing happens during a pause. Chekhov uses pauses to describe the agony. Plays are

interactions of characters. Your preparation begins knowing how and where to look for the clues

to understanding these characters. We must analyze the play to understand the full story.

Characters in drama, like people in life, represent at least the sum of past experiences.

Careful reading can help the performer understand the work. Thus, they can move around and

work it. Dramatic literature presents several challenges to a student, making the reading

experience different than poetry or fiction. Here are some tips for students to make the most out

of reading a play. The reader should jot down notes, reactions and questions directly onto the

page or in a journal. Students who record their reactions as they read are more likely to

remember the characters and various subplots. Typically, a playwright will briefly describe a

character as he or she enters the stage. After that point, the characters might never be described

again. Therefore, it is up to the reader to create a lasting mental image. What does this person

look like? How do they sound? How do they deliver each line? Sometimes the setting of a play

seems like a flexible backdrop. For example, A Midsummer Night's Dream takes place in the

mythological age of Athens, Greece. Yet most productions ignore this, choosing to set the play in

a different era, usually Elizabethan England. In other cases, the setting of the play is vitally

important. If the time and place is an essential component, students should learn more about

the historic details. Some plays can only be understood when the context is evaluated.

Interaction becomes fluent as the rhythm of the individuals’ speeches becomes more

obvious. At the same time, how the speeches work off each other will become more apparent

and important, because the tempo of the interaction provides the foundation for rhythm. The

individual speech rhythm of each character is revealed. The style includes what a character

omits as well as what he or she says. The languages a character uses reveals background and

attitude. The arrangement of ideas gives a clue to the person’s clarity of thinking and is likely to

reflect intensity of emotion. The length of the thought units also may reveal much about a

character’s personality, forcefulness, and authority as well as the degree of physical tension.

Scenography conveys period manners, social customs, and economic conditions to an

audience. All affect the characters. Writers of narratives remind the readers of physical and

psychological impact of surroundings on character. Place can establish a motive, motivate an

action, and describe a world. The scenography paints the picture and makes the character come

to life by using different pitches, tones, and pauses. Lastly, is putting the drama together. The

key is not to take anything for granted. Take time for a thorough three minute segment rather

than expect the same amount of rehearsal to prepare you for a five minute scene. Besides,

having a thorough knowledge of each character, you should have a constant awareness of

relationships and of progressions in these relationships. As the actor must learn to hear the

speeches of other characters, the interpreter must learn to have heard, to be sure each character is

responding to what has gone before. All the characters must stay “in scene” and be ready to pick

up the progression as they speak. Thus, the interpreter needs to select for each character enough

significant physical and vocal details so that the listeners can themselves fill in the outline and

make a three dimensional, believable person. Each personality in each play presents its own

slightly different problems. Some suggestions for handling mechanical details—and they are

suggestions only.

6. The rate at which people speak is often habitual, a part of their personalities and their entire

backgrounds. Your customary rate probably serves you very well for ordinary conversation, but you may

need to adjust this habitual rate to accommodate an author’s style and purpose. Audiences cannot listen as

rapidly as a performer can speak. Interpreters must learn to hear themselves in rehearsal and in

conversation. Rate is determined not only by the speed with which sounds are uttered in sequence, but

also by the length and frequency of pauses that separate the sequences of sounds. You must recognize

phrasal pauses, which clarify the relationships of words in phrases to convey units of thought. The pause

may also become one of your most effective tools for building suspense and climaxes and for reinforcing

a selection’s emotional content.

A pause motivated by real understanding may be sustained for a much longer time and with

greater effect than you might realize. You need only be sure that during the pause something relevant to

the material is going on in your own mind and consequently you convey it to the minds of your listeners.

You should work not only to use pauses in the most effective places but also to vary and sustain the

lengths of the pauses as the material demands.

Emphasis can be described as a force or intensity of expression that gives a particular prominence

given in reading or speaking to one or more syllables. Emphasis can be projected by a particular stress of

utterance, or force of voice, given in reading and speaking to one or more words whose signification the

speaker intends to impress specially upon his audience.

The pitch of a sound is its place on the musical scale. In terms of the scale range, pitch is high,

medium, or low. It is important for the interpreters to become skillful in using pitch to suggest shades of

meaning and build climaxes. Changes in pitch give variety and contrast to the material being read and

help hold the audience’s attention. Because a change in pitch produces inflection, a speaker’s inflection

range is the entire pitch span between the highest and lowest tones that he or she is capable of making

comfortably.

Any pattern in the variation of levels of pitch results in melody. When there are no discernable

changes of pitch, the result is a monotone. Although melody is an asset to the interpreter, it can also

become a problem. Most people have in their daily speech a characteristic pattern of inflections, which is

part of their own personalities. Some of that pattern will be carried over into their work before an

audience. Often, however, a reader’s pattern is so marked that it calls attention to itself and thus gets in

the way of re-creation of the material.

The function of onomatopoeia in poetry is to create musicality in the spoken words, and reinforce

the overall theme of the poem. Onomatopoeia is the use of words whose sounds suggest or reinforce their

meaning: for example, hiss, thud, crack, and bubble. The word "pop," for example, may be used to

describe the loud, jarring sound a cork makes when a bottle of champagne is opened. This literary device

may be used in conjunction with other techniques to produce music through words alone. It can be used to

force the reader to speak the poem in the exact manner the writer intended to illustrate the complete

meaning of his piece. The use of onomatopoeia in poetry may also be paired with other literary devices to

create theme. The musical sounding words when spoken aloud can repeat the primary concepts addressed

by the actual words of the poem.

8. When it comes to prose, a reader might have trouble with style, which demonstrates character.

How you dress and what you wear are always part of who you are. Style consists of: overall

organization of ideas, steps in developing the central idea, word choice and the relationship

between words in a sentence, and syntactical characteristics of a sentence. Then, paragraphs

involve consideration of the major thought units. Paragraphs usualls suggest a more

sophisticated approach and reflect on past experiences. Writers suggest relationships and

importance by what they put together into paragraphs, so make sure to pause between them. The

methods of constructing plots, of delineating characters, of employing settings, do not differ

appreciably whether a narrative be written in verse or in prose; and in either case the same

selection of point of view and variety of emphasis are possible. Therefore, in this volume, no

attempt has hitherto been made to distinguish one type of fictitious narrative from another. The

suggestion for character delineation is when a performer sketches out or depicts what is going

on. During all of your performances, it's essential that you give a concise introduction with solid

information that illustrates the whole story.

8. Performers respond intellectually, emotionally and physically to the aesthetic entirety of the play.

Interpreters must solve the technical problems of the play, and they must work in the rehearsals to perfect

the difficult scenes.

Technique means economical management of a performer’s resources. Technical mastery of both

the body and voice allows the interpreter to communicate to an audience all the discoveries made during

the rehearsal process. Without internal commitment to the selection, technical mastery shows how empty

the interpreter really is. Present the selection not the performer.

Some specific problems that the reader may encounter in suggestion of character in drama may

include loss of control, failing to memorize the lines, inadequately setting the scene, failing to follow

stage directions, falsely embodying characters, not showing physical contact, failing to pick up cues, and

having a misguided angle of placement and physical focus.

Control is the fullest possible life of the performance. Interpreters control a scene giving enough

resources so that an audience fully experiences the life of the drama. Failing to control the scene will

result in an inadequate embodiment of the character or scene that is being portrayed. Memorizing lines is

not absolutely necessary. To memorize a scene may be useful because it allows the pace of the scene to

continue easily with full frontal placement. Creating eye contact with the audience allows you, the

performer, to more clearly share the emotion that the character or scene requires with the audience.

Setting a scene suggests that you tell the audience what has happened prior to the first line of

your presentation. Framing your performance suggests the characters are placed “out front” – “off stage”

into the realm of the audience. Failing to provide an improper introduction will cause the audience to lose

interest in the material that is about to be presented. Props can cause problems for performers. Performer

must ensure that mimed props should be treated more carefully than physical props; once they are

introduced they must be concluded. It is always safe to not become too explicit with gestures.

To properly embody the character you are trying to portray, you must feel in your muscles the

physical lives of the characters in the scene. Develop one character at a time. Allow the individualities of

the characters to emerge-walk first-talk second as the characters in your rehearsals always striving to

create them their tempo, rhythm, inflection, range and quality. Embodying the character ties in with

control; it is crucial in order to bring the character or scene that is being presented to life.

Physical contact is the reflexive physical activity that occurs with the interplay of characters.

Characters need to listen to each other. Interpreters develop the ability to pick up a speech midway into a

train of thought to “have heard” that requires split-second response. Picking up cues is important so that

there are no empty spaces between lines. The audience needs to constantly see the character. The

performer is in a posture that is neutral enough to conclude one character and begin another.

Angle of placement and physical focus occurs when the action of a scene moves along a line

stretching from performer through the audience to the opposing character just above and beyond the

listeners’ heads, which places the audience in the center of the interaction. When a piece requires an off-

stage focus, if the performer fails to provide the physical focus necessary for the piece, the embodiment of

the characters will be less realistic.

There are many problems the reader may encounter when trying to portray poetry or prose. Poetry

and prose are a challenge to the interpreter simply because of its compactness. The reader must respond to

its emotional weight of content patterns, meaning that the interpreter must read the content the way it’s

written; paraphrasing in unacceptable. It was written in that way specifically, and is to be presented based

on its content. Each word is important and is chosen carefully in poetry.

For the reader to be successful they need to respond subjectively first, then with an objective

analysis of the poem. The reader must enjoy the selection in order to embody the poems and characters in

prose performances characteristics’ successfully. Problems that may arise are a lack of understanding

when it comes to the figurative images, words, and language of poetry; meaning that there may be a lack

of knowledge in allusions, similes, metaphors, intellect, emotions, and imagination. Without proper

investigation of the piece, these figurative words, images, and languages can be presented without the

meaning that the writer wanted to perceive.

Knowledge of the onomatopoeia's, alliterations, and other sensory appeals and literal images is

necessary when presenting a piece of poetry. When reading poetry, understanding the prosody, or how the

poem works is key. Mastering the structure of the poem and noticing the small details will make the

presentation successful. A problem a reader may face with poetry is failing to stress the rhythmic base of

the poem; which results in improper pronunciation, meaning, mood, and purpose. Not understanding

whether the poem is conventional or traditional could lead to problems in portraying the poem as well. A

general knowledge of poetry will not fix the problems faced with character delineation. Because of its

complexity, a careful analysis the poem and its language, images, tone color, syntax, and titles will help

provide a successful piece.

When it comes to prose, a reader might have trouble with style, which demonstrates character.

How you dress and what you wear are always part of who you are.  Style consists of: overall organization

of ideas, steps in developing the central idea, word choice and the relationship between words in a

sentence, and syntactical characteristics of a sentence.  Then, paragraphs involve consideration of the

major thought units.  Paragraphs usually suggest a more sophisticated approach and reflect on past

experiences.  Writers suggest relationships and importance by what they put together into paragraphs; so

make sure to pause between them.

9. Before you get very far with a poem, you have to read it. In fact, you can learn quite a few

things just by looking at it. The title may give you some image or association to start with.

Looking at the poem’s shape, you can see whether the lines are continuous or broken into groups

(called stanzas), or how long the lines are, and so how dense, on a physical level, the poem is.

You can also see whether it looks like the last poem you read by the same poet or even a poem

by another poet. All of these are good qualities to notice, and they may lead you to a better

understanding of the poem in the end.

But sooner or later, you’re going to have to read the poem, word by word. To begin, read the

poem aloud. Read it more than once. Listen to your voice, to the sounds the words make. Do you

notice any special effects? Do any of the words rhyme? Is there a cluster of sounds that seem the

same or similar? Is there a section of the poem that seems to have a rhythm that’s distinct from

the rest of the poem? Don’t worry about why the poem might use these effects. The first step is

to hear what’s going on. If you find your own voice distracting, have a friend read the poem to

you.

That said, it can still be uncomfortable to read aloud or to make more than one pass through a

poem. Some of this attitude comes from the misconception that we should understand a poem

after we first read it, while some stems from sheer embarrassment. Where could I possibly go to

read aloud? What if my friends hear me?

But lineation introduces another variable that some poets use to their advantage. Robert

Creeley is perhaps best known for breaking lines across expected grammatical pauses. This

technique often introduces secondary meaning, sometimes in ironic contrast with the actual

meaning of the complete grammatical phrase. Consider these lines from Creeley’s poem "The

Language": Locate I love you somewhere in teeth and eyes, bite it but”. Reading the lines as

written, as opposed to their grammatical relationship, yields some strange meanings. "Locate I"

seems to indicate a search for identity, and indeed it may, but the next line, which continues with

"love you some-," seems to make a diminishing statement about a relationship. On its own, "eyes

bite" is very disturbing.

Reading poetry is difficult because of the complex patterns and diagrams. Structure is

crucial and the condensation provides challenges to interpreters. Efficient management of the

vocal and physical resources and careful attention to communicating the intellectual, emotional,

and aesthetic entirety of the work. But poetry brings more complex uses of sound and sense than

narration or drama. Writers of free verse may use a rhyme scheme. Make sure that you take

advantage of sound patterns, have a clear voice and locus, use empathy, and let your audience

hear the poem as a totality.

Whether in poetry or prose, the narrator's voice is clearly the controlling voice,

telling us what we need to know about background and plot progression. The narrator may even

be a character in the story and involved directly in the events; in this case he or she speaks in his

or her own persona as that character. In lyrical poetry the persona is often the poet speaking. Of

course, poets change their minds and their moods. But we cannot simply say that a poem

represents a poet’s point of view. Most good poets are a lot more complex than even their richest

poems.

Once you know who is speaking, determine from what vantage points the persona speaks.

Locus refers to the physical and psychological positions from which the speaker relates the

events to the audience. Locus encompasses both time and space. You already know some of its

related words: location, locale, and locate. In the most basic sense, then, the locus of the work is

the place where the action occurs. Locus also involves the relationship between the speaker of a

given line and the world that the speaker inhabits - not just the rooms or streets or buildings in

the story but the audience to whom the speaker addresses that line and the relationship the

speaker enjoys with that audience. Each time the locus changes is each time the relationship

between the speaker and audience changes. Finally, for some interpreters, locus has an even

larger scope. A poem, short story, or play evokes an attitude toward the events it recounts. This

attitude is not simply the same perspective as the point of view of the narrator, although the

narrative perspective obviously contributes to it.

Sometimes a detail becomes important only later in development of the plot or action.

More often, however, a key detail indicates a high point of logical development or emotional

impact and thus may be considered a climax. Sometimes several minor climaxes can lead up to,

or follow, the major climax. A climax may be the culmination of the logical content, the high

point of the emotional impact, or a combination of the two. In a story or play the logical climax

is often called the crisis. The crisis is the point at which the conflict becomes so intense that a

resolution must occur and after which only one outcome is possible. The emotional climax is the

moment if  the highest emotional impact and involvement for the reader.

Your selection depends on many subtle components to sustain its life as a work of art.

These factors, which are called intrinsic factors, are found in varying degrees in all successful

writing. The intrinsic factors are unity and harmony, variety and contrast, balance and

proportion, and rhythm. We call them intrinsic because they are clearly discernable within the

printed selection and because all reasonably inquisitive readers recognize them. The intrinsic

factors are not separate entities. They bear on and are affected by the arrangement and

organization of the material and also by its logical meaning and emotive quality. No one factor

can be completely separated from the others. They would overlap and affect one another. Many

elements in the writing may contribute to more than one of these factors within a single

selection. Yet each makes its own subtle contribution to the whole.

Unity is the combining and ordering of all the parts that make up the whole. it consists of

those elements of content and form that hold the writing together and keep the readers’ and

listeners’ minds focused on the total effect. Harmony is the appropriate adjustment of parts to

one another to form a satisfying whole, the concord between the idea and the way that idea is

expressed. Harmony is achieved in part through the author’s choice of words, the sentence

structure, and the relationship of phrases and clauses within the sentences.

10. You can derive considerable pleasure from presenting a program or lecture recital to

audiences outside the classroom. What follows can also be used for longer class performances or

for the increasingly popular reading hours. After all, the techniques used in performance are

dictated by the demands of the material rather than by the length or circumstances of the

presentation. The difference between a program and a lecture recital is primarily one of

proportion and degree. A program uses a minimum of transitional material and focuses almost

entirely on the literature. A lecture recital, by contrast, has a strong central unity and can feature

critics’ opinions, historical data, and even video and audio clips as transitions. The selections

illustrate whatever theme the speaker has chosen. The lecture recital emphasizes evaluation as

much as appreciation. You may, of course, perform a range of material, but works with which

you disagree deserve the same respect in performance that you bestow on your favorites.

Because the lecture recital appeals to a more specialized audience and is much less

practical for the beginning interpreter. The first consideration in selecting the material you will

present its literary worth. Do not read inferior material because you think your audience will not

accept anything more difficult. The second consideration is permission to use the material. Any

topic of human interest can become a focal point of a program. The range of responsibilities is

limited only by the interpreter’s skill and imagination. Your program should have a unifying

them dictated in part by what you know about your audience and in part by which the purpose of

the group for whom you are performing. The program should demonstrate the intrinsic factors of

unity and harmony, variety and contrast, balance and proportion, rhythm of emotional impact,

and focus of interest. Plan what you would like to read and prepare for it. Consider the rhythms

of emotional impact to make the entire performance move smoothly and without monotony.

Use multiple readers, different types of literature, and multimedia. When you use

multiple readers, it helps solve the problems of short preparation time and inexperience. It also

increases the audience’s appeal. They need to rehearse together, so that the transactions are clear

and the material is arranged to provide a variety of contrast, rhythm of emotional impact, and

effective use of climatic selections. It increases opportunities for experimentation (including

music and dance). The New York Times uses staging. The performance analogue for such

frankness is an equally frank frontal placement and focus – bodies and voices creating the

presentational equivalent to the newspaper. Such placement frees the bodies and voices to

suggest the pictures, drawings, and graphics. There is no need to limit oneself to any single issue

of the paper. Select from among the finest of the editorials, op-ed articles, obituaries, sport

stories, fashion, news reports, lifestyle and social information, the television-film-theater-dance-

music reviews, and etc. Look at the visual responsibilities and think about how your group can

capture their essence by using different voices and bodily movements.

Other Options include the New Yorker. Programs can respond to important social

problems by featuring texts (literary, visual, and aural) that lead to action. Consider the anguish

and anger surroundings AIDs. Poets, novelists, essayists, painters, composers, choreographers,

and playwrights have all contributed to the growing canon of works. The program should have

both unity and variety. It should have an introductory unit, a climax (usually the longest

selection and the one that most clearly exemplifies your theme), and a conclusion. When you

have selected and arranged your material, look at the whole program and check to see that it

includes each of the intrinsic factors. Keep the introduction short. The audience came to hear

the program, not a long preamble. Your introductory remarks establish the mood and prepare

your audience for what follows. The transitions between selections should allow the listeners a

few seconds to complete their emotional response to the preceding selection and should lead

them economically into the mood of the one that follows.

Next, the performer must adapt to his or her audience. It’s impossible to know what

interests your audience unless the group has a special purpose. Make generalizations about the

audiences’ age, gender, economic status, and other factors that are included in demographics.

Age is the most important thing to keep in mind. Usually, a younger audience is more open to

experimental material and to a wider range of subject matter. An elderly audience wants to see

and hear traditional and familiar material. Children like anything with people, animals, and

nature, so they can visualize it by using their creativity and imagination. They like poetry with a

clear rhythm and a rhyme. Also, they enjoy stories where they can picture the character and hear

the enthusiasm.

Lastly, keep your program to an allotted time. Listeners will become distracted if it’s too

long. Leave your audience wanting more. Slow the pace in your final performance. Whenever

you do a program, remember that in your role of interpreter, you share a text with your audience.

Your art and your technique should serve the material. Planning and preparing a performance

takes time and energy. In some instances, applause is inappropriate. It’s okay to clap during a

pause. Do not pause so long that your audience thinks you’re awaiting an applause. A program

of varied selections is particularly difficult to time because it may be lengthened by laughter

within or applause between selections.

1. (True) Complete speech involves a situation, which is followed by a response, which is

preceded an un urge to communicate all or a part of it.

2. (True) It is the task of the interpretative reader to re-create “complete speech” from the

symbols of writing.

3. (True) When a speaker is using language prepared in advance of the actual speaking

situation, he/she is actually reading.

4. (True) Silent reading may involve both physical and emotional reactions from the reader.

5. (True) The primary difference between interpretative reading and acting is in mental

perspective.

6. (False) In acting the actors impersonate the characters, but in interpretative reading, the

reader merely represents the characters. In order to make this statement true, it should

say “presents or suggestion/manifestation” instead of “represents”.

7. (False) In interpretative reading the scene is said to be “up stage.” In order to make this

statement true, it should say “off-stage focus” instead of “up stage”.

8. (True) When a reader’s tones convey the feeling of the words, he/she may be said to have

tone color.

9. (True) Punctuation is for grammatical construction which is to be observed with the eye,

and inflection is for the ear.

10. (False) Tone copying may be defined as the modulation of the voice from one pitch to

another within thought groups. In order to make this statement true, then you should

replace “tone copying” with the term “melody”.