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CorinnaMuntean and MernaSadik
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
particularstressofutterance,orforceofvoice,givenin reading andspeakingtooneormore words
whosesignificationthespeaker intends toimpressspeciallyuponhisaudience.
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 animproper 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‖.

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Performance Communication Essay

  • 1. CorinnaMuntean and MernaSadik 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.
  • 2. 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
  • 3. 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.
  • 4. 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
  • 5. 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.
  • 6. 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
  • 7. 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
  • 8. 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.
  • 9. 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
  • 10. 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
  • 11. 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
  • 12. 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
  • 13. 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
  • 14. 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
  • 15. 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.
  • 16. 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
  • 17. 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
  • 18. 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
  • 19. 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:
  • 20. 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
  • 21. 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
  • 22. 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
  • 23. 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.
  • 24. 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 particularstressofutterance,orforceofvoice,givenin reading andspeakingtooneormore words whosesignificationthespeaker intends toimpressspeciallyuponhisaudience. 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
  • 25. 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.
  • 26. 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 animproper 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
  • 27. 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.
  • 28. 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.
  • 29. 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
  • 30. 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
  • 31. 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
  • 32. 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,
  • 33. 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
  • 34. 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.
  • 35. 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‖.