-
[ Pobierz całość w formacie PDF ]
Practise it until your delivery would cause a stranger in the next room to think you were discussing an actual
incident with a friend, instead of delivering a memorized monologue. If you are in doubt about the effect you
have secured, repeat it to a friend and ask him if it sounds like memorized words. If it does, it is wrong.
A SIMILAR CASE
Jack, I hear you've gone and done it.--Yes, I know; most fellows will; went and tried it once myself, sir,
though you see I'm single still. And you met her--did you tell me--down at Newport, last July, and resolved to
ask the question at a soirée? So did I.
I suppose you left the ball-room, with its music and its light; for they say love's flame is brightest in the
darkness of the night. Well, you walked along together, overhead the starlit sky; and I'll bet--old man, confess
it--you were frightened. So was I.
So you strolled along the terrace, saw the summer moonlight pour all its radiance on the waters, as they
rippled on the shore, till at length you gathered courage, when you saw that none was nigh--did you draw her
close and tell her that you loved her? So did I.
Well, I needn't ask you further, and I'm sure I wish you joy. Think I'll wander down and see you when you're
married--eh, my boy? When the honeymoon is over and you're settled down, we'll try--What? the deuce you
say! Rejected--you rejected? So was I.
--Anonymous.
The necessity for changing pitch is so self-evident that it should be grasped and applied immediately.
However, it requires patient drill to free yourself from monotony of pitch.
In natural conversation you think of an idea first, and then find words to express it. In memorized speeches
you are liable to speak the words, and then think what they mean--and many speakers seem to trouble very
little even about that. Is it any wonder that reversing the process should reverse the result? Get back to nature
in your methods of expression.
Read the following selection in a nonchalant manner, never pausing to think what the words really mean. Try
it again, carefully studying the thought you have assimilated. Believe the idea, desire to express it effectively,
and imagine an audience before you. Look them earnestly in the face and repeat this truth. If you follow
directions, you will note that you have made many changes of pitch after several readings.
CHAPTER IV 20
It is not work that kills men; it is worry. Work is healthy; you can hardly put more upon a man than he can
bear. Worry is rust upon the blade. It is not the revolution that destroys the machinery but the friction.
--HENRY WARD BEECHER.
Change of Pitch Produces Emphasis
This is a highly important statement. Variety in pitch maintains the hearer's interest, but one of the surest ways
to compel attention--to secure unusual emphasis--is to change the pitch of your voice suddenly and in a
marked degree. A great contrast always arouses attention. White shows whiter against black; a cannon roars
louder in the Sahara silence than in the Chicago hurly burly--these are simple illustrations of the power of
contrast.
"What is Congress going to do next? ----------------------------------- (High pitch) | | | I do not know."
----------------- (Low pitch)
By such sudden change of pitch during a sermon Dr. Newell Dwight Hillis recently achieved great emphasis
and suggested the gravity of the question he had raised.
The foregoing order of pitch-change might be reversed with equally good effect, though with a slight change
in seriousness--either method produces emphasis when used intelligently, that is, with a common-sense
appreciation of the sort of emphasis to be attained.
In attempting these contrasts of pitch it is important to avoid unpleasant extremes. Most speakers pitch their
voices too high. One of the secrets of Mr. Bryan's eloquence is his low, bell-like voice. Shakespeare said that
a soft, gentle, low voice was "an excellent thing in woman;" it is no less so in man, for a voice need not be
blatant to be powerful,--and must not be, to be pleasing. [ Pobierz całość w formacie PDF ] - zanotowane.pl
- doc.pisz.pl
- pdf.pisz.pl
- matkadziecka.xlx.pl