| Share page | Visit Us On FB |
|
THE ART OF SPEAKING AND READING. 75
he will sustain his voice to the end of each phrase, he will deliberately utter every sound in each phrase, he will avoid emphasis as much as possible, and will keep the pitch confined to the middle part of his voice. Provided the extract chosen is not too long this method will appear to be excellent, but the meaning is not made clear to the audience. As soon as the reader has grasped the meaning himself, he will alter his pitch to suit the varying sentiments, and will at the same time make the requisite changes in emphasis and phrasing, and thus will break up the monotony of level speaking.
The pitch of the speaking voice may be roughly represented by five notes; the middle note of the voice is the pitch used in ordinary salutations, as " Good morning," " How are you? " " Ladies and gentlemen," etc. This pitch should be used by the speaker when he does not wish to awaken any special sentiment in his audience. Raising the pitch may be said to elevate the spirits, lowering the pitch to depress the spirits. As the speaker works up his subject and becomes more earnest, he raises the pitch; but if he makes a somewhat unimportant statement, he lowers his pitch. These are the pitches nearest to the middle note, one just above which suggests excitement, and one just below usually used for parenthetical clauses. If the sentiment is very joyful a higher pitch still is used, and if very solemn or sad a still lower pitch. While it is excellent to begin a speech with the middle pitch, and to keep that pitch as the fundamental note running throughout the speech, it is necessary to change into one of the other four pitches as the changing sentiments demand. The brilliant conversationalist will accomplish this quite easily and naturally in ordinary talking, but if called upon to make use of the more dramatic speech of public speaking, he will |
||