by Dr. Randy Ritz
During a performance, actors are rarely boring and routine (unless they are bad ones). They create great variety in their characterization and presentations by altering their voice – they avoid presenting with the same tone and energy throughout a performance. Actors create this vocal variety in three ways:
- Change in pitch (voice going higher or lower)
- Change in volume (louder/softer)
- Change in rate of speaking (tempo variance)
It is the variety created by these vocal changes that breaks the “sameness” cycle found in many presentations. This can be an antidote against audience boredom.
Anything repeated enough, and in the same pattern, leads an audience to become complacent and over-relaxed – this includes movement patterns (pacing) and repeated gestures. Any voice that drones on and on without changes will lull an audience to sleep.
So, let’s look at how you can adjust your volume, rate and pitch.
Pitch
There is nothing more boring to an audience than hearing a monotone voice (sameness). Unfortunately, many professional speakers, including pastors and professors, adopt a droning quality that drives away enthusiasm and energy in a group gathering.
There seems to be a built-in reticence to being dynamic when it comes to using the notes of our speaking range. Most non-trained speakers will use only three or four of the notes within their range, while experienced professional speakers may use between eight to twelve notes of their speaking range.
A great exercise to help expand a speaker’s pitch-range is to go to a piano and plunk around until you find the same note that you are vocalizing – the one closest to your average vocal range (not too high or too low). Then, count up four white keys to the higher note. Practice talking by quoting Scripture verses while moving your pitch within the four notes that you have selected. Notice that your voice must move around as you match your pitch to the notes on the piano.
Practice this until it does not sound mechanical and you do not need to use the notes of the piano to help you. Then, repeat the exercise by counting four white keys down (lower) from your average vocal range (the same note you started with in the first part of the exercise). Work the lower pitch range in the same way you did the upper. Combine the two and you now have an eight-note range in your speaking voice.
Volume
Very few people talk too loudly when they speak publicly. Generally, they need to speak up. However, it’s not just a matter of always talking to be heard. Effective speakers find motivated reasons to raise or lower their voice. When information is important, dramatic or climactic, the voice raises in volume. Points of importance or sincerity can be brought down to a quiet, although audible, level. The audience is drawn to the intimacy and they strain to better hear the words.
Try using these four volume levels when reading Scripture, and slowly include more volume changes as you preach.
- Close – as in, talking close and intimately to someone (still support the voice – not too low)
- Conversation – volume level that is used in a group conversation
- Calling – as in, calling across the room or auditorium to someone
- Challenging – volume that relates to someone challenging God, the king or an overwhelming number of enemies.
Speed variation
Speed of speaking is a characteristic of our personality. You probably already have some idea as to your rate of speaking compared to others. That is a good beginning point. There have always been effective speakers who are slower, and effective speakers who are faster. Personal style is something to be cherished and not destroyed. However, effective and interesting speakers learn to vary their rate of speaking (words per minute).
As a speaker, you must be able to vocally move faster or slower during the presentation. Record your voice during a sermon and determine if you vary your speed when speaking. If not, then there is a possibility that “sameness” will lead your congregation to boredom.
See you next month!
Dr. Randy Ritz is a passionate educator, actor and communication coach. He helps leaders use the power of narrative to transmit vision, values and history to others in an entertaining manner. He is currently head of drama at Concordia University College and can be found at Randyritz.com. |
