The Well Placed Voice
The well-placed voice can, and should, be modulated to express mood. There are gay tones, dull, angry, pleased, annoyed, bored, enthusiastic, or thrilled tones. Even as emphasis gives a sentence punctuation and meaning, so intonation determines the effect of each word. Public speaking is an extremely interesting subject and deserves the numerous books that have been and will be written on it. It is impossible to give this subject the attention it deserves in the confines of this book, but since most vocalists find it necessary to speak in public at some time or other during their careers, I would like to mention a few basic rules that always should be kept in mind.
The success or failure of a platform talk depends upon the speaker’s "style." Style in speaking is similar to style in singing, being the performer’s personality, coloring all that is said or sung. But personality is even more obvious in speaking, as it is embodied in the speech as well as in the delivery. Whatever other merits a speech may have, it will indeed have one if it is brief. A long-winded discourse defeats its purpose, because after a certain time audience attention wanders. The speech may
be interesting and worth-while, but the average listener cannot concentrate over-long, particularly when the same voice goes on and on. It is infinitely better to "put over" a few points and really drive them home than to touch on innumerable facts and have them all go vaguely in one ear of a lethargic audience and out the other.
To keep an audience alert, sentences must be short and to the point. "Er’s," "ah’s," "ands," and "eh’s" tend to draw out a sentence and rob a speech of its definition and coherence. The "tempo" of a speech can either lull an audience to sleep or keep it alert and interested. A too-speedy delivery, though full of vivacity and spirit, does not allow an audience sufficient time to digest words and ideas; consequently important portions of the discourse may be lost. On the other hand, by speaking too slowly, the speaker will lose the lively interest of the audience as long, irrelevant pauses allow the attention to wander.