Elements of the Audible Message

Loudness In delivery, loudness or volume is directly related to the amount of air expelled by the lungs and the force with which it strikes the vocal folds. Loudness must be appropriate to the audience and occasion. Loudness must be appropriate to the idea being communicated. Loudness is useful to emphasize ideas.

Loudness Exercises Read aloud the following pairs of sentences, giving greater volume to the words underlined. Notice how these changes in loudness affect the sentence meaning. I love you I love you. My father is tall ---- My father is tall. Of the people, by the people, for the people. ---of the people, by the people, for the people. Give me liberty or give me death! ---- Give me liberty or give me death!

Pitch The pitch of the human voice is determined by the frequency with which the vocal folds vibrate. As you know, men’s voices tend to be lower than women’s voices because men’s vocal folds are normally longer and larger. Most people are capable of producing pitches over a musical range of about two octaves.

Pitch Thus, each speaker has the ability to produce sounds from booming bass to mouse-like squeaks. Meaningful, natural changes in pitch add variety and interest to vocal delivery. Changes in pitch may take either an upward or downward route. Shifts upward suggest indecision, suspense, and questioning. Downward shifts suggest decisiveness, confidence, determination, or annoyance.

Pitch (con’t) The young man who utters kiss me (voice goes UP) is unsure of the response he will receive. The young man who says Kiss (voice UP) me (voice down) is confident that his request will win the desired response. Lack of pitch change in a speaker is called monotone and is deadly.

Pitch Exercises Repeat the following statements, first with upward and then with downward steps in pitch:  Where are you?  How do you do?  Never mind that.  May I have your attention.  Win, team, win!

Pitch (con’t) With your elbow partner, make up brief statements appropriate to the situation listed below. Deliver your sentence with pitch level and pitch changes suitable to the situation:  A TV narrator introducing a weird mystery program  Kindergarten teacher soothing a five-year-old  A student body officer trying to get the attention of his/her audience  A speaker introducing the next situation that is serious

Rate Rate is determined by two factors, pause and duration. A pause is any significant and meaningful silence occurring between words. The pause allows a speaker to breathe. It also serves as vocal punctuation, helps to clarify messages, separate ideas, gain attention, and give dramatic emphasis. The pause should not be filled with meaningless and distracting sounds (er, uh, um, like, uh huh…)

Rate The duration of each sound corresponds to the length of time it is held or sustained. Vowel sounds can be held longer than consonant sounds.

Rate exercises Deliver the following statements with duration appropriate to the meaning and underlying emotion:  If I’ve told you once, I’ve told you a thousand times-Stop that!  The pain shot through him like a bullet.  The water faucet dripped on endlessly into the night-drip-drip, drip-drop, drop-drip.  Hold that elevator!  We are presenting the award to Susie Quizzler!

Articulation and Pronunciation Many people are guilty of general sloppiness in articulation which is extremely damaging, particularly when they use a microphone. For example: “Lemma tellya sumpin impordnt” or “I wancha to putcher support with-ar canidate.” Sloppy articulation may be corrected by concentrating on careful production of consonant sounds. Pay special attention to consonants in the middle and ends of words.

Articulation and Pronunciation exercises Speak the following sentences aloud. Be sure that you give each sound sufficient distinctness.  Arthur thanked the throng of thrilled thousands.  Unique New York  Crunching carrots connotes crassness  The pig pulled so hard on the rope that he broke both posts, the rope, and a chalkboard  Our next routine is based upon the movie “Swinging Sails”  Running, jumping, and singing are sometimes done at the same time.  Because we are so late the choir will skip their last number.

Watch out for mispronouncing the following words: And phrases: Government Garage Picture Clothes Because Sophomore Congratulations Performance Surprise Library Nuclear Ambulance Can’t you (not can’t chew) I’m going to (not gunna) More examples? Articulation and Pronunciation

The Audible Message Assignment After learning about the audible message, I’m asking you to show what you’ve learned. I will show you an example with Where the Wild Things Are by Maurice Sendak. You may select a children’s book or poem to read aloud to the class. The reading must be 4 minutes or under, so you may have to do an excerpt or short story. Practice reading your book using techniques from the audible message. Present to the class tomorrow!