HOW TO READ WELL IN PUBLIC AND PRIVATE. SOME HINTS ON READING. PROFICIENCY in the art of reading or speaking is an acquirement that yields in importance to none of the accomplishments that combine to form the various branches of a good education; yet, if a number of persons, who could fairly lay claim to be considered as being well-educated men and women, were selected and subjected to the test of reading aloud before an audience, what a small per-centage of them would be found to be good readers! We have supposed that each in such an assemblage of readers should be a well-educated person, that is to say, a person who by force of education is possessed of ability to pronounce every word correctly, and to lay the accent or stress of voice on the syllable on which it ought to be placed; or, in other words, a person who would not commit the vulgar, but unfortunately too common, errors of calling Harry, 'Arry; house, 'ouse; awful, horful; and eggs, heggs. Why, then, if all be equal in this respect, should the reading of some give pleasure to those who listen, while the reading of others is wearisome to the hearers and renders them listless and inattentive? Those who This is a question that is easily answered. please, attract and charm the ear of the listener by the life and colour they impart to whatever they may be reading, by proper modulation of the voice and by giving appropriate expression to every sentence they utter; while those who weary their audience, produce this undesirable effect by reading narrative or poem, declamation2 or dialogue,3 in the same tone throughout, devoid of expression and unbroken by a single rise or fall of voice. It has been well said that good reading is marked by the following traits. The voice of the reader pleases the ear from its very sound. It is perfectly natural, being pitched in neither too high nor too low a key. Every word, every syllable is sounded distinctly. Care is taken to avoid a measured sing-song chant on the one hand, or a broken jerky style of utterance on the other. Expression is rendered clear by an attentive observance of appropriate pauses, and weight and effect is given to sentiment by occasional impressive cessations of voice. Light is shed on the meaning of sentences by the emphatic force which is given to significant and expressive words. Uniform inflection is sedulously avoided, and the voice is varied upward or downward as the successive clauses of a sentence demand. The character of every emotion is marked by its peculiar traits of tone, and hence, in the utterance of connected sentences and paragraphs, an effect is produced on the ear like that of a varied melody 1 Mod-u-la-tion, a change of voice or alteration of tone. From the Latin modulor, I modulate or measure in tone, from modus, a measure. 2 Dec-la-ma'-tion, a speech delivered in public or a display in speaking. From the Latin de, intensive in quality, and clamo, I cry out or shout. 3 Di'-a-logue, a conversation between two persons. From the Greek dia (di'-a), between; and Aoyos (log'-os), a speech. 4 Sed-u-lous-ly, carefully, diligently. From the Latin sedulus, careful, close, from sedeo, I sit, giving the idea of close and unwearying attention and care, as shown by a hen sitting closely on its eggs. 5 Ut-ter-ance, act of speaking or giving out the voice. From the AngloSaxon uter, outer, or ut, out. |