Hello,
Over the coming months I will create Posts for each aspect of choosing and saying words in the best way to convey the meaning we intend.
This Journey will look first at the role and context from which we are speaking to make sure what we are intending to say is appropriate and makes sense - a health-check really.
Then, as in the first Post - "Silvery Sails" - being clear about the visual picture we need to have in our head to bring life to our speaking.
The Post that will follow will concentrate upon being alive to the Gesture that "flows" naturally from the picture we hold. I will do this because how we speak is directly affected by the Gesture.
The Post after that will look at the critical importance of the precise words we use to convey what we want to say. This is a real craft, choosing words that are clear, straightforward and imaginative.
Then I will look at the importance and nature of breathing so that our mental pictures have the best chance of being heard.
Following this I will concentrate upon the rich characteristics and qualities of the consonants and vowels in the English language.
What follows on naturally after this is the effective practice of "stepping the syllables" to lengthen and deepen a word.
Connected with this in the next Post I will look at use of the pause when speaking, to increase the listener's attention to what we are saying and allowing us, both, time to think and breathe!
Travelling full circle we return to whether we have kept faith with our role. This brings in observation - being clear and honest about what is going on around us and within us when we speak.
All this is then considered from the value of having a well constructed conversation - dialogue if we can achieve it - to embrace and nurture all these aspects.
To illustrate what I mean I will use elements of a fairy tale poem, "The Green Snake and The Beautiful Lily" by Wolfgang Goethe. It is wondrously pictorial and imaginative
So here we go! Join me on our Journey into making our speech really "live". Please tell me how you are able to use these materials and what you observe when you do. I am creating this Blog because I am passionate about our being able to take every opportunity to make our speech of benefit to others and enjoyable for ourselves.
Robin
