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Lesson 4

ELOCUTION

ELOCUTION MEANS TO speak out. That is to say, if you have a tale to tell, tell it and tell it well.

The idea of speaking is to convey information to others. Therefore, you must speak so that they might hear you. You must speak with dignity, eloquence, clearness and distinctiveness. You must speak to be understood in the language you speak. You must carry emphasis when you speak.

To be a good elocutionist, you must embody in yourself clearness of thought, expression and action. First, you must feel what you speak and as you feel it, express it in like manner. If you feel the enthusiasm of a thing, express it with enthusiasm. Speech and truth should be just your feelings on all things. If you speak coldly or without emphasis it is because you feel coldly and not moved to action. Every man who is not tongue-tied by nature can speak. God gave him a voice for that purpose, therefore, if you have anything to say, say it out loud so that others may hear you.

In addressing a crowd of people in a small room you must raise your voice to reach the person farthest away from you in the room. If you are addressing one hundred people you should raise your voice loud enough in expressing yourself so that the person sitting farthest away from you will hear every word distinctly and in like manner, if you have an audience of one thousand, two thousand or five thousand. If you stand up on a platform in front of an audience of a thousand and address them in the voice you would use for an audience twelve feet by twelve feet, the people twelve feet away from you will not hear you and those farthest away from you will have to strain their ears to hear and understand you. They will become disgusted and walk out on you. When you have an audience you must make an effort for everyone in the audience to hear you distinctly. You must pronounce your words correctly for them to understand what you say. You must not run your words into each other. You must make your words clear and distinct. You must not rush your sentences but speak in short sentences that carry clear thoughts so that everyone will be able to follow and understand what you say. The idea of listening is to hear. When an audience doesn’t hear every word of the speaker, the speaker has failed to make a complete impression upon his audience. Probably, the very thought he would like to leave is not sufficiently distinct and clear as to be heard, therefore, the speech is in vain.

Always speak in words that your audience understands. Never try to speak above your audience’s head because it will be a waste of time. Nobody will understand you. The important thing in speaking is to be understood. First, always think of what you are going to say before you say it, otherwise, you will be regarded as a fool for talking nonsense.

In a speech, when you start a sentence always complete it. Never speak in long sentences because people cannot remember long sentences. When you are delivering a speech do so with emotion so that you feel what you are saying. Do not stand in one place like a mummy. People will think you are planted there. Put action behind your feelings and move as your feelings direct.

If you are honest in what you are saying, you will feel it and it will move you. Always be enthusiastic about your subject. The way to do that is to know it well. Make your hands, feet and eyes give expression to your thoughts. Never express what is supposed to be an inspirational thought without first giving expression to the thought. You can do that by the movement of your body according to the response of your own enthusiasm. You must hypnotize your audience by expression. Stare into their eyes and firmly express yourself. You must not shiver from their glare, you must make them shiver from yours. In that way you will subjugate them and make them do what you want. This is made possible by your honesty of purpose and confidence in yourself. If you are telling a lie you cannot subdue everybody or anybody who is looking straight at you, because they will see the lie in your eyes. If you have to tell a lie don’t look at anyone. Your eyes will betray you. Whenever you see a speaker look away from the crowd into the ceiling or at the walls, he is usually telling a lie. A person who is always facing his audience is never afraid of the truth.

Speak forcefully always, particularly at the beginning, middle and end of your speech. Start off in a low tone. Then, five minutes afterwards raise your voice gradually until you have reached a convincing point in your speech; then you may rest by lowering your tone to raise it again to get renewed interest. Continue the same way until you are about to reach the end, then redouble your efforts to win everybody over to you on what you are speaking about. This is called your climax. Always sit down with emphasis after you have made your speech, then rise again to do anything else, if you have more to do. Don’t let the people believe that all your efforts were just to get a collection. If you lift the collection at the same time you make the speech they will think so; lift the collection immediately after the speech. If you made a good speech before, up to the end, they will listen to you; even making a speech about the collection. If the speech was no good you will have a no good collection.

To speak properly you must have good sound teeth. You must have clear nostrils. Your lungs must be sound. You must have a healthy chest. Your stomach must not be over full and you must not be hungry. Never try to make a speech on a hungry stomach. You may faint and die before you are finished. If you have a nasal obstruction go to the doctor and have it corrected. If you are suffering from lung trouble see the doctor. To be able to make a speech for an hour or an hour and a half or two hours, you must treat and train your constitution. Your chest is the most serious part to be affected. If you don’t have a strong chest, you will feel exhausted in attempting to make a long speech. To prevent this, eat as many eggs as possible. You should eat eggs at least once a day, not hard but soft boiled or raw, if you can stand it. This will strengthen your chest and after a time it will become so hardened that you will speak five or six hours without feeling it. This must be done regularly and as long as you are going to indulge in public speaking you must eat eggs. You should also develop the disposition to drink water and sip it at intervals if your throat becomes thirsty and dry. It is the most difficult thing to speak with a dry throat. All the straining you do will be of no effect because your words will be monotonous. There will be no harmony and rhythm. Soften your palate with water and bring back the music to your voice. You must never speak in a monotonous tone. Speaking is really music in another way. You must strike the different notes, play the different notes and let the people hear the sound and the harmony. This is done by giving each word its proper note sound and emphasis. You must strike the right chord.

For goodness sake, always speak out. Always speak loud enough for others to hear you unless you have something to hide. The desire is to be heard, then let them hear you. Most preachers fail because their congregations do not hear them; especially Anglican Preachers. Negro Baptist Preachers and A.M.E. Preachers can raise more money than any other preachers, because they talk loud enough to be heard and have more emotion in their expressions than other preachers. This is a hint. Such preachers are always fat; because they always have responsive congregations due to their ability to reach the congregation in telling them what they want. If you want anything told, tell it and tell it well so that nobody will misunderstand. You must open your mouth and not be afraid of doing so unless you have only gums and are afraid of people seeing the nakedness of your mouth.

Always try to avoid a cold because it is ruinous to any speaker. Whenever you catch one and have to speak; go to the drug store immediately and secure some speakers’ tablets to clear away the phlegm. It is good to use eucalyptus for inhaling to keep the nostrils clear so that you will have a perfect sound to your words. Don’t chew your words, talk them out plainly, otherwise, no one will understand what you mean. Practice speaking to yourself in your room, in your own hall, drawing room or in any place where you will not be disturbed. Go to the sea, beach or the woods and talk to yourself or to nature to practice so that you will have command of your expression and you become accustomed to speaking. Never be afraid of your audience. If you know your subject well, you have no cause to be afraid. Always know your subject. Never make a long speech after ten o’clock at night. People will become restless and move away; because it is near bedtime. If you are called upon to speak at ten o’clock or after, take not more than fifteen minutes. If you are to speak somewhere, see to it that you are not called later than nine thirty. At a certain hour of the night people are restless and tired and generally want to go home; they are never inclined to listen to speeches. Never apologize for any other speaker being better than you. Just rise to the occasion and try to beat the last man. Let the audience judge. If you confess that any speaker is better than you are, even though you are better, the audience may still give the credit to the other man, because you said so, by running down your own ability.

Always see that your clothing is properly arranged before you get on a platform; otherwise, people may see things to laugh at. Be careful not to make blunders in grammar, because people may laugh loudly and expose you to others who are not thinking. You should not make any mistake in pronouncing your words because that also invites amusement for certain people. If they remember nothing else, they may remember such mistakes and ever talk about them and create prejudice against you for it. So be careful.

When speaking you should always try to hold the people’s interest in the best way you know. You may give a joke that is relevant or logical in emphasizing your point. Never give vulgar jokes. To be a good speaker or elocutionist is to hold a grand prize among men. If you can speak better than others you have a natural lead among them. Glory in this and strive after it. Remember, God gave you a mouth and a voice and you must use them for good results. Secure from any book seller, a copy of a good book on elocution and study it.