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2022.02.04 – 0400 – Pauses To Engage Attention Before Significant Content  To engage attention before significant content  A brief moment of silence adds suspense, adds anticipation and indicates incoming important information that may require attention. “This just in from Downing Street” [pause] “There are new rules for the lockdown…” “We are just getting news in from Paris…” [pause] “T...

2022.02.03 – 0399 – Pauses As Script Divisions   As script divisions to aid understanding Pauses divide a script into ‘sense groups’ for the ‘heard word’, the same way that a comma or full stop/period does for the written word. A dash or ellipses (…), comma, full stop/period, paragraph, page or chapter – they all indicate in text or when translated into speech, different kinds of pause to hel...

2022.02.02 – 0398 – The Importance Of Pauses In Lists   Sometimes you have a list of two or three items in a sentence:   So, on an airline when the cabin crew offer you a meal (we used a similar example previously):   “Would you like chicken or fish with vegetables or pasta?”   Are you being offered: ·         “Would you like chicken / or...

2022.02.01 – 0397 – My Manager’s A Jerk… “What’s that on the road ahead?” “What’s that on the road, a head?”   A pause can make all the difference between seeing traffic problems, and the scene of a murder…  If your friend said to you:  “My manager who’s in the New York office / is a jerk” the pause would indicate that they have more than one manager, and they are referring to...

2022.01.31 – 0396 – Pauses As A Signpost To Meaning As well as the above reasons, you pause to help signpost the sense of the sentence.  You can pause between setting up a statement and presenting it: “Crafted in stunning 9ct white gold / each of these studs boast a brilliant-cut solitaire diamond.” You can pause to make a statement stand out: “This / is the BBC” or as I say at the end of my...

2022.01.30 – 0395 – When We Pause When we use a pause Not all pauses are created equal. We use them to help both the reader and the listener in many different ways. Pauses – together with intonation - aid understanding  Pauses should be at speech-natural places within a script, rather than appearing at random within it. But you don’t pause at every comma or after every phrase. The commas are...

2022.01.29 – 0394 – Don’t Fear The Silence   “Pauses strengthen the voice. They also render thoughts more clear-cut by separating them.” Rhetorica ad Herennium - the oldest surviving Latin book on rhetoric, dating from the late 80s BC   Broadcasters can fear silence. We want to have a wall of sound on air – music and talking, or music and talking. It causes some people to...

2022.01.28 – 0393 – Pauses: An Introduction   PAUSES The huge majority of this book is about noise and sound. From how words are written to how they are uttered … their volume, intensity, pitch and pace.   But now we’re going to look at what’s missing. Literally.   The silence. The bits betwee n the words.   The change of pace that’s a reduction to a complete standstill: the pa...

 2022.01.27 – 0392 - How Fast Can We Speak… and Listen? How Fast Can We Speak? “In just 600 milliseconds, the human brain can think of a word, apply the rules of grammar to it and send it to the mouth to be spoken.”   How Fast can We Listen? The average rate of speech for an American is about 125 words per minute; the human brain can process about twice that speed (“the average adul...

 2022.01.27 – 0392 - How Fast Can We Speak… and Listen? How Fast Can We Speak? “In just 600 milliseconds, the human brain can think of a word, apply the rules of grammar to it and send it to the mouth to be spoken.”   How Fast can We Listen? The average rate of speech for an American is about 125 words per minute; the human brain can process about twice that speed (“the average adul...

2022.01.26 – 0391 - Backtiming 2   Of course, the duration of a song or a report is known in advance, but there are variables such as live interviews (especially with non-professional guests who may talk in in half-sentences or whole paragraphs!). At the end of a show, presenters may adlib to fill time, or a buffer item such as a weather report is included, which can often be extended or cut...

Backtiming Some stations or programmes hand back to a network (possibly automatically) at a certain time. As this has to be ‘to the second’ there may be silence (‘dead air’) if a presenter ends too early, or a ‘crash out’ if their output is taken over mid-way through a sentence or story. So, each script is timed at the average speaking rate of three words per second. With this figure, the presente...

2022.01.24 – S2024 – 0389 - How To Talk To Time A sense of timing can be developed in the same way as an experienced driver can tell the speed of a car as it passes, or while they’re in it, and with experience you will be able to slightly adjust your reading rate ‘speedometer’ (or a ‘read-ometer’!) to say, shave a second or two off a script: ·        Taking...

2022.01.23 – S2023 – 0388 - Talking To Time One of the skills of a broadcaster is being able to talk to just the required length of time to ‘hit a junction’ (for example, a news bulletin or commercial break), up to the vocals in a song introduction or before a ‘music bed’ [1] runs out. Similarly, a commercial voice over artist must be able to talk to time, to fit the approved copy into the time al...

2022.01.22 – S2022 – 0387 -  Rehearsing Your Read-Speed Rehearsing Your Read-Speed Ever seen the rehearsal rooms from the tv shows “ Strictly Come Dancing ” or “ Dancing With The Stars ”? You will have seen, or can imagine, how the pros show the celebs the steps: slow to start, then get fast.   And it’s like that with learning a new instrument, a new song, heck even reading itself … and...

2022.01.21 – S2021 – 0386 - Slow-Speed Speed Traps ·         By itself , reading slowly does not make you sound more authoritative or serious. You still have to understand the content, have intentional intonation, proper pronunciation, a sense of context and so on. ·        And neither does a slow read, by itself, make...

2022.01.20 – S2020 – 0385 - Slowing Down To Highlight Importance   Saying a single word or phrase slower, slightly elongating its pronunciation, highlights it within a sentence and so can be used as part of your arsenal to highlight its importance.   These variable speeds contrast with the text around it, and therefore take on additional significance. ·     &nbsp...

2022.01.19 – S2019 – 0384 -The Message Given By ‘Slowing Your Talking’ ·        Slower speed may add tension, or suspense before a surprise, (and you can use the pause – which we discuss later - as a ‘drumroll’ before a punchline, or a release) ·        A slower speed is often required for a video voiceover, to give th...

2022.01.18 – S2018 – 0383 - The Message Given By ‘Slowing Your Talking’ ·        Slower speakers can be seen as ‘slow-witted’, overly-thoughtful and lacking in confidence… ·        Or as so super-confident they can go at their own speed, despite what others may think, they may be thoughtful and considering every nuance...

2022.01.17 – S2017 – 0382 - EXTREMES OF SPEED - The Slower Read EXTREMES OF SPEED - The Slower Read “Slow down, you move too fast, You got to make the morning last” The 59th Street Bridge Song (“ Feelin’ Groovy ”), Simon & Garfunkel 1966 If you want to communicate an important point well, naturally, you may need to fight the urge for urgency. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more inf...

2022.01.16 – S2016 – 0381 - The Speed of T&Cs These ‘disclaimer statements’ are often heard at the end of an ad … so, after the enticing offer comes the ‘boring bit’ and information on the limitations. Let’s be honest, the client doesn’t want to highlight this detail and certainly doesn’t want to spend vital airtime having it read at the same speed as the main deal. But in 2008 the UK’s Advert...

2022.01.15 – S2015 – 0380 - Fast Talking Speed Traps 2 ·        A fast read can lead to reduction in intonation, leading to a machine-gun fire style as you rush to squeeze more script into fewer seconds ·        If you are reading quickly, you have less time for your eyes to ‘read ahead’; and your brain to process what...

2022.01.14 – S2014 – 0379 - Fast Talking Speed Traps Some people speak fast naturally and can still be understandable and engaging. But: ·        If you read a script too fast, then for the listener it might be like watching the landscape from an express-train window: they get a general idea, but not a full understanding. To use another analogy: they will be...

2022.01.13 – S2013 – 0378 - The Message Given By Talking Fast   The Message Given By Talking Fast ·        Fast talkers are often seen as confident and clever. It’s almost as though they have so much great content to share that they can’t wait to get it all out…. ·        Or they can be perceived as nervous and ex...

2022.01.12 – S2012 – 0377 - Being Chased By The Music   ·        You are being ‘chased by the music’   Many presenters like to talk with music running underneath them. Such a track is called a ‘bed’. It makes them feel safe and less exposed as they can pause for a moment and know that there’s no silence or ‘dead air’. But music beds can encourage s...