FOR WOMEN OF LEISURE AND OTHERS

New Zealand Times, Volume LII, Issue 12181, 4 July 1925, Page 15

FOR WOMEN OF LEISURE AND OTHERS

LEARNING SELF EXPRESSION.

(By

Doreen Dawson.

I often wonder why some of the women who have ample means and leisure, and who suffer from a sort of native shyness and inarticulateness in more .brilliant company than their own, do not take a course of modern elocution lessons. Elocution no longer means learning to recite! It has little to do with dramatic gesture. It simply means that any woman of average intelligence can be taught, by specialists in the art, to express herself clearly, concisely, and in a fashion calculated to stimulate interest. SELF EXPRESSION Many more women than one are going about the world suffering from repression. They have lots and lots of ideas germinating in their heads, but they get no further than that They are simply incapable of stimulating talk. Elocution would give them an outlet for expressing their emotions and their notions; and it is a splendid spur for the too self-contained nature. Equally good are such lessons for the other type at the other end of the scale—the too emotional and excitable woman who talks a great deal at utter random but has nothing of real interest to impart. The sensible elocution teacher works wonderß in both cases. THE VOICE Indistinct utterance, actual mispronunciation or “accent,” too much monotony and too little melody in the speaking voice, can all be definitely cured by taking a course or two with an experienced teacher. Those leisured women who are not tremendously satisfied with life because they are too inarticulate to share their thoughts ar.d feelings with others would find a new joy in their leisure if they learned the salutary and comradely art of entertaining self-expression.