READING ALOUD.

Ohinemuri Gazette, Volume XXV, Issue 3210, 2 March 1914, Page 1

READING ALOUD.

There are plenty of people who read aloud on every possible and impossible occasion, but only a very few who excel in this most difficult art. It is an art, however, well worth cultivating-.

What are the factors that . constitute good reading aloud? We. must possesses a voice that is full of infinite variety, a voice that is incapable of dulness. If we have the good fortune to possess histrionic ability, the voice will be able to reproduce humour or pathos, to suggest the weird or the exquisitely beautiful, without the least effort. There must be no straining after effect. If our reading is to be successful, then we must read aloud from a book that we have studied over and over again. We must know what's coming, and exhaust every shade of meaning in the author's mind.

In the Victorian era we were familiar with penny readings. The price was modest because the performance Avas generally good. A really p.ood reader deserves, but will never get, the salary of a music hall artiste, and the husband and wife who can real aloud well during the.winter evenings will prevent many a wearisome argument in no waj' connected with literature.