COMPETITIONS WORK

Poverty Bay Herald, Volume LX, Issue 18162, 9 August 1933, Page 10

COMPETITIONS WORK

’ BYBON BBOWN’S HINTS THE CONCLUDING SECTION \ / ■ RHYTHM IN ELOCUTION ' The concluding excerpt from the article “Hints on Dramatic Art,” which Mr. Byron Brown, of Wellington, clocu- . tion judge.for the forthcoming Competitions festival in Gisborne, has made :■ available for the guidance of prospective • competitors, is given below. The article has been followed with teen interest by / . teachers of elocution and their pupils in Gisborne, and in the third and final ; Section, it deals with the effect and influence of rhythm in verse, in terms which should be understandable to the merest novice, and tenders some general advice on platform work. Mr. Brown’s contribution continues as under : In verse, when the sense runs on from ' ’ one line to another, without a punctuation mark at the end of the line,, it is necessary to make a'siigJit suspension of the voice, at the end of the line, to preserve the beat and rhythm of the word music. This never destroys the sense, but it does preserve the poetic verse jnukic that the poet intended. Don t break up the line into little pieces, and produce jerky effect, but phrase it into pleasured groups o| words, _ without de- : .' rU- -:T t

itroying the sense. As Shakespeare lays in Hamlet: “You'must acquire and beget a temperance, that may give it smoothness.” Another poet has Said: “Smooth be the’ verse and easy be the strain.” 1 We would suggest a studv ot Act Iff, scene 2, of Hamlet. Here" the jreat bar’d gives us excellent! lessons in “locution. Shakespeare was an actor, inti it offended him to hear a perhvigpated fellow tear a passion to tatters, to split the ears of the groundlings; who for the most part were capable ol nothing but inexplicable dumb show and noise. He would have such a fellow whipped for overdoing “Termagant.” Turn up this scene, read it, and ponder it well. It is a lesson in natural recital that will win you prizes at Competitions. The poet actor, who wrote • his own plays, is a sure teacher. There is a way of expressing words that makes them sound just like what they mean. When you speak the word “joyful” make it sound joyfully, make “sadness” sound sadly, and make “love” sound like a beautiful emotion. This is what is called onomutopoetic expression. Pope gives an example of this in his - ‘Essay on Criticism," as under:— “’Tis now enough, no harshness gives offence, The words must seem an echo to. the sense; Soft is the stream when zephyr* gently blows, And the smooth ' stream in smoother numbers flows, But when loud surges lush the sounding shore, The hoarse rough verse should like the torrent roar. When Ajax strives some rock’s vast weight to throw, .

The line, too, labors, and the words move slow; .Not so when swift Camila scours the plain/ Flies o’er the unbending corn or skims , along the main.” Thus spake Alexander Pope. He was -a crjtid on. the technique of art, and j especially elocution apd dramatic production.” He knew what his verses reIquired, that his themes might he well , fold. Away back, more than 2000 years ' ago, the Greeks were great orators and liiiished dramatic artists. Their tochj tiique has been handed down to us tji&Mh Shakespeare,; ythfough .Milton, through Pope, axrd the modern teachers ' of to-day. Sir Henry- Irving followed the I'd reek- teaching,, and/* was our greatest | exponent of dramatic uM ; * Sir Johnson Forbes*Bobertson follows their technique in this very modern age. The Greeks spoke their language with the most careful attention to word mnsic and, rhythm in phrasing. It was they who invented the metrical form in which Shakespeare writes all his plays. The spoken word was carefully enunciated, and their • articulation was a lesson in vowel sounds, without being pedantic. I Faulty vowel • sounds are common among 'reciters, not only in New Zealand, but-also amopg competitors from the Old Land. There is'often a fluffy j effect that lacks clarity, Wc hear most of this from, the speakers who speak to the microphone,; wi/ore every fault is exaggerated until reception is painful to listen to. The fault lies in a slovenly j enunciation. We don’t cut off our Voids ending in a consonant, and we drag that | final consonant on to the initial vowel of the next word, thus: “Admirals z’all J lor /EnglandY sake.” A quick drop-

ping ,of the lower jaw at the cud of “admirals” before speaking the word “all" would avoid all, this. Let the student speak this line, and see what' effect he gets, and let him observe how a want of cafe will make him drag that final consonant on to the initial vowel. It is slovenly English and must be avoided altogether. Every student must learn technique in elocution. It is the fundamental basis of the modern drama, but it is hot everything. Oh no, it is not everything. Send your children to a good teacher who will not he. in a hurry to put up a student for competition. If the wiivs and wherefores are taught in the beginning of study, the vest can be provided by the student. There is that subtle something that gets over the footlights, and will bold an audience. It is called temperament, personality, abandon. It is each onq, and all three, and they will be yours iii abundance if you are willing to pay the ]ijrice. 'file price is study, practic. patipnee. The path to success in tlie, simplest thing is nob bespangled witli flowers. Leant,this, technique, be familial: with it, make it a part of yourself. Then, when you got itp to recite, forget all about it in tlio abandonment ow your soul to your work.