Vocalist.org archive


From:  John Link <johnlink@c...>
John Link <johnlink@c...>
Date:  Wed May 9, 2001  6:45 pm
Subject:  Re: [vocalist] reading skills or rather a lack thereof.........


>Reading aloud, well, that's not my biggest talent either. I tend to
>speak too fast, trip over words and my breath management is terrible.
>It's okay as long as I conciously keep my eyes a few words ahead of
>my tongue, but that requires real attention. Especially when reading
>bits longer than say, half a page...
>10 years ago I was in drama school. Reading aloud was fine then,
>because I HAD to pause for dramatic purposes. It didn't affect my
>regular reading though..... :-))
>
>I'm very interested what you make of all this!

I think you're on to something. You identify your speed, keeping your
eyes ahead of your tongue, and pausing for dramatic (i.e., musical)
purposes as important to reading aloud. Might the same things be
relevant for your musical reading (which I consider to be valuable
despite my previous rant)? You say that in drama school your reading
was fine but it didn't affect your regular reading. I think you need
to build some bridges. Do some dramatic reading, like in drama
school, and then immediately read the newspaper out loud as if to
someone with whom you wanted to share a story. Look for a way to
transfer what you do in dramatic reading to reading a newspaper in a
way that would be appropriate at the breakfast table. Then try the
same idea reading music. That is, find a way to transfer what you do
in dramatic reading to your reading of music.

I think you're in for some interesting discoveries and some fairly
rapid progress in several realms.

Have fun,
John Link

http://www.mp3.com/JohnLinkFeldenkrais
http://www.mp3.com/JohnLinkVocalQuintet



emusic.com