VOLUME: TALK TO THE TREES

TALK TO THE TREES

I don't know why I never watched SEINFELD regularly. The few episodes I caught were hilarious, and the people types they poked fun at are ones I see all around me.

One type is the "close talker"--the kind of operson who needs to be in your face when speaking, and when that happens, the soudn is usually too soft anyway.

Another is the loud talker," who says everything with exclamation points, with the thunderous effect of angry god..

But the volume we use says...volumes... about who we are and what we mean. Sometimes, however, people get stuck in a volume rut.

If you are generally too soft of a close talker, I advise that you "talk to the trees." This is what I mean. Go outside, look at a faraway tree, and speak to it so that your voice reaches it. You'd be surprised how our volumes do adjust to distance.

Then pretend, in a small room, that the people are trees that are far away. And speak to them with the same far reaching volume.

And use common sense. If you are at a viewing, you wouldn't look into the face of the deceased and yell goodbye. An instinct tells you to be soft.

If you were announcing a hockey game, you would not whisper the play by play; instead you'd be screaming into the microphone.

If you are deadly serious, you would be soft.

If elated, you would be louder.

If reading from a manuscript, mark the text with volume shifts: mark LOUD and SOFT during parts where the contrast is appropriate.