0372 - When You May Change Your Reading Rate

2022.01.07 – S2007 – 0372 - When You May Change Your Reading RateFor example, a weather script on a sunny summer’s day may be quite rushed – listeners are expecting it to be blue sky and high temperatures. But tell them about a forthcoming storm and your speed will slow (and your tone will also change) to reflect the severity of the situation. A lighter story can be read more quickly than a serious one, a complex story will be presented more slowly (although not patronisingly so) than a straightforward one, breaking or surprising news may also be read more slowly. David Attenborough changes his pace within wildlife documentaries he narrates: slow and calm over video of seals basking on an ice flow, faster when a whale threatens to leap from the calm, icy sea … to have it for its tea. And with news stories there are similar issues: a breaking story of a multi-vehicle accident in fog will be read at a slightly slower pace than might be normal. It adds to the gravitas of the presentation, and as the speed is a little out of place it will draw people’s attention to what is being said. It also gives people time to gather their thoughts and think through the implication of the information, without missing it “Gosh, Steve goes home on that road. He’d be there about now. I hope that he’s OK…”  Conversely, a lighter story can be read as well as with a lighter tone, at a faster pace: “A retired postman and his wife have won five million pounds on the lottery…” The speed, fast or slow, reflects the sense of the story and gives the listener more information about how to feel about it.Audio recording script and show notes (c) 2021, 2022 Peter StewartThrough these around-5-minute episodes, you can build your confidence and competence with advice on breathing and reading, inflection and projection, the roles played by better scripting and better sitting, mic techniques and voice care tips... with exercises and anecdotes from a career spent in TV and radio studios. If you're wondering about how to start a podcast, or have had one for a while - download every episode!And as themes develop over the weeks (that is, they are not random topics day-by-day), this is a free, course to help you GET A BETTER BROADCAST, PODCAST AND VIDEO VOICE.Look out for more details of the book during 2023.Contacts: https://linktr.ee/Peter_StewartPeter has been around voice and audio all his working life and has trained hundreds of broadcasters in all styles of radio from pop music stations such as Capital FM and BBC Radio 1, the classical music station BBC Radio 3 and regional BBC stations. He’s trained news presenters on regional TV, the BBC News Channel and on flagship programmes such as the BBC’s Panorama. He has written a number of books on audio and video presentation and production (see contacts clink above) and presented hundreds of radio shows (you may have heard him on BBC Radio 2, BBC Radio 4, Virgin Radio or Kiss, as well as BBC regional radio) with various formats. He has read tens of thousands of news bulletins and hosted 3,000+ podcast episodes.The podcast title refers to those who may wish to change their speaking voice in some way. It is not a suggestion that anyone should, or be pressured into needing to. We love accents and dialects, and are well aware that how we speak changes over time. The key is: is your voice successfully communicating your message, so it is being understood (and potentially being acted upon) by your target audience?This podcast is London-based and examples are spoken in the RP (Received Pronunciation) / standard-English / BBC English pronunciation, although invariably applicable to other languages, accents and dialects. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.