Interpretive Reading; Impress Audience with 10 Tips

Today, someone may write a book and do a reading at a book signing or belong to an organization which teaches interpretive reading. On the other hand, a reading could take place at a church service or funeral or at for a children’s group at a library. Once a person has achieved a high level of public reading ability, the voice of that person can be an inspiration that soars like a songbird high in the sky and totally enthralls an audience. Success depends on interpretive reading. The art of public reading is fun, informative, challenging, but needs certain elements to be successful.

1. Voice Volume

Public reading requires that your voice is loud and clear. You must speak so that people at the back of the room can hear you, and you can hear your voice bounce off the wall. The volume will vary depending on the selection you are reading. If you are doing a scary tale, your voice may be very loud in certain parts, whereas a fairy tale might be a soft volume.

2. Speed

You must also read slowly and allow for pauses, often where punctuation marks appear. In poetry.you must not pause at the end of a line but where the thought ends. You might slow down for suspense and speed up for excitement.

3, Interpret

You must do interpretive reading, and peruse selection, until you understand the author’s intention. If you are the author, you should be able to interpret your own work. It just takes practice and more practice until you can do it without even thinking.

4.Vocal variety

Using the correct vocal variety ensures you have read the piece several times and understand the author’s thoughts. Your voice might be dramatic, fearful, lilting, a low pitch, or a high pitch, all of which facilitate the reading.

5. Rhythm

Rhythm is to a public reading what it is to music by producing a beat. Long and short emphasis is given to words and syllables, and alliteration and personification help with the rhythm. Poetry has specific patterns for rhythm. When you do interpretive reading, the audience gets satisfaction from the rhythm in the selection.This element is very important in poetry, especially, so that you read, giving the poem the rhythm intended by the type of poem.

6. Tone

The tone is set by the words in a selection. It can be formal, informal, solemn, playful, or arrogant, along with many other options. Arrogance might be set by words such as smug, further emphasized by facial expressions. A scripture would be formal and solemn, while a meditation might be reverent and set with humility,

7. Eye contact

Even though you have the material on the lectern, you must know the material so well, that you can frequently look up to see the audience, focusing on an area of room at a time to impress your audience.There is a difference of opinion about eye contact when reading a poem and reading a play. Toastmasters International suggests that you not look at the audience for a poem or play, while other sources say to look up when reading a poem.

8. Appropriate Selections

Not all selections are appropriate for reading aloud, so you must choose carefully. If you read an excerpt from a play, you must ensure that there are only about two characters so the audience can follow the progression. Some poems fit more easily; for example, Rudyard Kipling poems. A selection from a novel entails material that has a plot, and you must mark the portions that you select, and eliminate anything in between.

Three poetry contest winners in recent years spoke about the birth of a foal, knitting on a train, and life after a miscarriage. All three poems were filled with descriptive phrases which lent themselves to possible winners.The birth of a foal selection contained these words, "mare with wild eyes, breath filling cold air with steam."

9. Gestures

Some readers do small appropriate gestures, while others frown on this procedure. A woman read a meditation, selecting a few gestures, such as walking down a path and pushing something out of the way. She also closed her eyes for part of the reading. A critique showed varying opinions about this addition to the reading.

10. Practice To Impress Your Audience

You can never practice too much for a reading; well, to a point.You should practice in front of a mirror, using all the elements in this piece. As you hear your voice tone and volume, the selection means more to you and will to your audience. Practicing for someone assists in the feeling you might get from an audience. A college student practiced every speech in front of a friend in a private dorm area, receiving outstanding grades on her speeches. You might consider any suggestions the listener offers as possible changes to the presentation. Select a listener you feel may have good ideas and some familiarity with speaking ability.

Famous statesmen have left words for posterity without ever realizing that fact. While you may impress an audience by using the 10 tips for an interpretive reading, you may never be famous. However, any effort to follow the lead of these dignitaries and this piece, will remove you from the realm of the ordinary into an attempt to elevate the level of public or interpretive reading into the sublime.

This hub is dedicated to the late Jim Verdugo, an outstanding toastmaster, from a club in the greater Oklahoma City area. The author was a toastmaster for seventeen years where she learned about the topic of this hub and performed selections.