Storytelling

Unimpassioned Reading

Leave a comment

Interpretive reading is an acquired taste among speakers.  I relish the medium as it is something I do a lot of in the classroom.  Children love hearing stories read to them.  Parents know this as well.  Both of my children are excited when story time arrives.

The pleasure of reading stories is acting out the characters.  My son marvels when I read The Astonishing Secret of Awesome Man.  I use my deep narrator voice to announce the villains and my coy high-pitch to let the audience in on the Awesome Man’s sly comments.

But when I take my place at the ambo at mass on Sunday, interpretive reading is different. Lectors are trained not to use inflection to impart passion into the reading. Rather the words of the Lord are to be read flat to permit the congregation to listen intently to the words and not the delivery.

As a public speaker, I think delivery is important for the audience to connect to the words. Then again, I don’t argue with the church. 🙂

Also blogged on this date . . .

Leave a Reply

Your email address will not be published. Required fields are marked *