I was standing in a doorway in the library. Thirty pre-school children encircled a librarian. I grew envious as I watched those children sit spellbound. I couldn't get my own four children to sit still while I read to them, and this librarian had thirty kids sitting on the edge of their seats. And they didn't even have seats!
What did that librarian have that I didn't? I decided to find out and make some changes in my read-aloud times.
I'm not the type that loves the spotlight. I can't turn out a great theatrical performance. However, I've learned some keys that have unlocked the power of a great reading time.
Control Your Pace
First I needed to control my pace while I was reading. The human mind can read a lightning speed. When we read silently we can blot through a chapter much faster than when we are reading aloud. My mind was racing ahead and my mouth was doing everything it could to keep up. Consequently, I found that I had two reading speeds when I read to my children—full throttle and emergency stop.
So, I made one simple change. I slowed down. And that one change captured my kids' attention.
When I thought about the rapid rate at which I had been reading, I realized how difficult it was for my kids to catch everything I was saying. Granted, a child is gifted at learning a new language, but it's difficult to learn that language if it's flying by at super-sonic speed.
Imagine you're learning German. You decide to test your new language. You fly to Germany ad greet the first person you meet with, “Guten tag.” With that one German phrase you open the floodgates and your new German friend welcomes you to Germany, comments on the weather, and suggests numerous tourist sights you might want to check out. Likely, you'd only catch about half of what he was saying. Hat's what my kids had to endure before I got control of my reading pace.
Once I got control of myself and stopped reading so fast, I realized I could control the emotion of scenes in the book by varying my reading speed. I learn this from movies. My wife and I were watching a movie one night. The music changed to dissonant chords that grated on me, making me edgy. I leaned over to Paula and said, “Something scary's going to happen. The music changed.
If movies could use techniques to control a viewer's emotions, why couldn't I use those techniques to add zip to my reading times? So, when an author tries to build tension or prepare the reader for something scary, I'll lower my voice almost to a whisper, slow down, drag the scene out, and then explode at the point of climax.
Slowing down also affords me other benefits. I can now make eye contact with my kids, which draws their attention to the story. When I make eye contact it's more like hearing a storyteller rather than a reader.
Eye contact isn't the only benefit of a slow pace. I can also scan ahead in the book. That's an important skill, but we'll get to that later.
I still use my fast reading voice now and then. My son loves action books, ad action just cries out to be read fast, with a lot of intensity. However, that fast rate is purposeful and controlled. It's no longer the brakeless, speeding train it used to be.
I Do Voices
I got amazing results when I found that first key to riveting read-aloud times. When I saw how much more my children enjoyed their reading time I decided to search for more keys, and the movie Mrs. Doubtfire led me to the next one.
In one scene, the youngest child is excited about the new nanny because “she does the voices.” Little does she know that the new nanny is her father in disguise. I wanted to be that father. No, I didn't want to wear a dress. I wanted to do voices.
In the beginning I felt like a fool. The first book I tried voices on was A Bear Called Paddington. It really wasn't voices, it was just a British accent. The accent shifted throughout the story and my daughter gave me questioning looks. Still, I didn't give up because I was reminded of some advice about singing I once gave a friend.
“Just try new things,” I told her. “At first you'll sound really ridiculous, then you won't sound too bad, and eventually you'll sound pretty good and people will be asking you what your secret is.”
Heeding my own advice I persisted an the accent got better. It no longer changed during the course of the story. And, more importantly, my children stopped thinking the accent was weird and started actually enjoying it.
But what about different people speaking in the same accent? Each should have a different voice. So, I found some tricks to giving different voices to different people.
Women know they can imitate a man's voice by making a deep voice, but men often have trouble imitating women's voices. I don't have a lot of trouble with this because I've got a high voice, but I've heard men with deep voices do very good women's voices.
The trick they use is to make their voices light and breathy. Guys, don't try to read with a high pitch, just lighten up. If you're having trouble, raise your eyebrows as high as they'll go. Then you'll get that light sound. Now make sure you're breathing plenty of air through the voice. It sounds like a woman with a low voice doesn't it?
But what if two characters have the same accent and the same gender? That was the next challenge to overcome, and it ties into the last key for making reading times captivating; learning from the masters.
Learning from the Masters
In his book Jump Start Your Brain, Doug Hall says we approach creativity wrong. When we're trying to be creative we try to drag ideas out of our head. Now my head doesn't exactly resemble a cornucopia of ideas. It's more like a wicker basket with a piece of dried out apple. So, it's difficult for me to get a lot of good ideas out of it. Hall says the best way to be really creative is to draw ideas from others. A variety of ideas from others tends to spur your own good ideas.
Stop by your local library and glance through the audio book section. Check out a couple of fiction novels and listen to the voices the narrator uses. You'll hear gruff voices, bold voices, meek voices, musical voices, and a host of others.
It's amazing to what the professionals can do with a story. In Saucer, by Steven Coonts, the reader, Dick Hill, does amazing things with voices. He does the main character Rip Cantrell, Rip's female accomplice Charley Pine, two oil diggers, two Australians, a group of Libyans, the president of the United States, U.S. Air Force personnel, and Rip's uncle Eg. That's a mouthful.
A critical ear and some practice will lock some great voices into your mind. The car is a great place to practice. When I'm alone in my car I'll practice accents and voices. No one's around, so I don't have to feel like a fool. I'll try just about anything that come out of the speakers of my car. I'm sure people in other vehicles thin I'm a little flipped out, but that's ok. I am a little flipped out. I'm a parent.
The masters can teach us voices, but that's not all. They've also mastered emotions. The do sad, angry, shocked, frightened, and others so well you'll feel sad, angry, shocked, or frightened yourself.
Even when they aren't shouting your can feel their voices seething with fury. They read through choked up voices and even sobs. They let laughter bubble through the words. They gasp with surprise or fright.
If you would like some ideas of which readers to listen to, check out Audio File Magazine's Audio Awards at http://www.audiofilemagazine.com/finalists.html. You'll find the readers that have received awards for their ability to tell a story. That's not a bad starting place.
You see, we are reading the words, but we really want to tell the stories. When I read to my kids I picture myself standing next to a campfire or seated in the living room with kids gathered all around. There are no books, just me telling the kids a wonderful tale. That's what reading time should be.
These keys can unlock new worlds for your kids. They will see worlds that are full of color and life and bursting with realism. You'll captivate them. And, best of all, you'll hear those words I love to hear, “Will you read to me.”
Last update : 04-08-2008 00:00
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