0259 – Intonation Illustrations

Get A Better Broadcast, Podcast and Voice-Over Voice

2021.09.16 – 0259 – Intonation Illustrations

Intonation illustrations

Intonation is the ‘punctuation of the spoken word’ used to signpost meaning when we’re talking.

Of course, in the written word there are various devices that can be used instead:

“When did you get here?” Susan snapped, sarcastically.

“SHUT UP!” he replied.

To help the reader, the author and printer have worked together to tell the reader what’s going on:

· Italicisation – draws attention to the key word in a sentence. By putting “you” in italics, we know that that is the most important word in the sentence and that Susan is not so much interested in the time of arrival (despite the actual words used), but is implying that her displeasure at the other person’s presence at all.

· “Snapped” – tells us the speed at which the sentence was said.

· “Sarcastically” – tells us the tone in which it was said.

· Capitalisation (“SHUT UP!”) – tells us the volume at which it was said.

Of course, speech came before the written word so these are just various devices that authors and printers have back-engineered to give readers additional information.

But for actors in a play or those voicing up an audio-book, some of this extra information can be left un-said. By using intonation, they simply incorporate the ‘stage directions’ (“snapped sarcastically”) in their read.

Audio recording script and show notes (c) 2021 Peter Stewart

Through 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 2021.

Contacts: https://linktr.ee/Peter_Stewart

Peter 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 to Heart FM, 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. Other trainees have been music presenters, breakfast show hosts,

travel news presenters and voice-over artists.

He has written a number of books on audio and video presentation

and production (“Essential Radio Journalism”, “JournoLists”, two editions of

“Essential Radio Skills” and three editions of “Broadcast Journalism”) and has

written on voice and presentation skills in the BBC’s in-house newspaper

“Ariel”.

Peter has 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 formats as diverse as music-presentation, interview shows,

‘special’ programmes for elections and budgets, live outside broadcasts and

commentaries and even the occasional sports, gardening and dedication

programmes. He has read several thousand news bulletins, and hosted nearly

2,000 podcast episodes, and is a vocal image consultant advising in all aspects

of voice and speech training for presenters on radio and TV, podcasts and

YouTube, voiceovers and videocalls.

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.

Music credits:

"Bleeping Demo" Kevin MacLeod (incompetech.com)

Licensed under Creative Commons: By Attribution 4.0 License

http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/

Link: https://incompetech.filmmusic.io/song/7012-bleeping-demo

License: https://filmmusic.io/standard-license

"Beauty Flow" Kevin MacLeod (incompetech.com)

Licensed under Creative Commons: By Attribution 4.0 License

http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/

Link: https://incompetech.filmmusic.io/song/5025-beauty-flow

License: https://filmmusic.io/standard-license

"Envision" Kevin MacLeod (incompetech.com)

Licensed under Creative Commons: By Attribution 4.0 License

http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/

Link: https://incompetech.filmmusic.io/song/4706-envision

License: https://filmmusic.io/standard-license

"Limit 70" Kevin MacLeod (incompetech.com)

Licensed under Creative Commons: By Attribution 4.0 License

http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/

Link: https://incompetech.filmmusic.io/song/5710-limit-70

License: https://filmmusic.io/standard-license

"Rising Tide" Kevin MacLeod (incompetech.com)

Licensed under Creative Commons: By Attribution 4.0 License

http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/

Link: https://incompetech.filmmusic.io/song/5027-rising-tide

License: https://filmmusic.io/standard-license

"Wholesome" Kevin MacLeod (incompetech.com)

Licensed under Creative Commons: By Attribution 4.0 License

http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/

Link: https://incompetech.filmmusic.io/song/5050-wholesome

License: https://filmmusic.io/standard-license

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