Thank the Lord! We are done with all our Christmas church performances for the year! Being a church musician can really be exhausting in December. Yesterday we played bells for two morning services and then sang, played bells, and read various things in a Lessons and Carols service in the afternoon. We had a great time, but are so relieved it is over.
I love reading lessons and scripture verses in church. I know how to pronounce some of the more difficult names, and I understand what I am reading so I think I can communicate the meaning of what is being read to the listeners. The words from the King’s College Bidding prayer are almost poetical and I was so happy to read them. Last night, several Grade 5 and 6 students read some of the Lessons, too, and they did a really good job.
I have always secretly wanted to narrate things like the public narrations of Joyce’s Ulysses that you can hear on public radio. I know that reading in public is torture for some. I love having wonderful words crafted by someone else to let others know about.
How do you feel about reading in public? What would you like to narrate and read to others?
Trail Baboon 
I read a few pages from my books at certain author gigs. I have no fear of reading or speaking in public (which makes me weird, I know).
I don’t think I have a particularly good reading voice (I’d NEVER narrate one of my books for audio recordings!) because I tend to fall into a bit of a drone. Then, when I try to liven it up, I always feel like I’m overdoing it.
But I always loved when the teacher read to us after lunch or recess in grade school. If a local school needed a volunteer to do that, I’d certainly consider it.
Chris in Owatonna
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I remember my first speech in Speech 1 class was terrifying, but I’ve never had a problem reading aloud in public… Follow along with my finger on the text so I can look up once in a while… I have a pretty good voice for it, I guess.
Husband and I have been reading aloud almost daily since his stroke a couple of years ago – the most fun to read are the ones that make us laugh once in a while – Kent Nerburn trilogy that started with Neither Wolfe nor Dog was a good one…
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As a child I loved being read to, and I loved reading aloud to the kids for whom I was a nanny.
Speaking in front of an audience is a different thing, altogether, I think. I took a speech class in college, and spent that entire quarter with sweaty palms hoping I wouldn’t be called upon to give an impromptu speech. That was the quarter when the university closed down early due to the riots that erupted after the Kent State shootings, and I actually managed to get a “pass” in my speech class without ever saying a word in class.
Many years later, when I was working for the CPA firm, I took a Dale Carnegie course and participated in Toastmasters for a couple of years. Much to my surprise, I not did well, but I actually enjoyed it.
Truman Capote’s A Christmas Memory is a seasonal favorite of mine. Three years in a row I read it aloud to a handful of residents at couple of nursing homes in St. Paul. I did it on a volunteer basis, and enjoyed doing it.
Because of trouble with my vision lately, I decided to check out audio books. I’m currently enjoying Barbara Kingsolver’s Demon Copperhead narrated by Charlie Thurston. He does a terrific job of it. If any of you have recommendations for favorite audio books, I’m all ears.
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I not only did well, but…
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Public reading is not a problem. Preparation and understanding what you’re going to read is essential. Hold your head up. Breathe at the punctuation. Variety of pitch, pace and power.
I’d enjoy reading publicly David Sedaris
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Ooh, maybe we’ll try him.
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Look for opportunity to pause and say in a lower tone, “I have.”
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I don’t really enjoy standing up in front of an audience. I can do a fairly good job due to having been i a folk group and being the emcee and stage manager for North Grove stage at Rock Bend. Once in awhile I’ve thought that it might be fun to narrate a book or read poetry aloud. I’m confident about being able to read poetry. I really love it and I think I understand it. ~Krista
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I talk with a lot of people about to go onstage here at the college. The nervous ones, I remind them, they have to breath. They laugh, but it’s true; you get going and talking too fast and you forget to take a breath.
The few times a year I talk to the class about lighting, I tell them up front I’m gonna get all excited about it and I’ll talk too much. I’ve learned to slow down and breath, but I still go off on tangents. I’m lucky I’m just filling the hour, not trying to teach a whole course.
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I think the Baboons are all rehearsing for their reading gigs.
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If they’d let me get away with it, I’d sign up to read the Epistle lesson EVERY week at church.
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Obviously, yes, I have done a great deal of reading in front of a group.
I have been thinking of you PJ, and more today. Went up to cancer detection for second opinion. Went up knowing I did not have cancer and was going there for another reason. Came home not so sure. Going back in a few weeks to get deeper test. He says not likely cancer but could be. But if surgery is called for it will be very invasive and will remove all or parts of four organs. But he says he is just being cautious.
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Oh my
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For some reason I didn’t see this yesterday. Hope the first opinion was right.
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Sitting on the sofa right now with the tree lights on and the arch lights on watching TV. I just finished packaging up the last cookies for the second cookie exchange that I’m involved in this month. So this will probably be the last time I have to turn the oven on before the first of the year. The amount of things that are left to do in the next few days are extremely minimal so I’m thinking that as of right now I am done and sighing with great relief.
I don’t have any problems speaking in front of a group. It’s funny though, because my mother says that I was very very shy as a child. I remember standing up on stage in kindergarten and singing Susie Little Susie about the geese with no shoes. She says that was shocking to her.
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I like audiobooks. Listening to someone read is very relaxing, and it’s what I always do if I wake up in the night and have trouble getting back to sleep.
I don’t think I would be a good reader of fiction. You would have to have a talent for doing dialogue in different voices, and I can’t do that at all. I might be able to manage a short poem at best.
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