All advice aside…

Thank you for helping to create our community’s celebration of the Lord.

 

Suggestions for Readers

 

Practicalities:

 

• When Do You Read?

Check the newsletter for the calendar Readers, Chalicers, etc. 

This calendar appears in the newsletter four times a year.
If you have email, the church office will send you a reminder with a copy of the readings early in the week.

It is also posted on the calendar in the hallway to the Parish Hall.

 

·        Try Not to Forget When You Read

When a reader forgets their scheduled reading time (and it happens) it isn’t a major disaster, but it can create an interesting scramble for a substitute.

 

·        The Best Kept Secret

If you can do only one thing from this list of suggestions…

Get comfortable with the text before you read it at church. (OH, NO, not that!)

(The church office will email you a copy of the reading ahead of time. If you don't have email, or don't receive it for some reason, call the office and one will be mailed to you.)

 

·         Ooooops!

You may want to come early to check that the

1)     … light is on over the lectern. (Switch is inside the sacristy [‘back stage’] door).

2)     … a copy of the readings is on lectern, or the lectionary (the book of readings on the lectern) is opened to the right place? (Last minute search-missions are always fun, should you like to try one.) Copies of the readings can also be found in the Mailroom, if all else fails.

3)     … microphone is on?

 

·        Testing, Testing, One, Two, Three

1)     Before the service starts you can read a few sentences in order to hear yourself in  this unusually large space and

2)     Get comfortable with the microphone.

 

·        Best Laid Plans

When you go up to read take your bulletin’s copy of the reading just in case the lectionary has gotten messed up.

 

·        Easy Does It

Watch your step as you go up to read. There are a lot of levels and platforms to negotiate.

 

·        Tricks of the Trade

These are some things you might like to try:

1)      Before reading, check to see if folks are settled down and are ready.

2)      Look up from time to time to give people the sense that you are reading to them.

3)      Before you look up put your finger on the text so you don’t lose your place

 

The Art of Public Reading:

 

·        Get the Tools Ready

1)      Check pronunciation of names (The Old Testament has some douzies!)

2)      Read the text aloud

3)      Get familiar with the grammar

4)      Look up words if they don’t make sense give their modern meanings

5)      What does the text mean?

 

·        Dig In

1)      Become aware of the direction of the passage and how the sentences and phrases take you there.

2)      Speak the words in a way that conveys the appropriate feeling, the emotional as well as literal meaning.

3)      What is the tone or spirit of the passage? Didactic, coaxing, argumentative, hostile, analytic, or a combination of these?

4)      Read with the appropriate speed for the kind of message it is. A difficult passage in St. Paul might be spoken more slowly than a narrative one, and part of Isaiah might call for loudness for emphatic declamation!

 

·     Cheat, and Mark up a Copy of the Text

1)      Indicate where you will take pauses, breaths, or read uninterrupted. 

2)      Underline / circle words to emphasize.

3)      Indicate where words or phrases will be louder or softer. 

 

·     The Tortoise, not the Hare

1)      Avoid nervous breathless bolting reading by being familiar with the text.

2)      Go slow so the people in the back have a chance to hear each word.

3)      Stay strong! Don’t let your voice go down at end of sentences or sections.

 

·      But I’ve Been Speaking Since I Was Two!

1)      Public speaking is nothing like conversational speech.

2)      Sound bounces around and travels fairly slow. 

3)      Vowels are easier to hear than consonants, so articulation is critical.

4)      Exaggeration makes it sound natural.

 

·   The Voice Is an Instrument

1)      You play it with intellectual understanding and physical control. 

2)      Using your diaphragm will give you more control and more oxygen, helping you to stay calm.

 

Our best wishes to you as readers at Trinity.

 

Jack Vickrey & Edith Bross

 

 

Let us Bless the Lord, Thanks be to God!