2021.11.14 – 0318 – Prick Up Your Ears

This ‘skeleton script’ comprising of just the meaning-full words, are the ones which are lifted and if you only heard these ones perhaps on the radio in the car when the kids were chattering, you get a gist of what the story was. Like catching your name being said amongst the hubbub of a party, they are the ones which prick up your ears.


It’s like, as a child, listening from the upstairs bannisters to your parents talking downstairs. You can’t get every word of what they say but the key words, lifted for emphasis in their conversation, travel more clearly and you can still make out what it is they were talking about.


Or, think of intonation in terms of lighting your main living room at home.


A successful lighting scheme is a balance between background illumination, lights drawing attention to specific features, and those used to illuminate activities. Using three types of lights creates visual texture. You need audio texture: the ‘background lighting’ of your voice with the overall tone and clarity, and specific intonation to light up certain words and phrases.




Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.