"The Melody of Speech"

Radio Record, Volume V, Issue 6, 21 August 1931, Page 29

"The Melody of Speech"

FOUND his talk: on "The Melody of Speech," given by Mr. C. N. Baeyertz from 2YA on Saturday evening, wholly interesting and _ inspiring. Were it possible for all our speakers to be given the advantage of his instruction, there would be such an

improvement in the: standard of Michael’s utterance as to definitely intensify the interest of listeners and subtly improve the diction of the whole community, I am sure good will speedily spring from the seed sown by Mr, Baeyertz: in fact, am I right in imagining that the tone and manner of the announcement immediately following the conclusion of Mr. Baeyertz’s address betrayed a conscious effort at improvement? If so, congratulations to Mr. Baeyertz ! Charging speakers with a general lack of knowledge of the technique of speech, Mr. Baeyertz asserted that the first thing to be done was to put their speaking voices in order. How many of the voices of our friends could be described, he asked, as colourless, unpleasant, lifeless, feeble, silly, flabby, adenoidal, thuffled, husky, dull, shrill, high-pitched, hard, grinding, grating, harsh, wheezy, and unrestrained? That is a fearsome list indeed, only to be rectified by learning to breathe adequately; having our voices balanced correctly and brought down on to the teeth, and not shut up in our voice boxes. We can gain resonance by humming exercises-at which point I predict an undue strain upon bathroom acoustics! In Australia it would seem that the lips are rarely used, being mere obstacles in curtailing the enunciation of sound. New Zealand does not fall under this criticism-at least Mr, Baeyertz says so. Since his arrival in the Dominion Mr. Baeyertz has said some harsh things about his adopted country. He assures us that he says them as boldly in Australia, and 25-year-old memories of his former career in Dunedin lead me "to believe that that may well be so. But with all diffidence, methinks there must be some little reservation, Our appetite for flattery is probably as insatiable as that of any other people in the world, but person-

ally I decline to believe that there is quite the disparity represented between Australia and New Zealand in this respect. Attending that splendid North v. South Island match on Saturday, I was regaled with the comments of many young hopefuls near by. Theiy efforts might be set alongside those classical quotations from the back streets of Sydney cited by Mr. Baeyertz, and in the comparison honours, I imagine, might fairly be easy. However, whether we be worse than Australia or not, there is unquestionably much room for improvement, and it is all to thc good that Mr, Baeyertz should tell us how that improvement might be effected. Our prime fault is sound blindness, which is far more prevalent than colour blindness. We simply do not hear the errors of our own speech; hence we sadly abuse both "God’s patience and the King’s English." Our faulty enunciation and indistinct utterance, almost entirely due to inadequate or perverted sound perception, can be rectified only by assiduous study of the niceties of utterance. We certainly need more educators of the standard of Mr. Baeyertz. His address, embodying as it did a lifetime’s experience in a subject he has definitely made his own, was valuable. I look for definite benefit from his visit to the Dominion. Whether one agrees with all that Mr. Baeyertz says or not, whether one condemns or condones his artistic egoisms, it must be conceded he has the crowning merit of at least being alive and believing in himself and his cause. To such enthusiasts I am always prepared to listen--for a time!