Scoring a Passage for Performance

Annotate a passage with pause, stress, and pitch marks before reading it aloud.

Actors and speakers prepare texts by marking them up, much like musicians reading a score. A simple performance notation uses a single slash for a short pause, a double slash for a long pause, underlining for stress, and small arrows for rising or falling pitch. Consider: 'We were told it could not be done. We were told to wait. We did not wait. ' A scored version might be: 'We were told it could not be done ↓ // We were told to wait ↓ // We did not wait ↓↓.

' The underlined 'not' in the final sentence carries the reversal; the double slashes give the audience time to feel the repetition; the extra-falling final pitch closes the thought. Scoring makes your interpretation deliberate and repeatable. It also reveals problems: if you cannot decide where the stress goes, you may not yet understand the sentence. Rehearse with the marks, then test a version without them to make sure the delivery sounds natural.

• 1Mark pauses (/ and //), stress, and pitch direction.
• 2Scoring makes interpretation deliberate and repeatable.
• 3If you cannot place the stress, reread for meaning.