Words are musical. How are you using yours?

When you think about speaking to a group of people, what do you usually consider the important factors in being heard and coming across well? Projecting your voice and enunciating - right?

Of course, you want to be heard. But you also want to engage the group, keep their focus and attention - and ultimately find value in what you have to say.

Over my many years as a musician, singer and storyteller I have come to understand the parallels and interconnections between music and speech and how using some simple techniques can really improve your spoken delivery.

First, let’s look at a good song lyric. There is an age-old debate about what comes first, the music or the words - but for simplification let’s say that words - specifically poetry - have a rhythm of their own.

I’ll illustrate this using a lyric/poem that comes to mind:

Yesterday,
life was such an easy game to play;
now I need a place to hide away.
Oh, I believe in yesterday.

John Lennon wrote this unforgettable tune and lyric probably to express regret, about longing over an event or set of events that were deeply meaningful to him.

It seems unlikely that he wrote the melody and fit the words to it. Instead, he wrote the poem and constructed a tune that fit the words so that the musical accents fit the important words of his song. The words Yesterday, game, hide, I, believe and Yesterday are emphasized through the rhythm and the musical downbeats. This is no accident!

Try singing the verse emphasizing the words: such, play, need and away. Notice how emphasizing these words changes the rhythm and emotional feel of the song.

Though the poem rhymes Yesterday, play and away, the tune would sound very strange if these same words were accented. Instead, he has pointed a musical light to the words that give the song poignancy - Yesterday, game, hide, believe, I and Yesterday.

Speech giving works along the same principle. Finding the words within your dialogue that hold emotional or significant meaning and then adding some kind of emphasis or accent to that word will help the listener get more meaning from your spoken words.

Here’s an example:

Four score and seven years ago
our fathers brought forth,
upon this continent, a new nation;
conceived in liberty,
and dedicated to the proposition
that all men are created equal.

Read this quote aloud to yourself. Notice whether or not you tend to read a line with a monotone and pause at the end of each line.

Now try emphasizing - by slowing down and pausing - after these words:
seven, our, new, conceived, proposition, all, equal.

Did this cause you to speed up on the other words? Did you keep your voice going through the end of one line into the beginning of the next? Notice that what also happens is that the words “not emphasized” also change by speeding up a bit.

Defining the significant words and shaping your speech patterns around those words changes the rhythm of your delivery and helps the listener grasp the important components of your talk. This is how we influence the audience to hear what we want them to hear.

Language is not meant to be spoken like concrete blocks - each word spoken with equal weight and length - but rather should ebb and flow like a water current, or a wave. Great music contains this same liquid feeling. No so much loud, fast tunes - but any song with a story, a ballad moves according to the sentiment in the lyric.

Beyond just accenting words, you can further shape your speech by adding these elements:

Attitude: have an opinion about the words - for example, are you shocked, amused or ironic?
Learn to slur: yep! Rather than enunciating every word - just carefully pronounce the important words that convey your idea and glide through the others. This is how we naturally speak to each other, but sometimes we forget to do when speaking to an audience. This is the “flow” to contrast with the “ebb.”
Look for contrast: if two thoughts contrast each other in your speech, be mindful of pointing this out in your delivery. Example: If wishes were horses, beggars would ride. Or - roses are red, violets are blue.
Slow down: don’t believe that you need to speak faster to be exciting. Instead, use these pacing and coloring elements in your speech to keep your listener involved. Let them be excited by the information rather than the speed they gain it by.

All of these elements apply equally to singing interesting musical phrases as well as speaking. If you are a singer or a speaker, stop and dissect the words you use to communicate. Words are musical by themselves, with their own rhythms and meanings. Pay attention to the music in your words and it will heighten your delivery and lead the audience to be engaged and excited in your performance!