Lesson video

Hello everyone, it's lovely to see you here today.

My name's Dr Clayton, and I'm here to guide you through your learning journey today.

So grab your pen, laptop or whatever you're using for this lesson, and let's get started.

Welcome to the lesson, everyone.

The lesson is called "Performing a Monologue." And by the end of the lesson, you'll have delivered your monologue with a clear character voice.

Now, the concept of performing in front of other people can be quite a daunting prospect, especially performing something you've written because it can make us feel quite vulnerable.

What we're gonna do today is talk through how you can use body language, pitch, tone and pace in order to enhance your performance and hopefully give you more confidence along the way.

So we have four words today we're gonna focus on as our keywords.

They'll be identified in bold throughout the learning material, and I'll try to point them out to you as well so you can see them being used in context.

Our first word is pitch.

Now, when we say pitch, we're referring to the relative highness or lowness of voice when speaking.

Our second key word is pace.

Now, when you're delivering a monologue, pace refers to the speed at which you're saying the words.

Our third key word is tone, and this refers to the general mood or feeling.

Finally, our fourth key word is body language, which means the movements or positions of your body that show other people how you're feeling.

So I'll just give you a few moments to write down those key words and their definitions.

Amazing, everyone, let's get started with the lesson.

So we have three learning cycles in our lesson today.

In our first learning cycle, we're going to think about how you can effectively use body language, eye contact and posture in order to deliver a convincing monologue.

The way we communicate is not just through our words, but also very much through our body language, our posture and our eye contact, and that's what we're gonna think about in this first learning cycle.

How can you communicate different emotions of your character through these movements? For our second learning cycle, we're going to talk about the way you can use your voice to influence how the audience perceives your character through pitch, pace and tone.

Finally, in the third learning cycle, you are gonna perform your monologue.

As I said earlier, the idea of performance can make some people nervous.

So we're gonna start that learning cycle with a brief overview on how you might use some certain techniques in order to relax yourself before you begin your performance.

Now, as I said earlier, it's really important to remember that actually a lot of the way we convey emotions to other people is through non-verbal signals.

In order to convey our character's emotions in our monologues, we need to consider how body language, posture and eye contact can all show different emotions.

Now, body language is one of our key words.

It refers to the movements or positions of your body that show people how you're feeling.

So you might think about facial expressions.

The idea of a smile conveys a positive emotion, while a frown conveys a negative emotion, and that's a universal communication signal that everyone can understand.

Now, posture refers the way someone holds themselves when they're seated or standing.

Imagine you're looking at someone, and they're sitting up straight versus they're sitting hunched over and looking at the floor.

We'd probably think the person who's sitting up straight seems happy and friendly, while the person who's hunched over might seem more reserved.

Now, eye contact refers to whether someone is directly looking into your eyes or not.

This is so incredibly important when it comes to emotions because we often talk about eyes being the windows into someone's soul.

And eye contact really does feed into how we see someone else and what emotional reaction we have to them.

Now, for a quick check for understanding.

What I'd like to do is complete the following three sentences.

So sentence one, the movements or positions of your body that show other people how you're feeling is called.

Sentence number two, the way someone holds themselves when they're seated or standing is called.

And sentence number three, whether someone is directly looking into your eyes or not is called.

So pause the video and complete the sentences now.

Amazing, everyone.

Now, you might have said the movements or positions of your body that show other people how you're feeling is called body language.

The way someone holds themselves when they're seated or standing is called posture.

And whether someone is directly looking into your eyes or not is called eye contact.

So very well done if you've got those right.

So I'd like us to focus on this idea of eye contact first.

And I'd like to think about what does making eye contact generally indicate about somebody, and why might someone avoid eye contact? So pause the video and take a few moments to consider.

Amazing, some fantastic discussions there.

And it's really great to see people trying to act this out by looking into each other's eyes while they're talking about eye contact.

Now, you might have said that if someone is making good eye contact with us, we think of them as being honest with us.

You might have heard the phrase look into my eyes and tell the truth.

We very much associate good eye contact with someone who is open and honest.

Now, good eye contact can also make you seem confident and sure of yourself.

You'll often hear the phrase make eye contact as advice given when you're trying to make a good first impression on people because it conveys you're an open, honest and confident person.

However, if someone is not making eye contact with us, we assume they're feeling guilty about something.

People often take someone looking away or not being able to make eye contact as admission of guilt.

And then poor eye contact can also indicate a nervousness because it suggests you're being closed off rather than being open with another person.

We often specifically associate looking down at the floor as a sign of being nervous.

So now let's talk about body language and posture.

What I'd like to think about is what sort of body language and posture might we use to show confidence, and what might we use to show nervousness? So pause the video and take a few moments to consider.

Amazing work, everyone, some great discussions there.

And again, it was great to see people acting this out to really see how that body language impacts how we see another person.

So you might have said to show confidence, we might use open body language through having open palms and upright posture and a smile.

We want people to feel as if we're welcoming them because that exudes confidence and happiness with who you are.

To show nervousness, on the other hand, we might use closed body language through having crossed arms, fidgeting and hunched over posture.

Now, this indicates we're trying hide ourselves away and not be noticed, and that indicates a nervousness or a shyness.

Okay, now for a quick check for understanding.

Which two of the following would you use to show confidence? Would it be A, closed body language, B, good eye contact, C, open body language or D, fidgeting.

Pause the video and make your selection now.

The correct answers are B, good eye contact, and C, open body language.

So very well done if you've got those right.

Amazing work, everyone.

We're onto our first task of the lesson.

Now, we're going to use our imaginations here.

And imagine that Laura is standing up on stage in front of us and she's about to deliver her monologue.

What I'd like you to do is think about what does her body language indicate to us? So you might consider where is Laura facing, what is her facial expression and what are her hands doing? So pause the video and take a few minutes to consider.

Welcome back, everyone.

It was amazing to see some people try and copy Laura's pose to see how they'd feel standing in front of people with that sort of body language.

Now, you might have said that her body language shows relaxation and confidence through the fact she's standing and facing the audience.

She's looking at them, and that shows she's really present in this moment and she's ready to start her monologue.

She's making eye contact with the audience, and therefore she's exuding confidence.

You might have noticed that she's smiling.

Now, this is actually a trick to make herself feel less nervous.

If you smile, your body recognises that as a happy emotion, and therefore it does relax you if you smile.

It also relaxes the audience because it suggests you're ready and you're confident in what you're about to deliver.

You might have also noticed that Laura's hands are not in her pockets.

Now, this is a classic sign of reluctance and someone not being open to an experience.

You're hiding part of yourself away if you put your hands in your pockets.

I know it can seem a bit unnatural to just let your arms lie by your sides, but actually it's a much more welcoming and confident pose than putting your hands in your pockets.

You also might have noticed that her posture is upright rather than hunched.

As we did earlier, if you hunch over, that implies you're trying not to be seen.

So having an upright and open posture means you seem confident and ready to deliver your monologue.

Amazing work so far, everyone.

We're now gonna think about how you can use your voice to convey certain emotions through our pitch, pace and tone.

So what I'd like us to start off by thinking about is why is it important to vary your voice when delivering a monologue? So imagine I was talking like this in a very monotone way, or imagine I was talking like this in a way that varies my voice.

What effect does that have? So pause the video, take a few moments to consider.

Amazing work, everyone.

It was really great to see some people trying that out on their own and seeing if they can keep their voice the same all the way through a conversation.

It's actually quite difficult because we naturally put inflexions into our speech.

They might have thought that our voice is an essential part of showing emotion in our monologue.

If we delivered our monologue in the same voice throughout then it wouldn't create a convincing character voice because our emotions and feelings ebb and flow all the time.

Our voice is very much affected by our emotions, and we're gonna spend a little bit of time now thinking about how our voice can indicate certain emotions to other people.

So let's just begin by clarifying some of the vocabulary around voice.

Now, a speaker can vary the way they deliver their speech in the following three ways.

So you might use pitch, and that refers the highness or lowness of your voice.

You might use pace, that refers the speed with which you deliver your monologue.

And you might use tone, and that refers to the attitude and emotion of your voice.

Now for a quick check for understanding, just to make sure we're clear on the vocabulary before we start delving into how you might use these techniques in your monologues.

So variations in the highness and lowness of your voice and speech are known as, A, pitch, B, pace or C, tone.

So pause the video and make a selection now.

Correct answer is A, pitch.

So very well done if you got that right.

So we're gonna start by thinking about how the pitch of your voice might influence your monologue.

What I'd like to think about is what might varying your pitch mean for the tone of your monologue? So what might it mean for the general feeling or emotion of your monologue? What might a high pitch indicate? What might a low pitch indicate? So pause the video and take a few moments to consider.

Amazing work, everyone.

You might have said that having a high pitch could indicate agitation.

Since we think of people becoming quite shrill when they're agitated, we might imagine someone getting more and more flustered.

And the more flustered they get, the more they fidget and the higher their voice becomes.

We also generally use a higher pitch when we're asking questions.

Our voice goes up at the end of a question.

So that might indicate you're unsure about something.

A low pitch on the other hand, could indicate sadness since you're speaking softly and quietly.

A low pitch may also indicate a lack of excitement, again, since you're speaking slowly and softly.

Now let's think about the pace of your voice.

So what I'd like to think about is what might varying the pace mean for the tone of your monologue? So what might varying the pace mean for the emotion and the feeling of your monologue? What might a fast pace indicate, and what might slow pace indicate? So pause the video and take a few minutes to think about it.

Amazing work, everyone.

You might have said that speaking in a fast pace could indicate excitement or nervousness.

If you imagine you're telling a really exciting story to a friend, we'd probably be speaking really quickly because we can't wait to get to the end of the story and tell them why we're so excited.

A fast pace could also show potentially that we're stressed and we're struggling to keep our thoughts together.

Sometimes, if you're speaking really quickly, it might indicate you're having so much going on in your head, you just need to get it all out at once.

On the other hand, a slow pace might indicate sadness.

Perhaps it means you're struggling to get your words out, or perhaps it means you're struggling to know what to say at all.

A slow pace might also indicate perhaps you're feeling relaxed and in control.

You're not in a rush to get the end of whatever story you're telling.

You've got nowhere else to be, and that could indicate you feel relaxed.

Now for a quick check for understanding.

What I'd like to do is complete the following two sentences.

So the first sentence is in order to show excitement, we might use a pitch and a pace in our voice.

The second sentence, in order to show sadness, we might use a pitch and a inner voice.

So pause the video and complete the sentences now.

Amazing work, everyone.

And you might have said in order to show excitement, we might use a high pitch and a fast pace in our voice.

In order to show sadness, we might use a low pitch and a slow pace in our voice.

So very well done if you've got those right.

Fantastic work, everyone.

We're onto our second task of the lesson.

Now, what I'd like you to do is read through the introduction to your monologue and try to vary the pitch and the pace.

So remember, the pitch means the relative highness or lowness of your voice.

And pace refers to how quickly or slowly you're speaking.

And what I'd like you to do is try to read through with a high pitch in your voice, then a low pitch in your voice, and then read through with a fast pace and a slow pace.

And I'd like to think about how does it affect the tone? So how does it affect the overall feeling or emotion of your monologue? I know it can sometimes feel a bit weird to practise reading your work aloud, but it'll make the biggest difference because not only will it allow you to think about how you can vary your voice, but the more you read through your work, the more it'll become second nature to you and therefore it'll make your overall performance easier.

So pause the video and have a go at reading through your introduction now.

Amazing work, everyone.

It's fantastic to see people really challenge themselves to get out of their comfort zones and practise reading their monologues in different voices.

What I'd like to do now is reflect on the exercise you've just completed.

So I'd like you to think about how did the variation in pitch and pace convey different emotions for your character? Did it change the message of your monologue? And how do you think you'll use pitch and pace in the final delivery of your monologue? So pause the video and take a few minutes to reflect on those things.

Fantastic work, everyone.

Let's carry on with the lesson.

Fantastic work, everyone.

We're now into third learning cycle of the lesson where you are gonna have a good performing your monologue using the body language and voice techniques that we've just talked about to convey your character's emotion.

Now, many people feel nervous when it comes to public speaking.

The technical term for it is glossophobia, and it's considered the most common phobia as surveys indicate around 75% of the population fear public speaking, more than death, spiders or heights.

Now, I can completely relate those feelings of nervousness because I used to be scared of public speaking as well.

When I was in secondary school, I was terrified of having to stand up in front of people.

My hands would shake and I know that I was looking down at the floor or my notes the whole time.

But the more you practise, the more you try and find ways to relax, you absolutely will feel less and less nervous the more you do it.

I'm now a teacher and I've given talks at conferences in front of hundreds of people.

So what I'd like us to do is spend a little bit of time thinking before you start your monologue about how we can help ourselves feel more comfortable.

So pause the video and take a few moments to consider.

Amazing, some great discussions there.

Like Laura, you might think we can practise our monologue to make sure we feel confident in what we're saying and how we deliberate.

It's incredibly off-putting to suddenly come across a sentence that doesn't quite make sense or a word we're not sure how to pronounce when we're performing.

If you read through your speech several times though beforehand, you'll iron out all those little niggles before you get to the performance.

The more you practise, the more you'll be able to commit some of the monologue at least to memory, because, again, it's incredibly nerve-wracking to have to rely completely on your notes as it'll throw you off completely if you have the notes in the wrong order or you drop a note.

Like Alex, you also might have thought that you could use open body language to trick our body into feeling more relaxed through smiling, having upright posture and deep exhales.

Now, this is something I tell my students to do all the time.

Really deep, steady breathing allows oxygen to circulate around your body.

It'll make you feel more relaxed.

You want to breathe in for four seconds, hold your breath for four seconds and then exhale for four seconds.

It will really help you focus and dispel any nervous energy.

Now for a quick check for understanding.

Which two of the following will help you feel more confident? Is it A, shallow breathing, B, deep breathing, C, avoiding eye contact with everyone, or D, using open body language such as smiling.

So pause the video and make your selections now.

The correct answers are B, deep breathing, and D, using open body language such as smiling.

So very well done if you've got those right.

Amazing, everyone.

We've now reached the final task of the lesson.

What I'd like you to do is perform your monologue.

Now, as you deliver, make sure you consider the effect your body language will have on the character voice you've created.

So think about what emotion you want to portray.

Do you want your character to feel confident or nervous? And then match your body language to that emotion.

Consider how you can use posture and eye contact to convey different emotions.

So you might look away from the audience to show that your character's feeling anxious.

And consider how you can vary your use of pitch and pace in order to change the tone of your monologue.

So remember the exercise we did at the end of the learning cycle two, and think about which use of voice best fits the emotion you are trying to convey in your character.

So pause the video and perform your monologue.

Fantastic work, everyone.

It's amazing to see people really try to use their body language and their voice to convey the character's emotion.

It was great to see people really having a go, despite potentially feeling a bit nervous.

What I'd like to do for the final part of the lesson is self-assess your performance of your monologue.

So as you delivered, did you use body language to affect the perception of your character? Did you use posture and eye contact to convey emotions? And did you vary the pitch and pace of your voice to convey a different tone? So pause the video and self-assess your performance now.

Well done, everyone.

It was great to see people reflecting on their performances and how proud they were of themselves for having a go as that's how we grow and learn.

We need to put ourselves in uncomfortable situations such as public speaking in order to gain more confidence as a person.

You all did incredibly well today, everyone.

Here's a summary of what we covered.

We can use our body language, posture and eye contact to convey certain emotions.

We can vary the pitch and pace of our voice to convey different emotions and influence the tone of our monologue.

And you can trick yourself into feeling more confident about a performance through deep breathing and smiling.

Really hope you enjoyed the lesson everyone, goodbye.