to work out exactly what you will be reading, and approximately time the
pieces so you do not overrun your allotted time-slot. Some people may
prefer to adapt to the situation as it arises, and read what seems appropri-
ate at the time: if you do this you must be confident that you can give as
polished and exhilarating a performance as you would if fully prepared.
Make sure that the texts you choose are varied, and that the poems work
effectively as oral entities and in a public space. Poems that read well on
the page may be less effective under these conditions. It’s a good idea to try
reading the text at home, possibly several times over, to make sure that you
are fluent: some performance pieces may require extensive rehearsal.
There is more, however, to reading or performing work than fluency.
Think of ways in which you can enliven and enhance the words. The voice
is an instrument that you can play: try varying the pitch and the dynamic
both within and between different poems. Varying the pace is important
too: reading that always moves at the same speed may become very
monotonous. Such effects will usually need to be quite subtle. Experience,
and listening to yourself on tape, will give you an idea of how to pitch your
performance, and help you to develop your own style of delivery whether
extrovert or more understated.
Using the microphone (see Exercise 6) is also an important part of
reading or performance work. Many poets, especially if they are not very
experienced in public performance, do not use the microphone as effec-
tively as possible. Distance from it is crucial: if you stand too far away it
will not pick up your voice; on the other hand if you are too close your
voice may be overpoweringly loud and could be distorted. If there are a
number of readers you may need to adjust the microphone to your own
height. Microphones vary a lot, and some are much better than others.
However, certain letters are likely to distort: in particular the letter ‘p’
creates a popping noise which can be very distracting for listeners. The
closer you are to the microphone, the more distortion there will be.
However, you can largely avoid this by standing slightly sideways on to the
microphone. Also try to avoid blowing too forcefully into it when you have
to pronounce a ‘p’: instead slightly swallow/subdue the consonant to min-
imise the effect. Again practice will help with this: if you are even starting
to think about such matters you will be ahead of other poetry readers who
often haven’t considered them at all.
You can also obtain interesting effects in your reading by ‘playing the
microphone’, that is, by varying your distance from it and by employing it
in ways which are contrary to normal use. For example, moving close to
the microphone, and then whispering into it, can create a very rich though
hushed impact; such a mode of delivery has more presence than normal
whispering. On the other hand, moving away from it, but talking louder
232 The Writing Experiment