Vocal variety

Vocal variety.
Lowering or raising the pitch of your voice, speaking louder or softer, saying something sweetly, respectfully, angrily, shouting, whispering or
pausing for effect, are attention getters. Imagine how flat music would sound if it had no dynamics — no exciting crescendos or breathless pianissimos. In the same manner that dynamics add fire to music, vocal variety adds excitement to the spoken word. A well-modulated voice is stimulating and evocative, whereas a dull monotone speaker is a boring communicator with a ho-hum delivery. Spending a few minutes every day on perfecting each of these techniques will lead to a more polished and professional delivery. However, there’s still one other technical skill that is absolutely vital to mastering the art of storytelling, and that is — timing.
Timing is the art of delivering words, phrases and sentences in a rhythmic or varying tempo with calculated emphasis in order to heighten their effectiveness.
Joke telling requires good timing. Without it, the laugh could be completely lost. On the other hand, when the audience is laughing, if you start speaking before the laugh begins to diminish, the response will be shortened, cut off. This is known as “stepping on the laugh.”
Good timing gets good results. Jack Benny, perhaps more than any other comedian, was recognized as the master of this technique. In the interview with Jack for my book, Great Comedians Talk About Comedy, I asked him his thoughts on timing. “A good joke without timing means nothing,” Jack replied. “Very often good timing is not so much knowing when to speak but knowing when to pause.” The same question to Bob Hope produced this reply: “At times I have good material and at other times I have great material, but I know how to cover up the merely good and make it sound great by timing.”