• Speech Choirs are performance group that recite speeches in unison, often with elements of choreography and costuming to help bring the speech to life.

• A speech choir is a powerful art that is experiencing a revival. There is tremendous satisfaction that comes from

learning to speak well, and even a greater enjoyment that comes from speaking elegantly and powerfully as a group.

•There are two types of Speech Choir: Conventional or Traditional Speech Choir and Dynamic or Theatrical Speech Choir

But how to control

stage fright?

Controlling Stage Fright....• Stage fright is an emotion- oftentimes fear of the

audience- arising from the difficulty in coping with a situation.

• In its severe form, stage fright can make your mind go blank. This is the first problem that besets a speaker or a performer.

• Stage fright comes from feeling “inadequate” to meet a situation; from fear of not living up to the expectation of the audience; fear of forgetting and fear of failure.

According to Psychologists:

Physiological changes can increase our adequacy as a speaker if they are controlled

and directed. Therefore, a reasonable amount of stage fright can make us better

speakers or performers. The problem is not how to overcome stage fright but how to

reduce and control it.

a. POINTING. This is done by pointing your index finger to locate or identify a thing or an idea.

b. DIVIDING. Extend the hand with the fingers close together and make a chopping motion or move the hand from side to side.

c. DESCRIBING OR IMITATING. Both hands or sometimes one hand is used to describe or imitate certain size, shape or movement of things.

d. APPROVAL OR DISAPPROVAL. Nodding or shaking the head suggest certain connotations.

e. GIVING AND RECEIVING. This gesture is made by extending either or both hands with fingers not too close together nor too spread out, palm(s) upward or toward the audience.

f. REJECTING OR RESTRAINING. The hand(s) are extended in front at about shoulder height, sometimes with a sweeping motion, palms turned down facing the audience and away from the speaker.

g. EMPHASIZING. The fist is clenched with the row of knuckles parallel with the speaker’s shoulder and the wrist is slightly bent.

h. FACIAL EXPRESSIONS. An action of the face or the facial expression is an effective instrument if gesture

i. VOICE QUALITY, PITCH, VOLUME AND RATE. Speak in a pleasant tone and with adequate loudness. Do not shout. Raise or lower your voice to achieve variation but make it spontaneous and natural, not mechanical.

j. ARTICULATION. Pronunciation of words should be accurate and should meet accepted standards.

Hand gestures are a form of nonverbal communication, which allow a person to

communicate a range of thoughts and feelings with or without speech.

Gestures differ from other types of body communication such as purely expressive displays, as they generally carry a greater

association with language and speech and usually have specific linguistic content.

There are several types of hand gestures, which are commonly used.

• IconicIconic gestures, also referred to as illustrators, are descriptive gestures often used to illustrate speech, much like painting a picture with the hands. These types of gestures are useful for demonstrating a second viewpoint and adding details to an image a person is conveying, without any accompanying speech.

• DeicticDeictic gestures locate the space in between a narrator and a listener after the narrator introduces a physical or nonphysical entity into the conversation and then repeatedly refers to the entity.

•BeatA beat is a staccato strike, which grabs a person's attention by creating emphasis. Beat gestures are small rhythmic beating movements of the arm, hand or finger, which keep the same form as the content of speech. These types of gestures may be a short and single beat, or repeated beats, which carry out as long as necessary to convey a point.

• MetaphoricMetaphoric gestures, or representational gestures, are beneficial when explaining an idea without any physical form, with specific shapes such as waving of the hands or pinching with the fingers. The accompanying narration generally will not have a productive metaphor, as the gestures will represent the implied metaphor.