Declamation Speech Assignment

Declamation Speech Assignment

Choose from the approved speech selections included in Appendix B of your textbook. Choose a speech that you agree with and which you believe would give you ample opportunity to practice and perform vocal variety. Your performance should display emotion and feeling through your use of volume, intensity, emphasis, pitch, inflection, and rate changes. You can also make use of gestures and body movement to reflect meaning.

You should practice the speech enough to let you be very familiar with the piece, though you DO NOT need to memorize the speech. This should truly be a performance. You will be graded on your use of all the elements of vocal quality we have discussed in class and which are covered in our text. While you are NOT required to do the research suggested on page 195 of your text, you should note the suggestions given there for preparing a performance copy of your speech. Be sure to include a key for your script which tells me what each of your markings means on your script (Ex. / = pause, // = long pause,  = rise in pitch, etc.) ON THE DAY OF YOUR SPEECH, YOU WILL BE REQUIRED TO HAND IN THE EDITED PERFORMANCE COPY YOU USE.

After you have practiced the speech by yourself, you must present this speech to AT LEAST four people (at four different times, not one time to four people). After you have presented the speech to them, have them sign the Listener Log Sheet. After you have presented to four people, you may present to more people (different people, not to the same people again) for extra credit points. You will receive 3 extra credit points for each person over four that signs your form. My suggestion to you is to start early so that you can take advantage of many opportunities to perform your speech BEFORE your graded speech performance. This will truly make a significant difference in the quality of your speech performance.

You will receive a grade for:

Your vocal quality in your Speech Performance (use of voice to convey meaning and emphasis)

Your edited, performance script

Your signed Listener Log