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ne-gun speed, or plod along as if he was reading a grocery list, his speeches fail. The aspect s of voice speechmakers should work to control are volume, pitch, rate, pauses, rhythm, pronunciation and so on. Control volume and pitch. Speechmakers should adjust his voice to the acoustics of the room, the size of the audience, and the level of background noise. If he speaks too loudly, his listeners will think him boorish. If he speaks too softly, they will not understand him. His own voice should always sound louder to him than to a listener. In speech, speechmakers should also notice the variation in pitch. Pitch can affect the meaning of words or sound. There are some changes in pitch; otherwise speechmaker falls into repetitions pitch patterns that are just as hypnotic as a monotone. Control rate and pauses. There is no uniform rate for effective speechmaking. Statistics in “The Art of Public Speaking” by Lucas shows that Daniel Webster spoke at roughly ninety words per minute, Franklin Roosevelt at one hundred and ten, John Kennedy at one hundred and eighty. Martin Luther King opened his “I Have a Dream” speech at a pace of ninety-two words per minute and finished it at one hundred and forty-five. Generally speaking, if the speechmaker wants to convey the excitement of his topic, he would probably speak rather quickly, but a slower rate when he begins the topic. The best rate of speech depends on several things-the vocal attributes of the speaker, the mood he or she is trying to create, the composition of the audience, and the nature of the occasion. Pause is very useful in public speech. It can signal the end of a thought unit, give an idea time to sink in, and lend dramatic impact to a statement. As Mark Twain said “The right word may be effective, but no word was ever as effective as a rightly timed pause.” Most important, speechmaker should pause at the end of thought units but not in the middle and does not fill the silence with “uh”, “er”, or “um”. Rhythm. Language has a rhythm created by the choice and arrangement of words. Speakers sometimes seek to exploit the rhythm of language. By catching up their listeners in an arresting string of sounds, speakers can enhance the impact of their words–and therefore of their ideas. Winston Churchill was a master at this. Here is a passage from one of his famous speeches during World War II. To emphasize its cadence, the passage has been printed as if it were poetry rather than prose: We shall not flag or fail. We shall go on to the end. Even though large tracts of Europe And many old and famous states May fall into the grip of the Gestapo And all the odious apparatus of Nazi rule, We shall fight with growing confidence and strength in the air. We shall defend our island Whatever the cost may be. We shall fight on the beaches. We shall fight on the landing grounds. We shall fight in the fields and in the streets. We shall fight in the hills. We shall never surrender. The impact of the passage was heightened by Churchill ’s superb delivery; but even by themselves the words take on an emphatic rhythm that reinforces the message. Articulation. Public speech is to convey information to the audience. Speaker must avoid poor articulation. Sloppy articulation is the failure to form speech sounds crisply and distinctly. We know that “let me” is not “lemme”, that “going to” is not “gonna”, that “did you” is not “didja” that “ought to” is not “otta”, that “don’t know” is not