Houston Storytellers Guild - Tips for Tellers

Tips For Protecting Your Voice

Contributed by Linda Befeld and others

Healthy body: Plenty of sleep, regular, moderate exercise, nutritious food and vitamins are what a number of tellers do to keep the whole "instrument" in good working condition. Alice Evergreen believes posture to be important to good storytelling. Linda says "Smoking - deadly. Don't do it and if you are around smokers, drink more water and stick your head out the door until it's time for you to go on."

Germs: Schools are a hotbed of germs. Susan Fulbright suggests avoid touching hands and washing your hands before eating. Washing your hands frequently and avoiding hand to your face contact reduce chance of infection. Most germs are passed by hand to face contact.

Water: There can never be enough said about H2O. Susan Fulbright believes in hydrating with vitamin C. Linda thinks temperature doesn't matter, but hot water with lemon is good for fighting congestion. Other tellers say when flying or driving long distances, drink water to keep hydrated in the dry air that is piped in. A good way to stay properly hydrated during dry winters or scorching summers is to drink water after every urination.

Lozenges: Some Tellers use zinc lozenges, but Linda warns some create a goo in your throat and can turn your tongue unattractive colors your audience can see. Amanda Shelley knows of slippery elm products that lubricate without leaving mucus or color.

Vocal Coaching: Leisure Learning Unlimited and other community education sources offer vocal coaching, but some warm up can be done with humming, as practiced by Brian Herod, or singing. Linda uses singing not only to warm up her voice, but to get her in the mood for telling. Her favorites are "Friends in Low Places" and songs by Bette Midler. Pick songs with varied range and sing softly to avoid vocal strain before you perform. Alice Evergreen uses yawning to loosen the jaw and stretch the mouth and neck. She also takes a deep breath and exhales before starting her set. "It expels bad air and when you inhale again to start, you have fresh air", she says. Jeannine Beekman, longtime HSG member and well known storyteller, teaches a workshop on voice care and Linda Befeld says you should participate if you get the chance.

Thanks to Linda and the others who contributed to this article.

Tips For Telling to Youngsters

by Victor Schill

Select stories that would be familiar to youngsters e.g. folktales and fairy tales such as Jack and the Beanstalk, The Three Little Pigs such stories are also familiar to you, the teller, and require a minimum of learning time, and can be recalled easily.
Read folktales from other cultures some themes are found in every folk tradition and using different versions provides you with a fresh telling of a familiar theme and provides interesting points for discussion with young listeners in appropriate situations.
Read a lot of the picture books which have been published as retellings of familiar tales and tales from around the world. I find that many of these retellings are easy to learn and that having illustrations accompanying the text helps me to learn the story and sort of see it unfolding in my mind's eye as I learn and tell it e.g. I recommend the books by Gerald McDermott who does good retellings and fantastic illustrations. His retellings are easy to learn and are good talking points for showing youngsters how they can learn a story.
When telling a story based on a picture book adaptation, try to take a copy of the book with you in order to share with your listeners after you have finished your telling I think this helps bring the story even more alive to kids who can see the illustrations and read the story as well.
Use participation stories kids love to help you tell and act out a story, e.g. the turnip story where the farmer plants a turnip which grows so big that it takes several characters to finally pull the turnip out of the ground participating in the story is fun for young listeners and adds an extra level of involvement.
Use props when appropriate e.g. Bark, George by Jules Feiffer can be enhanced by using puppets in telling the story--the story is short, easy to learn, and really comes alive when using puppets in the telling.