What Is the Most Important Aspect of Elocution?

People expect a technical answer to this question. Good articulation. Vowel placement. Breath support. Projection. These are the building blocks of good speech, and they matter. But after years of teaching elocution — and many more years of living with the results of it — I have come to believe that the most important aspect of elocution is none of these things.

It is this: the elevation of life through speech.

That may sound grand. It is meant to. Because what elocution does, at its best, is not simply correct the way a person sounds. It changes the way they move through the world.

I have watched people walk into a first lesson hunched under the weight of being misunderstood — not once, but daily, for years.

Professionals who dreaded chairing meetings.

Recently, I had a student from the North of England. He looked well off and sounded highly intelligent. He worked all his life in the oil industry. Recently, he divorced, and his reason for having elocution lessons with me was: "I want to meet a better class of women; that is why I want to work on my speech."

Elocution does not just improve pronunciation. It opens up more opportunities.

That is elevation.

Good elocution tutors know how to remove the static. And that, I believe, is the highest purpose of elocution. It is a profound, entirely practical act of helping a person to express thoughts, emotions and beliefs with clarity, power and authenticity.

Warmly

Olga Smith