Public Speaking/Bathke
Tonal Quality: Public Speaking and You
Name: _______________________________
Date: _____________
Task 1: Listen to opening of To Kill a Mockingbird (the voice-over) and describe the tenor of the
Kim Stanley’s voice. How does the tenor of her voice match what is being displayed on the screen?
Task 2: In order for Kim Stanley to achieve that tenor in her voice, she must carefully analyze the
tone of the passage she is reading and mark up her script accordingly. Review the example below,
and mark the script accordingly.
TO KILL A MOCKINGBIRD
Maycomb was an old town, but it was tired old town when I first knew it. Somehow, it was
hotter then. Men’s stiff collars wilted by nine in the morning. Ladies bathed before noon,
after their three o’clock naps, and by nightfall were like soft teacakes with frostings of sweat
and sweet talcum.
A day was twenty-four hours long but seemed longer. There was no hurry, for there was
nowhere to go, nothing to buy and no money to buy it with. Eventhough Maycomb County
has recently been told that it had nothing to fear but fear itself.
Task 2: Listen to each recording of the song (below) “This Old Porch”. Compare the speaker’s tone in
each version of the song.
This old porch is like a big old red and white hereford bull
Standing under a mesquite tree
Out in agua dulce
And he just keeps on playing hide and seek
With that hot august sun
Just a-sweatin' and a-pantin'
Cause his work is never done
And this old porch is like a steaming, greasy plate of enchiladas
With lots of cheese and onions
And a guacamole salad
And you can get'em down at the lasalle hotel
In old downtown
With iced tea and a waitress
And she will smile every time
And this old porch is the palace walk-in
On the main street of texas
That's never seen the day
Of g and r and xs
With that '62 poster
That's almost faded down
And a screen without a picture
Since giant came to town
And this old porch is like a weathered, gray-haired
Seventy years of texas
Who's doing all he can
Not to give in to the city
And he always takes the rent late
So long as i run his cattle
And he picks me up at dinnertime
And i listen to him rattle
He says the brazos still runs muddy
Just like she's run all along
And there ain't never been no cane to grind
The cotton's all but gone
And you know this brand new chevrolet
Hell it was something back in '60
But now there won't nobody listen to him
'cause they all think he's crazy
And this old porch is just a long time
Of waiting and forgetting
And remembering the coming back
And not crying about the leaving
And remembering the falling down
And the laughter of the curse of luck
From all of those passerby
Who said we'd never get back up
This old porch is just a long time
Of waiting and forgetting
And remembering the coming back
And not crying about the leaving
And remembering the falling down
And the laughter of the curse of luck
From all of those sons-of-bitches
Who said we'd never get back up