How many times do you practice before telling a story in public?

I think that I practice storytelling more than most people because English is not my first language. Knowing words doesn’t mean that I can pronounce them properly. American pronunciation and intonation are totally different from Japanese. A wrong rhythm can distract an audience from processing my story. I need to go through each word and sentence before memorizing and replace them if I cannot make them work. As an ESL (English as a Second Language) speaker, I need to work extra hard. A good thing is that the more I practice, the more I get comfortable on the stage. A bad thing is that the more I practice, the more I get bored! Sometimes I find myself feeling disengaged with my story while telling a story on the stage.

Practicing is a science.

Practice is a ScienceThat’s what my writing teacher told me when she sensed my boredom while practicing. She shared a story about an 11-year-old boy who practiced cello for three hours a day for six months working on a four-minute piece. 540 hours’ practice for one little piece? Wow, that’s a lot!

But the story gave me a new perception about practice. I see how the art of practice can be implemented in storytelling. The art of practice…that will be my next project. Science makes everything intriguing, doesn’t it?

Pin It on Pinterest

Share This