Training Exercise
A warm up activity for reading aloud, mindfully.
More from…
Thinking about …
Reading Mindfully.
Woolf, Virginia. (1927) ‘The Art of Fiction’, The Nation and Athenaeum Literary Supplement, 12 November, pp. 247–248.
What follows is a set of instructions for an activity. Follow the instructions exactly as they are written: if it says to read aloud, read aloud. If it says to move in a certain way, move in a certain way. If it tells you to touch something, touch it. These are not abstract instructions; they are explicit directions to be followed.
1. Read these words aloud. Go slowly; Listen carefully to the sound of your voice as it enunciates. As the words pass, observe how your voice feels in mouth and throat. Practice this action a bit, then read this:
Virginia Woolf, ‘The Art of Fiction’ (1927)
2 Place your fingers lightly on your throat and read this again, slowing and speeding the pace as you go. Feel your voice in your fingers as you do:
He knows from experience what a muddled and illogical machine the brain of a writer is. He knows how little they think about methods; how completely they forget their grandfathers; how absorbed they tend to become in some vision of their own.
3. Now, rest your palm on the centre of your chest. Read the following and observe what is resonating now:
Thus, though the scholars have all his respect, his sympathies are with the untidy and harassed people who are scribbling away at their books. And looking down on them, not from any great height, but, as he says, over their shoulders, he makes out, as he passes, that certain shapes and ideas tend to recur in their minds whatever their period …
4. Cup your palm, keeping your fingers on your chest and observe the echoes now while reading the following aloud::
His sympathies are with the untidy and harassed people.
Scribbling away in books.
Looking over their shoulders he makes out that certain shapes and ideas recur whatever their period.
5. Continue reading silently – keep your fingers on your chest – continue to breathe mindfully
While reading, did you think of any other voices?
How did the feeling on your fingers and palm effect the pace of reading?
Remove your hand from your chest and rest them comfortably on your lap (or at your sides).
Take an even deeper breath and count to four in your head before you exhale very slowly.
Now consider for a moment, what is the voice heard when you read aloud – was it your own?
Was it mine or a voice over you are familiar with?
Was it something you imagined of Virginia Woolf, perhaps the BBC recording of her voice or actors in The Hours, Vita and Virginia, or Life in Squares.1Nicole Kidman in The Hours, Daldry (2002); Lydia Leonard and Catherine McCormack in Life in Squares, Kaijser (2015); Elizabeth Debicki in Vita and Virginia, Button (2018).Virginia Woolf reading ‘Craftsmanship’ broadcast in 1937, BBC (2014).
6. Read the entire passage again, silently.
He knows from experience what a muddled and illogical machine the brain of a writer is. He knows how little they think about methods; how completely they forget their grandfathers; how absorbed they tend to become in some vision of their own. Thus, though the scholars have all his respect, his sympathies are with the untidy and harassed people who are scribbling away at their books. And looking down on them, not from any great height, but, as he says, over their shoulders, he makes out, as he passes, that certain shapes and ideas tend to recur in their minds whatever their period … If the English were less domestic, less assiduous to protect the rights of what it pleases him to call life, the novelist might be bolder too.2 Woolf (1927), pp. 247–248.
Whose voice is it now and where did you hear it in your body and head? Try again if you need to gather some data.
Woolf’s words draws our attention to scribbling in notebooks, asking who is looking over our shoulders while we compose, shaping ideas over time. The above example activity (and the recording that preceded it) is designed to draw your attention to somatic events occurring while reading and writing (breath, vocalisation, touch, and movement). Woolf implicitly directs the reader to imagine the position of the body, the movement of the pencil on paper, and the underlying motivations behind these gestures as a prompt for readers to consider the motivations and personality traits that drive both author and their audience. In the activity, the position of the body is not just a description to be imagined but instead it part of the reading event to be observed and felt. Woolf communicates phenomenological observations about writing, via writing. The activity disrupts conventional reading by accounting for the body. Breath and touch is prioritised as they produce ‘resonance’, inviting questions about the haptic, tacit, and taken-for-granted elements involved when writing is read and understood.
Citations
BBC (2014) ‘Rare recording of Virginia Woolf’, 9 July. Available at: https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/av/entertainment-arts-28231055 (Accessed: 22 November 2023).
Button, C. (2018) Vita and Virginia [film]. UK: Thunderbird Releasing.
Daldry, S. (2002) The Hours [Film]. United States: Paramount Pictures.
Kaijser, S. (2015) Life in Squares [Televised]. United Kingdom: BBC Two.
Woolf, V. (1927) ‘The Art of Fiction’, The Nation and Athenaeum Literary Supplement, 12 November, pp. 247–248.
Citations
- 1Nicole Kidman in The Hours, Daldry (2002); Lydia Leonard and Catherine McCormack in Life in Squares, Kaijser (2015); Elizabeth Debicki in Vita and Virginia, Button (2018).Virginia Woolf reading ‘Craftsmanship’ broadcast in 1937, BBC (2014).
- 2Woolf (1927), pp. 247–248