The Musical Art of Keynote Speaking
Last night I went to a concert of the New York Philharmonic. Great program: Schubert, Schoenberg, Ravel, and Rachmaninov.
I admit it: I am a sucker for “Rhapsody on a Theme by Paganini.” Most of this Rachmaninov piece (especially the beginning and end) is a virtuoso expression of passion (thus, “rhapsody”). But about three quarters through, there’s this soft, ethereal, jazzy theme (actually inverted theme) of Paganini, first played by the piano, then repeated in the orchestra, which stops time for a moment. And that moment is the big hit! The music’s passionate, frantic rhapsody gives way to a moment of simple humanity – whose popularity helped revive the career of the young composer.
It got me to think about keynote speeches. Leaving the bores aside, for many speakers, usually the good ones, the definition of rhapsody applies: they engage in “exalted or excessively enthusiastic expression of feeling in speech.” You know the type – berating the business audience like a football coach telling his team they can do more. Or pronouncing the gloomy state of their industry, or the fabulous new opportunities of the future, always in rising, passionate tones.
But what distinguishes the good speaker from the great, is the ability to pause at some point, step back from the rhapsody, and – for a short moment – grab the audience in a very basic, human way.
Just like Rachmaninoff.
(Posted by Schmitt)
I admit it: I am a sucker for “Rhapsody on a Theme by Paganini.” Most of this Rachmaninov piece (especially the beginning and end) is a virtuoso expression of passion (thus, “rhapsody”). But about three quarters through, there’s this soft, ethereal, jazzy theme (actually inverted theme) of Paganini, first played by the piano, then repeated in the orchestra, which stops time for a moment. And that moment is the big hit! The music’s passionate, frantic rhapsody gives way to a moment of simple humanity – whose popularity helped revive the career of the young composer.
It got me to think about keynote speeches. Leaving the bores aside, for many speakers, usually the good ones, the definition of rhapsody applies: they engage in “exalted or excessively enthusiastic expression of feeling in speech.” You know the type – berating the business audience like a football coach telling his team they can do more. Or pronouncing the gloomy state of their industry, or the fabulous new opportunities of the future, always in rising, passionate tones.
But what distinguishes the good speaker from the great, is the ability to pause at some point, step back from the rhapsody, and – for a short moment – grab the audience in a very basic, human way.
Just like Rachmaninoff.
(Posted by Schmitt)
posted by SCHMITT at 1:16 PM
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