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Objectives Of The “Writing A Speech With Purpose” Project
The purpose of this Pathway Level 1 Project 2 is to learn or review basic methods for writing a speech with a defined purpose and to present a well-organised speech on any topic.
In this project, resources from the Toastmasters International, take a step beyond the previous Ice Breaker project in teaching toastmasters who are taking this project on how to write a script for public speaking.
Toastmasters undertaking this project are asked to think through and define the purpose of their speech, namely, a general purpose and a specific purpose. They are also instructed on how to organise the main points of their speech in a variety of styles.
Writing A Speech With Purpose – Daniel Sun’s Pathway Project
Speaker: Daniel Sun, CC
Pathway: Engaging Humour
Level 1, Project 2, Writing A Speech With Purpose
Title: Make It Yours!
Date: 20 April 2023
In this project, my general purpose was to entertain my audience (as well as to enjoy myself while delivering it) since I am taking the Engaging Humour Pathway. It is also a direction that I am taking in developing my style of delivering speeches.
My specific purpose was to explain and demonstrate to my audience how any song can be modified totally into another song with a different mood and a different style, and yet still retain a degree of the original traits of the song.
Inspiration Behind Preparing This Speech
After my first pathway project on Ice Breaker, I was planning on a topic, “Magicians or Conmen”.
However, during these last two weeks, the statement “make it completely yours” kept ringing in my mind.
I could identify this statement was from my childhood’s favourite movie, “Phantom of the Paradise” directed by Brian De Palma, and the exact scene and circumstance that the statement was uttered.
Phoenix sings “Old Souls” in the film, “Phantom of the Paradise”
In that movie, Swan (the record company boss) told Beef (the rock singer) to transform a song written for a girl into a song that suits his persona.
In recent years, I have also learned that two contemporary songs were originally classical pieces.
One was Bach’s “Minuet in G major” and another was Beethoven’s “Fur Elise”.
I decided that I could use these two classical pieces as an illustration of how any piece of music could be modified and transformed into totally something else, while I use the statement from the movie, “Phantom of the Paradise” as an opening to my speech. Moreover, “Make it completely yours!” is a powerful statement. Personally, I also like to begin and end my speech or writing with the same statement, a technique I learned from my favourite writer, Alan Moore.
Resources from Toastmasters International gave a few way to organise the script such as in a chronological manner, a particular/general/particular style, and quite a few others. Nevertheless, these instructions are not exhaustive and they are meant to help beginners who seldom write scripts nor speak publicly.
Instead, I have decided to organise my main points of my scripts into giving two examples (illustrations) first and from those two illustrations, moved on to generalised them into a principle. It is one of many techniques I employed in teaching during my teaching career.
specific → general
concrete → abstract
illustration → principle
It is easier for the audience to see how a principle is applied in a concrete manner first and from thence, generalise the specific they have understood into a principle.
Appended below is the script to my Level 1, Project 2, prepared speech entitled, “Make It Yours!”
Speech Introduction
Make it yours! Make it completely yours!
Club Presidents, Distinguished Toastmasters, fellow toastmasters, ladies and gentlemen.
“Make it completely yours!” was a statement made in one of Brian De Palma’s film, “Phantom of the Paradise”.
It was one of my childhood’s favourite movies, still a favourite of mine. Has anyone here heard of that movie? Oh, come on! It was only less than 20 years ago. (This is a joke. The movie was released in 1974.)
In that film, Winslow Leach, who became the phantom, wrote a cantata for Phoenix, a girl he liked.
Beef sings his own version of “Old Soul” in the film, “Phantom of the Paradise”
However, Swan, the record company boss, stole those songs and gave them to a proto glam rock singer, Beef. “You better get yourself a castrato to sing this,” said Beef, “this score is written for a chick.” To this, Swan, the boss replied, “You can sing it better than any chick. Make it completely yours.”
Concerning How Most Of Us Sing
Ladies and gentlemen, is it possible to make a song sung by the original artiste into totally something else? By that, I do not mean just you or I sing the same song in a karaoke, nor another artiste singing a cover version of that song. The song may retain some of its original characteristics, but on the whole, it has become quite something else.
We seldom think it possible because we tend to sing a song just the way we have been hearing it. Even as we sing it, subconsciously we keep hearing the song sung in its original manner in our head.
So, is it possible to make it completely yours? The answer is: Yes!
Let me give you two examples.
Bach’s Minuet In G Major
Bach’s Minuet in G major
Bach’s Minuet in G Major. It is originally in triple time, that is, 3 beats in a bar. (Sing a few bar of Minuet in G major.)
Does anyone find the tune familiar?
In August 1965, in celebration of Singapore’s independence, the Afro-American trio, Toys, released the song, “A Lover’s Concerto”.
It was Bach’s Minuet in G major, changed to a contemporary up-beat tempo in quadruple time, that is, 4 beats in a bar.
How gentle is the rain
That falls softly on the meadows
Birds high up in the tress
Serenade the flowers with their melodies
Oh-oh, see, there beyond the hill
The bright colours of the rainbow
Some magic from above
Made this day for us, just to fall in love
Now, I belong to you
From this day until forever
Just love me tenderly
And I’ll give to you every part of me
“A Lover’s Concerto” by Toys
Has anyone heard that before?
Alright! I was only joking about celebrating Singapore’s independence. Nevertheless, it was coincidental that “A Lover’s Concerto” was released in August 1965.
Beethoven’s Fur Elise
Let me give you another example where you can hardly identify the original piece of music if I do not tell you.
Beethoven’s “Fur Elise” performed by Lang Lang
I believe anyone who is alive would have listened to Beethoven’s “Fur Elise” or in English, “For Elise”. (Sing a few bars of Fur Elise.)
Do you know that this piece of music has been modernised too. It was sung by late Roman Tam, 罗文, and the title of the song is 心里有个迷, released in 1985.
For the sake of those who were born after the year 1985, let me give a short demonstration. I will try to do my best.
心里心里有个谜，难解难计，
心里心里呢个谜，藏在心底。
呢个呢个心里谜，完全系围住你，
呢个呢个心里谜长令我入迷。
热爱之花在我心中，
开出灿烂，发出美丽。
为你相思，为你着迷，
我深心里爱得美丽。
心里有个谜 – 罗文 (Late Roman Tam)
Now, how many of you here have heard that before?
In Roman Tam’s rendition of “Fur Elise”, it was fast paced and the rhythm more syncopated, whereas the original “Fur Elise” was only moderate in its tempo,
Internalisation And Externalisation
So how do you make something yours, completely yours?
To make it yours, like everything else, you will have to first internalise it, then externalise it, just like the way you eat food.
When you eat something, you chew on it, appreciate its flavour, ingest it, absorb, and assimilate all its nutrients, making them into a part of yourself. That is internalisation.
The externalisation, pardon me, is not what some of you are probably thinking. No, that is called egesting. You egest the leftover waste materials, not the essence of what you ate. The sad thing is most people egest more than they can internalise and externalise.
So, how do we internalise and externalise a song?
After listening to a song, most fundamentally, we remember its tune, its rhythm. We appreciate its beauty, let its mood touch our souls, our emotions. And we continue to hear it replayed in our head again and again, subconsciously. That is the process of internalisation.
The most fundamental structure of a song is its melody, then followed by its rhythm. If you insist, you can include the lyrics.
However, the component of a song that is most often changed is the lyrics, particularly when it is sung in a different language.
So, when you have totally internalised a song, the first thing is you put your own emotions into the song when you sing it.
If you are creative enough, you can modify the melody and the rhythm to suit yourselves, and turn it into something else, something that is completely yours. That is what some artistes do.
Conclusion
All in all, to make something completely yours, you first internalise it, then you externalise it. When you eat pork, you do not become a pig. When you eat beef, you do not become a cow. When you eat mutton, you do not become a goat. And when you eat chicken … , what do you become? I am not sure about that. May be some people do become one. So, make it yours! Make it completely yours!
Back to you Toastmaster!
After Thought
林子祥 (George Lam) performing 十分十二寸 to a live audience
During the preparation of this project, I wanted very much to include 林子祥 George Lam’s (also known passionate in Hong Kong as Ah Lam) famous 10-minute medley, 十分十二寸 (10-minute 12-inch single), into the content of my speech.
Personally, I did not fancy George Lam initially. I found that his singing was bordering on screaming and he sounded to me like his voice was breaking and was in danger of going out of tune.
However, after listening to his medley, 十分十二寸, I had a total change in my impression of him and his singing style. I began to appreciate his singing style and his songs.
In that medley, George Lam, combined Hong Kong’s most popular Cantonese songs into a non-stop 10-minute fast-paced medley.
He totally and completely transformed all those songs into a style of his own.
In my opinion, he made many of those songs sound better than when they were sung by the original artistes.
George Lam’s (林子祥) 十分十二寸 music video
It was the epitome of making it yours, completely yours!
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