Monday 7 December 2009

Storytelling-The Teller & the told

Stories , we make up, we read, we listen to, we tell, we write whatever it is the best part is that we all enjoy doing any of the above.
We all have some or the other stories to share with which we have heard from our grandparents/parents in our childhood. There are different ways of storytelling. Some people make use of louder expressions and gestures to make it more appealing and novel. Some mention each and every small detail and while some try to keep it as succinct & brief as possible. Earlier the typical method of storytelling used to be orally with gestures and expressions. But the modern ways of storytelling involve a lot of accessories like pictures, wooden blocks, videos, audios, etc in order to make them more attractive and easily comprehensible. Story telling is an art and a skill which is not everyone’s cup of tea. The storyteller needs to have few qualities to make the story touching, emphatic and remarkable.
Ø Expressive – It’s very important to be expressive for a story teller. Appropriate use of gestures, different & vivid expressions (sadness, happiness, thrill, fearful, anger etc) and body language attain the attention of the listener. It keeps the listener wide awake and at pace as the story moves on.
Ø Contextual/pertinent- Adding spice to the story is good but it should be pertinent. It shouldn’t be fake and artificial. Telling irrelevant things might kill inquisitiveness and generate insipidity amongst listeners.
Ø Elucidation – The teller’s ability to elucidate on significant characters /incidents of the story fosters imagination and association on the part of the listeners. So the story teller should be in a position to explain doubts clearly and solve listener’s queries.
Ø Language & Speech–It doesn’t matter what language you tell the story in as long as your crowd speak & understand the same language. Whatever it is, be it English, Hindi, French, what matters is your ability to maintain a flow with a coherent speech. In order to maintain the flow the storyteller needs to have proper understanding and good knowledge of that language. The listener’s involvement, imagination, attention goes along with your flow and a clear speech. If any of these gets disrupted, that heralds the interruption of listener’s interest and enthusiasm in the story.
Ø Voice modulation- Having well acquainted with a language is not enough, the story teller must have the ability to modulate his/her voice. This does help a lot when the teller has to emphasise on a daunting moment, a hilarious moment, a miserable situation or a very jubilant situation. It enables him/her to communicate effectively with the listeners.
Ø Creative- Creativity is an important part of storytelling. It can be seen in different ways like, keeping the mystery unrevealed till the story ends, use of different props ( videos, audios, pictures, etc,) use of ornamental language, taking volunteers from the group of listeners and make it interactive etc. The more you add creativity the more you can make the story interesting to the listeners.
Ø Truthfulness and sincerity. Most importantly the story teller should tell the story justly and sincerely. Creating fake excitement, unrequited sound effects, excessive use of accessories may spoil the fun on the whole. So important is to be your real self as far as possible.
Impact of storytelling:
Ø Listening ability-Since you need to be alert and concentrated while someone is telling you a story, so it helps to improve your listening skills.
Ø Language development-While listening to a story you get to hear many novel words, sentences, relation between two sentences/words etc. It helps you to improve your language.
Ø Imagination- You not only listen to the story rather you start interpreting and thinking and visualising about different characters and incidents involved in the story. You also start speculating about the end /repercussion of a particular act in the story. Thus it improves your ability to imagine and visualise.
Ø Cognitive development- Since you start finding the meaning and interpretations of different things which are a part of the story, it enhances your cognitive ability.
Ø Behavioural impact- Any story has a great impact on your thoughts and feelings. It has been believed that oral storytelling has a considerable role to play in fostering emotional and social development amongst children.
Ø Awareness- Children are exposed to different characters, places, incidents, emotions, situations while they are told a story. It helps in their overall awareness.
Ø Association- While listening to stories, listener starts associating with a particular character. This gives him a chance to experience the emotions of that character and also ability to cope with an emotional situation.
The storytelling is being used more as educational methodology. In healthcare story telling is used as a tool to develop confidence amongst stressed and depressed people. It can also be used to inform the media about the service changes on various levels. It is also being used in organisational settings to create brand identity and to promote staff and customer loyalty.
Thus storytelling doesn’t happen in pedagogical setup only but its use is vast and diverse.

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