06 Learning and Delivery of Masonic Ritual, Total - Rev 1

— Masonic Ritual — Learning & Memorizing Ritual The Delivery of the Ritual

. . . (Masonic ritual) since its content was and is a living, breathing, sentient truth, conveyed in words, actions and symbols which by their very antiquity prove that they are “best” . . . — Pock et E ncyclopedia of M asonic S ym bols, M asonic S ervice A ssociation, 1979

Truth may be taught without ritual, but truth taught by ritual is always taught as the original teachers desired and makes a lasting impression upon the mind of the learner. . . . ritual which becomes sacrosanct in human belief tends to stabilize truth and to keep it uncontaminated by “modern” ideas. — One H undred O ne Q uestions A bout Freem asonry, The Masonic S ervice A ssociation, 1981

“Ritual is the dramatization of belief, hope and spiritual dream. It assists imagination by giving form to what otherwise would remain formless, presenting vivid mental images which lend a reality-feeling to what is often abstract and unreal. It is picture philosophy, truth visualized, at once expressing and confirming the faiths and visions of the mind.” — Dr. Joseph Fort N ewton

March 25, 2008 Revision 1

Masonic Ritual

P r efa c e

You perhaps never give the ritual in your lodge a second thought. It is always there, always has been there and you know it always will be there. But visit another lodge and you will appreciate the wonderful advantage of good ritual. Good ritual is a part of the Masonic way of living. It goes into the Mason with no fanfare, no sounding trumpets and quietly awaits the call to use. It is eagerly given by the candidate before the Lodge. The avid Mason studies it going down the road to work. The average Mason makes a more leisurely attitude with his ritual. He knows it will all be there when someone gets around to asking him to use it.

Good ritual and expression are very important because no one will listen long to ritual that is poorly learned, poorly enunciated or mispronounced or when it is distracted because of ear catching disturbances from the sidelines, from the sideliners or a 1 or 2 or 3 coaches, appointed or otherwise. Disturbances lose more candidates and sideliners than all the square corners, good ritual and proper delivery combined.

What is the difference between a good going lodge and a poorly going lodge? I’ll wager that you will find that good ritual is one of the ingredients and it is good not only with the elected officers but throughout the whole lodge.

Good ritual means many things to the Mason. Particularly important is that good ritual is conclusive evidence of the value the Lodge officers place on their work. When a Mason attends his lodge, it is evidence in a tangible form, of a desire to see and hear good ritual.

Good attendance is evidence of good officer quality, and evidence of the Mason’s true evaluation of the ritual and work of the lodge.

Too many accents, wrong accents, pauses can distract the ear to where it is impossible to hear the word. Good ritual should never be a puzzle. When the listener has to figure out what the ritualist is trying to say, he usually moves on without comment or an impression.

Good ritual is not the exclusive property of big lodges. Thousands upon thousands of small lodge make good Masons using good ritual. The name of the lodge or the officer of Grand Lodge does not determine the selling ability of good ritual. The smallest lodge has an equal chance with the largest, because Masons choose what they hear. Nothing in Masonry is forced upon their attention. Make lodge attendance interesting, make it complete with good ritual and the Masons become sideliners. Remember the member comes to lodge because he wants information he cannot get anywhere else and so it must be better than he can get elsewhere. He is eager to know what it is and can be inspired by good ritual. In any community there are exactly the same number of homes for the small lodge to enter as for the large lodges. The big lodges cannot “blackout” the smaller lodge with size, or value.

Salesmanship by good ritual and consistency of good ritual are the secrets the small lodge can use just as well as the big lodge.

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Learning & Memorizing Ritual By: W B Mark Waks From: Masonry Universal, Issue 26

Ritualist’s Corner One of the problems that most often plagues Masonry is poor ritual. By this, I don’t just mean getting the words wrong – I mean ritual that is drab and uninspiring, which fails to actually teach a candidate.

Ritual is often mediocre, and it doesn’t have to be; anyone can do ritual well, provided he knows a little about acting.

It isn’t hard, actually; it’s mostly a matter of knowing how to do it, plus a lot of practice. This article is intended to impart some guidelines on how to do Good Ritual. It doesn’t demand a lot of time, or any particular talent, just a little drive to do well. Read it and play with it. With some practice, you should be able to use these techniques to good effect in your Lodge. The course is specifically aimed at dealing with the longer speeches, but much of it is also relevant to shorter pieces; I commend it to junior officers.

This is adapted from a lecture that I worked up for my own lodge; having done that, I figured I should try to spread these tips around for the common weal of the Craft. (Caveat: I do assume that you have some kind of cypher book, with encoded ritual. If your jurisdiction doesn’t use this, you’ll have to adapt these lessons.)

1: Figure out the Words The first step of learning any ritual is to know what you’re saying! This should be obvious, but is often overlooked, because brethren are afraid to admit that they don’t already know the right words. Don’t be afraid to admit your own limits – I’ve never met anyone who gets every single word right every time.

Start out by listening to someone say the speech, preferably several times. (You should be doing this the entire previous year, listening to your predecessor.) Listen carefully, and make sure you understand what’s being said; ask questions if you don’t. (After Lodge, of course) Next, go through your cypher or code book carefully, and see how much you can read. Mark words that you can’t figure out, or that you’re unsure of – this is the point to catch any mistakes you may be making.

Then call or get together with a Ritualist or a reliable Past Master, and talk through it, reading out of the book slowly. Have him correct any mistakes, and fill in the words you don’t know. Take notes (preferably somewhere other than in the book), because you will forget the corrections as soon as you’re on your own.

2: Understand the Speech This step gets overlooked even more often than the previous one. Read through the ritual a couple of times, and make sure you really grasp it. Don’t just know the words – know what it’s talking about. Find out who the characters being talked about are. Again, ask questions.

Now, start trying to understand the speech structurally. Any ritual is made up of components, separate pieces that are linked together. For example, a section may be talking about symbols, with three paragraphs per symbol: concrete meaning, abstract meaning, and purpose. Figure out what these pieces are – you’ll use them later.

The next step is especially useful for long speeches – visualize the speech. Any speech can be thought of in terms of movements, places, rooms, stuff like that. Words are hard to remember in order; places are easy. The canonical example is the Middle Chamber Lecture, which walks through King Solomon’s Temple. That’s no accident – that path is easily visualized, and makes a good example of how to learn ritual, which is probably why it is the first major speech an officer learns. This is why we use symbols in the first place: because they are easy to learn and internalize. Use them.

3a: Small-Scale Memorization This is never anyone’s favorite part; anyone can do it, but no one finds it simple. It’s considerably easier if you do it right, though.

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Start out by reading the speech over and over. Don’t move onto the next step until you can read it from the cypher quickly, without breaks or hesitation. Read it out loud, when you get the chance. This step is particularly important, and skipped more often than any other. Don’t skip it – this is how you get your brain and mouth trained to the words. It may sound silly, but it really matters – the mental pathways used to talk are distinct from those used to read.

Now, start trying to learn sentences. Just sentences. Read the first word or two of the sentence, then try to fill in the remainder from memory. Don’t fret if you can’t do it immediately; it will probably take at least 5 or 10 times through before you’re getting most of the sentences. You’ll find some that are hard – hammer those ones over and over (but don’t totally neglect the rest while you do so). Again, get to the point where you’re doing reasonably well on this, before going on to the next step.

3b: Large-Scale Memorization Once you’ve got most of the sentences, try to move onto paragraphs. Again, some will be easy and some hard. Try to understand exactly why this sentence follows that one – in most cases, the ritual does make sense. An individual paragraph is almost always trying to express a single coherent thought, in pieces; figure out what that thought is, and why all the pieces are necessary. Keep at this until you’re able to get most paragraphs by glancing at the first word or two, or by thinking, “Okay, this is the description of truth,” or something like that.

Finally, start putting it all together. This is where the structural analysis in Step 2 gets important. You visualized the speech, and figured out how it hooks together; use that visualization to connect the paragraphs. Make sure you have some clue why each paragraph follows the one before. In almost every case, the next paragraph is either: (a) continuing this thought, or (b) moving onto a related thought.

In both cases, you can make memorization much easier by understanding why it flows like that.

Convince yourself that this paragraph obviously has to follow that one, and you’ll never forget the order.

4: Smoothing It Out You’re now at the point where you’ve got pretty much all the sentences down, and most of the paragraphs, and you’re able to get through the whole thing only looking at the book a few times. Now, start saying it.

When you’re driving in the car; when you’re alone at home; pretty much any time you have some privacy, try saying it all out loud, at full voice. Trust me, it sounds very different when you actually say it aloud. You’ll find that you stumble more, and in different places. Some words turn out to be more difficult to pronounce than you expected. Try it a few times.

Start out by trying to do this frequently – once, even twice every day. It’ll be hard at first (and it’s a real pain to pull out the cypher book while you’re driving), but it’ll gradually get easier. When you’re starting to feel comfortable, slow down, but don’t stop. Practice it every couple of days, then every week.

Don’t slow down below once a week. If you feel up to it, see if you can speed up your recitation. (But do not ever speed-talk the ritual in open Lodge – that’s for memorization and rehearsal only.)

5a: Mindset Last part. You’re now at the point where you pretty much have the ritual memorized. Now, the trick is learning how to perform it well. Very nearly everyone has some amount of stage fright; us acting types often have it even worse than most. The trick to overcoming it is control of the nerves.

Now that you’re comfortable reciting the ritual, observe how you do it. By now, you’re not thinking about it so much; your mouth is doing almost all the work, with the conscious mind simply making a few connections between paragraphs. That is the right state to be in. Think about how that feels, and learn it.

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Before you go in to “perform,” do some basic acting exercises. Take a few deep breaths; concentrate on not thinking. I think the ideal is a little light meditation, but it takes a fair bit of practice to be able to drop into that state on demand; for now, just worry about being calm. Being calm is far more important than anything else. If you’re calm, you’re unlikely to screw up too badly; if you’re tense, you’re far more likely to. Some people like to exercise the body a bit, to relax the mind; you should do what works for you.

5b: Acting Now the final nuance, which separates merely competent ritual from the really good stuff. Now that you’re able to let your mouth do all the talking, start listening to yourself. Think about the ritual again, but don’t think about the words, think about what it means. What are the important bits? Emphasize those.

How could you use your body or hands to illustrate a point? Try talking to the person in front of you, not just at them – look them in the eye and make them get the point. You are teaching important lessons here; try to capture a little of the emotional intensity of that importance.

Think of your “performance” as a melding of two parts. Your mouth is providing the words, your mind and heart the emotion. Again, nothing beats practice. This is what rehearsal should really be for – taking a dummy candidate in hand, and learning how to really get the point across. Don’t fret if you find that you need to change “modes” now and then – here and there you will need to think about the words briefly, when you change paragraphs or hit a hard sentence. That won’t throw you, though, so long as you keep track of what you’re saying; you’ve already figured out why each part leads into the next, and that will guide you when you stumble.

Conclusion Don’t expect to get all this down instantly; it takes most people a few years to really get good at it. Just try to advance yourself bit by bit. Learn the transitions and pieces first – if you have that, you can get through the ritual. Next time, work on memorizing more thoroughly. The time after that, work on getting it really smooth. After a while, you can build up to the point where you have the luxury to act. And at that point, you will find that you start doing the kind of ritual that Masonry is meant to have – both moving and interesting, enough so that the candidate (who is, remember, the whole point) actually learns what you’re saying, and what it actually means. And if you really do it well, you’ll find that you come to understand the meaning of the ritual a good deal better yourself.

[Ed: An extra hint; smile when you speak of happiness, feel happy and your voice will adjust itself to suit – the same applies to other emotions – if you get the expression right the rest follows.]

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The Delivery of the Ritual By: W.Bro. Peter Verrall I.P.M. From W estern Australia Lodge of R esearch, February 1995 Transactions – with perm ission

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We are told in the Second Degree Charge after Passing that “The study of the liberal arts, which tends so effectively to polish and adorn the mind, is earnestly recommended to your consideration” The Liberal Arts comprise Grammar, Logic and Rhetoric and, on this occasion, I would like to talk specifically about “Rhetoric” which is described by Mackay in his “Encyclopedia of Masonry” as “the art of embellishing language with the ornaments of construction so as to enable the speaker to persuade or affect his hearers.”

“Affect Our Hearers” This is what we should try to do, Brethren, when we deliver the Ritual.

“Affect” Those Who Listen The men who gave Speculative Freemasonry its present formal dress were very wise. They gave us orderly ceremonies with a discipline that meets the needs of the brethren. It is an effective way of impressing upon us the Tenets of Freemasonry, but the teachings are not straightforward, like school lessons, for we are told that Freemasonry is “a peculiar system of moralily, veiled in allegory and illustrated by symbols” Allegories are parables and, as Speculative Freemasons, we are expected to “speculate” on these parables, not according to today’s meaning of “forming opinions about something without having definite knowledge or evidence,” but more “to contemplate, to consider,” the meanings and essentials of Freemasonry.

The delivery of the Ritual is, in – my opinion, one of the most, if not the most important part of the ceremony for it is the catalyst of our knowledge of Freemasonry, yet we receive little or no tuition in it except perhaps for injunctions to adhere to the words themselves.

Our Ritual is a fine work of art, worthy of the Craft. It was not written overnight but is based on development over a period of more than 600 years. It is written for speaking and not reading. For many years it was passed from brother to brother by word of mouth. It is the responsibility of those who speak it to understand and to endeavor to interpret it. So often it is delivered without any understanding or meaning and all the hours that the Brother has taken in learning it are wasted.

A Brother wrote “one of the proofs of the stature of the ritual is that it can still live even after a brother has done his best to murder it.”

There is a great similarity between our Craft and the Theater.

“Speculative” Freemasonry ceremonies are based on the early stonemasons “Operative” Lodges.

Likewise in the Theater the “stage presentation” is generally based on “real life” situations and draws attention to one particular aspect of it – very often “moral.” Freemasonry uses the artisan mason’s work as a parable and derives a lesson in the fundamentals of life.

Our ceremonies are equivalent to stage productions. Both have rehearsals, a most essential ingredient; a script which in our case is the ritual; a producer, our Director of Ceremonies; stage hands, our Deacons; props the objects required on stage, our Symbols and Ornaments, actors, our participating masons and an audience, our Brethren.

In any production, whether it be on stage or in the Lodge Room, the essential ingredient is to get the message over to those present.

In our ceremonies, first and foremost, it is the candidate who is the most important member of the audience. He should be hanging on every word spoken and must be made to feel at all times secure in the warmth and individual concern of the speaker.

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The speaker must anticipate the candidate’s nervousness and help to allay it. So often a brother is more concerned with memorizing and getting through his charge as soon as possible that he forgets the effect he is having on both the candidate and the brethren.

To the brethren present, the charges should be a continuing and lively reminder of the ritual and they should be given the impression of never having heard it before or at least given a meaning they had not previously realized.

How often, Brethren, have we sat up and listened when a charge has been delivered in a different way with feeling and obvious understanding. The same words, yes, but having a new meaning.

We are not all budding Richard Burtons or Laurence Oliviers but we have a duty as masons to perform to our best ability.

There are two great dangers in delivering ritual. Firstly a tendency to regard the ritual as an irksome routine, to be rattled through parrot fashion with only one thought – to get it over. Or secondly, to regard it as an opportunity for a full reign of histrionics. The first makes a farce of our ritual and the second a melodrama.

Sincerity is the answer. A sincere performance is always more effective. Remember that. Each of us has some point of strength, whether it is a deep or impressive voice, a quiet persuasive manner, a modesty or a transparent honesty. Search for your own strength and build on it. Try and project your own unique personality.

Like a good Scout “be prepared.”

Preparation is of prime importance. Firstly read through your charge or duty many times and make sure that you understand it. If you do not understand a word, look it up in the dictionary or ask an experienced mason. Learn the charge carefully and exactly, referring constantly back to the book. If you learn it incorrectly, you will find it almost impossible after a time to correct yourself. Learn it by sound rather than sight.

If possible get another Brother to hear you and mark your mistakes lightly in pencil in your copy so that you are always aware of them. Some find learning easier than others but set your mind to it. It’s a good personal discipline.

There are different ways of memorizing. A tape recorder can be invaluable where the ritual involves other Officers such as between the Master and Wardens. Put the opposing words on the recorder, naturally leaving out any secretive ones; a “beetroot, beetroot” can suffice. Hold the pause button, speak your part, then hear the reply before speaking again. This will allow you to learn the responses by sound rather than sight.

If the Charge is long, learn it in sections. R.W. Bro Lionel Mears calls it the Part/Whole method.

Divide it into parts; learn part 1 to perfection, then part 2 the same way before combining them as a whole. Follow with parts 3 and 4 in the same manner before joining them with parts 1 and 2. Treat the whole charge in this form finally combining all parts together in the finished product.

Try and get peace and quiet for your learning. The car can be a marvelous place for rehearsing because one can speak out aloud although passing drivers may think you strange. Give yourself plenty of time; you cannot learn a charge the night before giving it. Analyze the charge; find the climax and the important message it is conveying.

Charges tend to fall into different categories. a) Instructional which includes the Secrets, the Warrant and Bylaws Charge and the Charge after Passing. b) Educational such as The Lesser Lights, Working Tools and the 1st Tracing Board. c) Narrative like the Traditional History and the 2nd Tracing Board and finally d) Inspirational charges such as the NE Comer, Reasons for Preparation and the Charges after Initiation and Raising.

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Attend every rehearsal you can and, if possible, go down to the Lodge Room on your own or with a brother and run through the charge in the actual position that you will be delivering it. Having learnt your charge, you are now ready to deliver it.

The main title of my address is “the Delivery of the Ritual” but I would like to subtitle it with the old maxim “Stand up, Speak up and Shut up.”

The first necessity is of course to STAND UP – Seat yourself, if possible, close to your delivery position to avoid having to move unnecessarily across the Lodge Room thus breaking the continuity of the ceremony. Immediately prior to your time to deliver, take a few deep breaths and try to relax.

1) Visual Projection or how you should appear.

Stand relaxed and comfortable. Do not slouch or stand stiff as a ramrod.

Keep your feet a few inches apart with one foot fractionally ahead of the other. Be well balanced with your body slightly forward so that if you were shot you would fall forward rather than back. Do not rock or roll.

There is always a tendency to be very conscious of one’s hands. The easiest way is to let them hang loosely and relaxed at your side. Do not clench your fists for this expresses tension which can be transmitted to the candidate.

Please do not place them in front of your apron or in your pockets as I have seen on several occasions. If you have them behind you, do not twiddle your thumbs. It is most disconcerting for those sitting behind you.

Do not fiddle with objects, keys or money, the latter especially when the candidate has been divested of all valuables.

Look the candidate straight in the eye, not at his feet or over his shoulder and finally, if you are required to change your position during the charge, please do not speak when moving.

2) Gestures must appear to be spontaneous and must not look planned even though very careful planning is essential and a lot of practice is required. They must relate to the words spoken at the time.

If you are going to gesture, it must be for a reason either towards or with something.

Do not talk with your hands. Gestures should only add emphasis to your words and should not detract from the charge itself. All gestures should be full and always finish where they started. If you are going to gesture with objects like the Working Tools do not fiddle with them as this can be very distracting.

Finally please try and leave all your bad mannerisms behind on your seat.

3) Facial Expression This is important as it visually conveys your feelings directly to the candidate.

There is always a tendency to be too restrained, too rigid or too controlled.

Feel free to show expression in your face and at suitable times a faint smile can really give assurance.

The second maxim is to SPEAK UP – the most important of all three, because if you cannot be heard all your efforts are in vain.

There are 7 headings under this Section, Vocal Projection, Verbal Projection, Thought Control, Pauses, Vocal Force, Voice Color and Timing.

It all sounds rather overwhelming, but I can assure that you will find in all cases you already actually practice them without necessarily being aware that you do.

1) Vocal Projection means audibility, the ability to be heard. Every Brother in the room has the right to hear you but not to be bellowed at.

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Try and speak out rather than up. Greater volume is not necessarily easier to hear.

Good resonance is important with the voice cast upwards and outwards rather than being mumbled into the figurative, or as in many cases these days the actual, beard.

There is no excuse for inaudibility and yet it is probably one of the major faults in delivering ritual.

It breeds boredom and frustration in the Lodge Room and, I am sure, accounts for a lot of the absences from our meetings.

2) Verbal Projection is not the same as vocal projection but is the art of speaking clearly. A charge should flow with the minimum of apparent effort as a succession of words with meaning.

If you have an accent; do not worry. It may be necessary to speak slower at the start of your charge to allow the Brethren to become attuned to your voice.

Try and follow the rhythmic pattern of the ritual. In some cases there are a series of short lines as in the reading of Ecclesiastes “also when they shall be afraid of that which is high, and fear shall be in the way, and the almond tree shall flourish and the grasshopper shall be a burden and desire shall fail.”

Our ritual also has groups of two or three words with the same meaning also providing a pattern. This is especially noticeable in the Obligations worthy. worshipful and warranted Lodge of Ancient, Free and Accepted Masons, lawfully constituted and regularly assembled of my own free will and accord, do hereby and hereon sincerely and solemnly promise and swear that I will always hele. conceal and never reveal – any part or. parts, point or points of the secrets and mysteries. Of or belonging to Ancient Free and Accepted masons in Masonry.

Pronounce every word but do not over enunciate. If you have difficulty pronouncing a word, break it down into syllables but make sure that you put the emphasis on the right parts.

3) Thought Control No; not “brainwashing,” but “interpretation.”

Speak by phrases and meaning and do not necessarily be controlled by sentences or punctuation although these are good guide lines. Think of what you are saying and what your feelings should be at the moment of utterance.

Take this example when the candidate is announced at the door by the Tyler.

Whom have you there? With warmth & concern Mr. A.B., a poor candidate in a state of darkness with sympathy who has been well and worthily recommended with enthusiasm regularly proposed and approved in open Lodge with approval and now comes of his own free will and accord with enthusiasm properly prepared seriously humbly soliciting to be admitted with sympathy to the mysteries and privileges of Ancient Freemasonry with pride 4) Pauses These are most important and are a chance to lend emphasis where required. Your first pause should be when you commence to speak. Later you may like to place emphasis on certain important words such as in the Charge in the NE Comer.

Indeed I shall immediately proceed to put your principles in some measure to the test by calling upon you to exercise that virtue which may justly be denominated the distinguishing character of a freemasons heart . . . I mean . . . Charity.

When answers are required, make sure that you pause sufficiently to allow the Brother to respond.

Pause clearly without ‘ums’ or ‘ahs’ and do not pause before unimportant words.

There are two different types of pauses. One is when you have to take a natural breath and the other is a dramatic or suspensory pause where you do not necessarily take a breath.

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Pauses can be of great help. They i) ii) iii) iv)

give the candidate a chance to absorb what he has been told. give you a chance to concentrate on your next few words. lend emphasis and meaning and give you time to catch your breath.

You should take a breath regularly and few speakers actually take enough.

Keep your lungs full as it – i) helps with your confidence, ii) improves the quality and resonance of your voice and iii) allows you to hold your chest up and improve your appearance.

Remember that pauses are not necessarily forgetful stops.

5) Vocal Force or volume; the art of using loudness to obtain effect of giving stress or emphasis to individual words or phrases. In reverse softness can indicate restraint or quietness.

Vary the volume of your voice. You may need to start off with a higher volume, not shouting, to combat background noises such as fans and, dare I mention it, brethren’s chatter and movement.

Drop your jaw and tongue, open your lips and let the sound pour out.

6) Voice Color or voice modulation; a variation in resonance; an inflection.

It is this which gives music to our speech. It is used naturally and unconsciously in our normal everyday conversation but for some reason is lacking in many ritual deliveries where monotone seems to become the normal routine.

Raise your voice inflection for things that are high, cheerful and bright. Let it fall for lowness, sadness and drabness.

Always keep the candidate in a state of anticipation by varying the rhythm of your voice.

7) Timing Generally follow your normal rate of speech.

Speak quickly enough to be interesting and slowly enough to be understood.

Change the pace according to the subject; slower for thoughtfulness, deliberation and sadness and faster for joy, excitement and vigor.

Finally our third maxim to SHUT UP. – We always remember those awful moments when we had to shut up whilst delivering the ritual because of a mind block or because we stumbled over words. It happens to the best of ritualists and even the best actors in the world are not free of it.

Be assured that all the brethren present want to see you doing well. They should at all times assist you, but should do so mentally and certainly not audibly. One brother only should prompt and preferably directly from the Ritual Book unless the prompter is well versed.

The person prompting should be present at all rehearsals so that he is fully aware how the charge is being presented by that Brother; where prompting may be needed, what length of prompt is required and where stops may occur for deliberate pauses. Nothing is more frustrating than when you wish to provide a dramatic pause, you find that it is ruined by an inexperienced prompter coming in at the wrong moment.

Prompt only if necessary, as in many cases a slight pause can be sufficient for the speaker to remember the words or in some cases where brethren are able to “ad lib” before getting back on track. Sense of meaning and a dramatic flow are more important than complete word accuracy.

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Prompt with the minimum of words but with correct ones that have meaning.

If you require a prompt, stand and wait for it without turning. If your prompter is on the ball it will hardly be noticed that you have taken a prompt and can appear very easily as though it was a pause. On no account say “thank you.” It is the nominated Brother’s duty to help you.

The next and most important time of shutting up is when the brethren themselves should be quiet. This should occur at all times when other brethren are speaking especially during the actual ceremony itself.

W.M. and Brethren; to sum up, please remember to practice by sound and not sight. Good speaking looks so easy and natural to some people but be assured, it is not achieved by accident.

It can only be made perfect by much practice, effort and expenditure of nervous energy. Strange as it may sound one gives a better performance if nervous and most outstanding actors experience first night nerves.

I would like to add that the Worshipful Master plays a very important part in our ceremonies. He is really the leading actor and can establish or destroy the mood of the evening.

He must try and appear relaxed whilst at the same time maintaining a feeling of discipline. During any recesses he should ensure, with the aid of his Director of Ceremonies, that they are kept to a minimum of time and that no unnecessary movement or excessive conversation breaks that mood of the evening.

I hope, Brethren, that this Address will be of some help to you.

Always accept the opportunity to give charges or to take part in the ceremonies. It is one of the great privileges that we have as masons. Enjoy delivering our lovely ritual or at least please sound as though you are enjoying it.

Bibliography The Technique of the Ritualist by F.W. Page Jaycee Notes on effective Speaking Speaking the Ritual of the Third Degree by J.N. Thomson Play Production by Henning Nelms

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