A Special Look at Little Known Tonality Secrets That Will Help You Learn Hypnosis Hypnosis is a great and valuable performance art. It is important to not only know what you are doing but how to do it. As we look at tonality you should always remember that only 7% of the meaning derived from your words actually comes from the word itself. The other meanings, and vast majority, come from the tonality you use and the body language that accompanies your speaking. It is also important to remember as we move on with this subject that you must always begin with the first two principals of performance being ‘go first’ and squeezing the meanings from your words. Both of these principals when paired with the next two principals of emphasis and rhythm and tone will be monumental in perfecting your performance as a hypnotist. The third performance principal that you will need to know how to perform is the emphasis you put on different words and how that emphasis affects your language. Emphasis is when you lean on a word with your voice. You make that word stand out in your statement. This can be done in writing by underlining or italicizing words. When you do it with your speaking though it has a much more dramatic effect. For example, take the simple statement “Did you drive the car to the store today?”. Here I have written it with a very even tone, there appears to be no emphasis made on any particular word. However, if I said “Did you drive the car to the store today? The meaning of the entire statement goes from a simple question to an inquiry about who drove the car to the store. Let’s look at one more example of the same statement to really drive the point home here. “Did you drive the car to the store today?” here the meaning becomes more of a question or surprise that the car was driven to the store today. If you took each word of the same statement and put emphasis on them one at a time while reading it you will see that the meaning of the statement will change consistently to some degree. In this we learn that your emphasis and how you say things to others will automatically show them what you find to be important information in the sentence. When you emphasize words you begin to open the process called ‘multiple levels of information’. This means simply that you can be saying one thing on one level and have a completely different meaning on another level. This is something that naturally happens when you speak and change your tonality. While the emphasis you put on words often happens naturally it is also important to do this purposefully. When you are performing the art of hypnosis you can use emphasis to drive the meaning of each word you use into your listener. This use of emphasis will show the listener that there is a great deal of importance behind whatever it is you are saying. A good example here is the difference between two different statements whose meanings are generally the same when we look at the words alone. But when we look at the way the words are said the statement becomes much more important. “If you don’t listen to me you could get hurt.” As you practice this principal you will begin to notice the effect it has on others depending on how you lean on the words. You will also likely notice an effect it has on yourself as well, both as you say things and as others make statements to you. The fourth performance principal is about rhythm and tone. When you are putting someone into trance it helps to have a rhythm to your speaking, rhythms as we have learned help to take us away, relax us and let our minds drift. This principal is using tonality and rhythm together to create smoothness to your language, also called a ‘trance rhythm’. Trance rhythm has the same effect as when you listen to music, it creates an altered state of consciousness where the rhythm of the language pulls you into it. Speaking in rhythm is much like emphasis as it changes the way you are perceived by those around you. The ways in which you change the rhythms of your speech will let your subjects know when they should and should not be in trance. There are many examples of this in poetry and music. A very good example of how rhythm can unconsciously pull you in is in the film, Cyrano de Bergerac. In this film the manner of speech was written on poetic couplets. It is not so much poetry that you would hear it and notice rhyming and beat, however the rhythm of the couplets draws your ear to hear the elegance behind the language. It is very subtle yet very powerful. It is important to improve your performance as a hypnotist by practicing rhythm and tone. Play with the language you use and building different rhythms into your speech. You can play with rhythms and tones that signify all sorts of feelings; excitement, sorrow, quiet, fast. Remember that your body must be in tune to the rhythms you are using. When your body and mind have the rhythm your language will be expressed with much more ease and clarity.
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