Tips
What makes a great leiner or Torah reader? Having top notch Hebrew reading skills is a great start, and being generally musical and having a solid singing voice are nice to haves (but certainly not necessary), but if you want to up your game, ​check out the tips below.
Tempo
Keep things slow. You’re reading faster than you think. While you don’t need to crawl through your portion, slow things down to sound clearer and to help avoid losing your place/making mistakes. Slowing your leining down a bit will only keep you and your guests an extra 5-10 minutes from kiddush.
Volume
Be loud! You don’t need to shout to be heard. You just need to project. Use your core to achieve higher volume.
Pronunciation
Make sure to enunciate, pronouncing all letters within a given word.
Repeating Letters
If a word begins with the same letter as the last one of the previous word, take a slight pause between the two words. This will help distinguish between the two words. Otherwise, it will sound like the words are connected.
Beware of the Prefixes
Make sure you focus on the vowel of a word’s prefix.
Think!
When learning new material, do not guess if you get stuck.
Focus on the Symbols!
When first learning, pay especially close attention to the symbols so you can become more familiar with each note.
Trope/Notes (te'amim)
Serve as punctuation and also indicate where to emphasize the word. Specifically, you emphasize the syllable of the word where the note lands.