Class _J^ji4lA^ Book„ \^ Gopyri§htN^_ COPYRIGHT DEPOSIT, (^oice Staining for ^peaftera Objective and Subjective Voice By Charles Christian Morhart American Lutheran Publication Board Pittsburgh, Pa. 1909 Tt*,^;. V CoPYRieHT, 1909 BY American Luthhran Publication Board Pittsburgh, Pa. PRESS OF PITTSBURGH printing COMPANY PITTSBURGH, PA. Si003 id »v i Contents. PART ONE : OBJECTIVE VOICE. CHAPTER ONE. Preparatory Advice. Value of Training 11 Conscious Effort 11 Habitual Training 12 Memory 12 CHAPTER TWO. Proper Position of the Vocal Organs. The Diaphragm 16 Developing the Diaphragm 17 Invigorating the Chest 18 The Throat 18 Head Movements 19 The Lamyx 20 The Soft Palate 20 Combined Open Throat 21 Italian Ah 22 CHAPTER THREE. Removal of Defects. Aspiration Defect 24 Bell Tones - 25 Aspirate Consonants 26 Throatiness Defect 27 Orality Defect 28 Head Resonance 29 Voluminous Resonance 29 Nostrility Defect 30 Air Friction Defect 30 Dangerous Pitch Defect 31 4 CONTENTS— Continued. CHAPTER FOUR. Voice Building. Deep Breathing S4 Breath Control 37 Articulate Speech 39 Triple Consonants 40 Triple Vowels 41 Difficult Words 41 Hammering Syllables 43 Difficult Sentences 44 Throat Exercise 45 Elements of Voice 48 CHAPTER FIVE. Dark and Bright Voice. Dark Voice 50 Dark Form 50 Dark Form Exercises 51 Extremely Dark Form 52 Dark Intermittent Stress 52 Seriousness 53 Absolute Profundity 54 Bright Voice 54 Bright Form 54 Extremely Bright Form 55 Bright Pitch 56 Bright Time 56 Bright Stress 57 Bright Throat 58 Bright Resonance 59 Clearing the Voice 60 CHAPTER SIX. Strengthening the Voice. Vocal Power 64 Glottis Blow 67 Modulation in Force 68 Vital Carriage 69 Food and Exercise 70 CHAPTER SEVEN. FlexibiHty of Voice in Pitch. Progressive Pitches 72 Slides 75 CONTENTS— Continued. 5 Glides 76 Rising Glide in the High Register 77 Falling Glide in the High Register 77 Rising Glide in the Low Register 78 Fallng Glide in the Low Register 78 Modulation in Pitch 79 Preparatory Pitch 79 Progression in Pitch 80 CHAPTER EIGHT. Beautifying the Voice. The Pure Timbre 82 Beautiful Vowels 82 Beautiful Consonants 84 Beautiful Stress 84 Enriching the Voice 86 Sweetness of Voice 87 Beautiful Voice 87 CHAPTER NINE. Power. Calmness of Voice 91 Dignity and Moral Grandeur in Voice 91 Grandeur in Timbre 92 Grandeur in Stress 94 Safeguards 94 Breath Backing 95 CHAPTER TEN. Supplementary Helps. Face and Eyes 97 Magnetic Eyes 98 Eye Control 99 Polish and Politeness 100 Dignity 101 Tone Color 102 Mental Tone Color 103 Miniature Exercise 105 CONTENTS— Continued. PART TWO : SUBJECTIVE VOICE. CHAPTER ONE. Word Power. Objective and Subjective Voice Ill Vocabulary Ill Diction 113 Emphasis 114 CHAPTER TWO. Feeling and Magnetic Warmth. Brain Functions 119 Magnetic Forces and Conditions 120 Feeling 121 Intensity 123 Character Force 127 Thrilling Power 128 Magnetic Power 129 CHAPTER THREE. The Picture. Value of Pictures 133 Mental Vision 133 Illusion 135 CHAPTER FOUR. Emotional Colors. Breaking the Crust 138 Emotional Color 139 Ten Passions 140 Erratic Passion 143 CHAPTER FIVE. Voice Summits. Proportion , 145 Climacteric Voice 145 Expressive Slide 148 Thunderbursts 149 Steady Onbeat 150 Cadence 151 Glide Lengths 152 CONTENTS— Continued. 7 CHAPTER SIX. Personality. Value of Personality 154 Nobility 155 Collective Strength 157 Coordination 157 Power of Readiness 159 New Habits 160 CHAPTER SEVEN. Individualities. Definition of Individuality 162 Vowel Changes 162 Consonant Changes 162 Timbres 162 Gesticulation 165 Automatic Actions 165 Refinement 166 Roughness 167 Vigor 167 Youth 167 Maturity 168 Age 168 The Sexes 168 Dialects 169 Character Creations 169 Portraying Character 170 CHAPTER EIGHT. Public Speaking. Natural Speaking 172 Beginning an Address 174 Bible and Hymn Reading 175 Pictures from Life 178 Proper Spirit 179 Applause 180 Telling Points 181 CHAPTER NINE. The Lyceum. Placing the Voice 183 Expressive Value of Action 185 Control of Audiences 187 CONTENTS— Continued. THE BEST EXERCISES FOR PRACTICE. Waist Movements 9 Chest Tapping 10 Throat Massage 10 Head Movements 11 Throat Exercise 12 Italian Ah 15 Nostril Exercise 23 "Rome" 23 Inhaling or Exhaling While Walking 31 Thin Pure Tone for Breath Control 47 Counting Tens in One Exhalation 33 Ip, It, Ik 35 EE, AH, OO, 36 Difficult Words 38 OH— 00 Throat Exercise 41 Holding a Tone in Dark Form 46 Vibrating the Diaphragm 48 Bell Tones 56 Glottis Stroke, Tone and Slide 58 Saying Roll or Blow 60 Loud Counting 61 Counting One Seven Times 62 Nine Pitches in Quotations 69 Swelling Slides 72 Swelled and Diminished Bell Tone 83 Fourfold Resonance 87 Hymn in the Vale of Chamouni 91 Rapid Counting 94 Eye Movements 96 Miniature Exercise 105 Prolonged Tone in Intermittent Stress 118 Electric Exercise 121 Magnetic Exercise 121 Rapidity of Utterance 122 Intense Utterance 122 Thrilling Power 125 Ten Passions 136 Climax in Pitch and Force 141 Climax in Force, Energy and Intensity 142 Dramatic Slides 143 Thunderbursts 197 Steady Onbeat 145 Cadence 199 PART ONE Objective Voice CHAPTER ONE. PREPARATORY ADVICE. Value of Training. A course of training in voice culture is valuable be- cause it unfolds and develops all the faculties of expression. A few quotations will serve to show what some au- thorities have thought of the value of voice training. Quintilian said, "We cannot be so natural that rules cannot help us." Beecher said of his success in life, "I owe much of my success in life to the fact that for thirty years I spent a part of each day in elocutionary studies." Spurgeon gave this advice, "I believe that every man should train his voice and body under some system of elocution : first, for the health it affords; second, for its educating effects; third, for the advantage it gives a man over others for use- fulness." And Gladstone said, ''Many a professional man, now in obscurity, might rise to the highest rank, if he were far-seeing enough to train his voice and body as well as his mind." Voice culture, however, will not inevitably make every man an orator. Training develops orators, but oratory itself is a divine gift. Orators simply are orators. Conscious Effort. Any man can acquire a good voice of he will try. The important thing is to wish to get such a voice, and to think of that all the time. This is easily explained. If you de- 12 VOICE TRAINING FOR SPEAKERS. sire a certain result and keep thinking about it, you will naturally do the things that help you. This is true espe- cially in the use of the vocal cords. The vocal cords are muscles. If you use muscles without thinking, they will act with the least possible effort. But if you think while you are exercising, you consciously contract the muscles and get more exercise. If you are only half determined, there is no strength. All vocal exercise is worthless when the mind is on one thing, and the voice is on another. Exercise that bears the imprint of purpose develops character and promotes rapid progress. It may be said that there is scarcely anything in the world, within the range of possibility, which cannot be accomplished, if will power is directed solely, energetically and continually to the end that is desired. Genius is intelligent toil ! Vocal effort should be concentrated on a single detail, and that detail should not be abandoned till the desired result is obtained. The mind should always be conscious of the details of practice; a scattered use of the voice is not beneficial. Work, however, should not become drudgery. The play impulse is essential to development in vocal and physical training. The student of the art of expression should never exercise without a responsive frame of mind. Habitual Training. Our daily habits should receive careful attention and constant correction. Careless habits destroy the most careful training. Especial care should be taken in ordinary conversa- tion, for conversation is the foundation of the art of good speaking. Cultivation in the art of conversation is a prac- tical education in oratory. All the faults in the diction OBJECTIVE VOICE. 13 of daily life will surely appear when the speaker opens his mouth in public. The speaker should always imagine himself before an audience. This method of oratorical training was used by Clay, Webster and Patrick Henry, who sought the soli- tude of barns and fields and there developed their gift of speech by addressing large imaginary audiences. The greatest care should be taken in addressing even such au- diences. A speaker should never deliver an address into empty space, whether an audience is present or not. All vocal exercises should be performed in solitude. This will leave the mind free to concentrate itself upon the work, and will permit the effect of the work to sink deep into the soul. The exercises should furthermore be performed in a standing position. The speaker should prepare himself for platform work by learning to think, speak and act on his feet. Automatic walking, however, is not a good habit. More effort may be put into preparatory work than is necessary in public work. A rope should not be too short when it is needed. A fixed habit of absolute repose and self-control is another element of progress in the art of expression. Such repose is one of the secrets which may be used in con- trolling men. You cannot control others unless you can control yourself. Habitual training should seek to eradicate all auto- matic actions of the body; there should be no winking of the eyes, drumming of the fingers, swinging of the legs, fidgeting of the hands, falling of the abdomen, springing of the knees, etc., or anything else that w^ill cause a leak- age of personal magnetism. 14 VOICE TRAINING FOR SPEAKERS. Memory. The speaker should make persistent efforts to strengthen his memory. Even an obstinate memory will become good as soon as a few victories have been gained over it. Many a speaker who reads his addresses or uses notes because he thinks he has no memory, would soon acquire a strong memory if he would heroically discard his notes and make a real effort to achieve success in re- membering. We should never give up a task because it is hard to do. A deep impression produces memory. An abnormal impression produces a haunting memory. A superficial impression produces ordinary interest. Every faculty has a memory foundation. Thinking makes a strong impression on the mind. The pith of a thought should be lodged in the brain by active reflection and consideration, followed by an equally clear revival and use of the idea. Lines may be memorized by getting and working out the ideas; the words then come of themselves. All memory systems are useful be- cause they exercise the memory. Some of the following exercises may be useful in strengthening the memory: 1. Pick out the emphatic words of a sentence and rebuild the sentence upon them. 2. Carry out a train of thought; recall the thoughts first in the regular order then backwards. 3. Catch the points of an address and with their aid recall the whole discourse. 4. After going from one place to another, endeavor to recall in their order all objects which you saw. 5. On retiring at night, try to recall the events of OBJECTIVE VOICE. 15 the day. Some persons train their memory by fixing thoughts in the mind just before going to sleep and re- calling them in the morning. 6. Make an effort to fix and frequently recall certain events and dates in history. 7. Create a mental vision of the picture or scene sug- gested by certain words or sentences, and stamp this vision, with all its details, on the mind. 8. Facts may be retained by analyzing them. 9. Questions and answers serve to make statements clear and to impress them on the mind. The faculty of observing, absorbing, developing and retaining facts and thoughts furnishes valuable material to public speakers. Some men never depend on their memory, but imme- diately record important observations and noteworthy thoughts in a note book. CHAPTER TWO. PROPER POSITION OF THE VOCAL ORGANS. The Diaphragm. A logical course of voice training should observe the following order: first, knowledge of the true position of the organs; second, removal of defects; third, voice building proper. The principal organs of speech are the diaphragm, the throat, the larynx and the soft palate. The whole human vocal apparatus is like a pipe organ. The diaphragm is the motor; the lungs are the bellows; the throat represents the pipes; the mouth, etc., is the key- board. It will be seen at once that the work of speaking should be done by the diaphragm. The diaphragm serves a twofold purpose. In breath- ing, it rises and falls and thereby inflates and deflates the lungs like a pair of bellows. In speaking, it drives a col- umn of air against the vocal cords in the larynx and pro- duces vocal sound by vibrating them. The supply of air which is used in vocalization is controlled entirely by the diaphragm. All muscular energy in speaking should be confined to the action of the diaphragm. The voice should never be made loud and strong by straining and constricting the throat. The throat should always be as languid and as "loose as a rag." This is an important secret in using the voice properly. When the diaphragm and the throat are OBJECTIVE VOICE. 17 used properly, the voice will never become tired and husky. The diaphragm can never become tired and husky be- cause it acts involuntarily like the heart and the stomach, which never grow tired. Voluntary muscles, which musi be directed by the will, always become tired when they are used very much. Speakers should therefore not strain the voluntary muscles of the throat and the chest, but throw all strain on the diaphragm. The function of the diaphragm in breathing should also be carefully studied. Respiration includes inhala- tion andr exhalation. The diaphragm falls, relaxes and ex- pands during an inhalation; it rises and contracts during an exhalation. Both actions should be full and complete. The lungs should co-operate with the diaphragm in breathing. They should be inflated in all their parts by an even and full inspiration: the chest should rise, the sides should stretch out laterally, and the whole abdomen should swell out. The principal inspiratory effort should be ex- erted at the lowest part of the lung cavity. In speaking, the lower lobes of the lungs should be kept expanded for the purpose of retaining as much reserve air as possible. Full, tense lungs will permit the voice to reverberate through the chest, vibrate the body and thrill the audience. Developing the Diaphragm. The diaphragm follows the edge of the lowest ribs entirely around the body and derives its strength from the waist muscles. To develop the muscles of the diaphragm, place the palms of the hands on the right and the left side of the body at the lowest ribs; inhale slowly and noiselessly through the nose till the lungs are filled to their utmost i8 VOICE TRAINING FOR SPEAKERS. capacity; then, holding the lungs full, execute the follow- ing movements : Waist Movement Exercise i. — Press the palms of the hands vigorously against the extended sides; at the same time bend the body over far to the right, hinging only at the v^aist, and not at the hips. Then rise to the upright position and rest by relaxing the pressure for a moment without, however, permitting any escape of air. Next, bend far over to the left, etc. Exercise 2. — In the same manner, bend forward and backward. Exercise 3. — Bend right, forward, left, backward in one unbroken rotary movement, without raising the body. Reverse the action; move from left to right. The lungs must be full, and the hands must press against the sides during the movements. Invigorating the Chest. Chest Tapping Exercise. — Fill the lungs, hold the breath. Then gently but very rapidly tap and slap the whole chest with the palms of the hands. The hands should be thrown from the wrists and should be perfectly relaxed. The chest should not be pounded. The Throat. The throat may be made flexible and strong by mas- sage exercises. Massage hardens and vitalizes the neck and the throat to such a degree that colds and soreness cannot settle there ; it relieves sore throats. The four manipulations used in massage are stroking, rubbing, squeezing and striking. The stroking should be done with the flat of the hand moving toward the heart in varying degrees of pressure. In rubbing, the finger tips OBJECTIVE VOICE. 19 should move in small circles over a small area. Squeezing is performed by grasping the tissues between the thumb and the fingers. Striking requires blows given with the flat of the hand or the finger tips. The muscles under treatment should be in a relaxed state. Massage at bed- time will cause a sleepless night. Throat Massage Exercise. — Stretch the throat by raising the chin up high and holding the larynx, or Adam's apple, down near the collar bone by a yawning action. Holding the throat in this position and rapidly strike light blows all over it with the finger tips of both hands. The stretched throat may also be stroked, rubbed and squeezed. Head Movements. The following exercises give physical size to the muscles of the larynx. The larynx should be held down during the exercises; this is very important. Exercise i. — Turn the head with a sudden hard and full blow so far to the right that the chin will be nearly over the right shoulder; from that position, throw the head to the left. Do not move the body with the blow. Exercise 2. — Bow the head forward till the chin strikes the chest. Then raise the chin till the head nearly touches the back. Exercise 3. — Lower the head sideways to the right shoulder, keeping the face to the front, until the right ear is near the shoulder. Reverse the action; drop the head toward the left shoulder. Exercise 4. — Throw the shoulders back while stretch- ing the neck and the larynx forward. Reverse the action ; draw the chin in and throw the shoulders forward. 20 VOICE TRAINING FOR SPEAKERS. Exercise 5. — Move the head in a circle by lowering it to the right, to the front, to the left and far to the back. Reverse the order of rotation; lower the head to the left, to the front, to the right, to the back. The Larynx. The larynx, or Adam's apple, is a marvelous vocal instrument. It contains the vocal cords, which vibrate like the reeds of an organ when the air is driven over them. It rises in the throat when the voice rises in pitch, and falls when the pitch falls. At the same time the vocal cords within the larynx accompany the rising and falling of the larynx by becoming short when the pitch rises and long when it falls. A low and deep voice can be acquired mechanically by holding the larynx down by a concealed yawning action and using a low pitch of voice in conversation. The throat should, however, not be strained. Throat Exercise. — Place the back of the hand under the chin, with the thumb toward the ear; press the hand in against the throat above the larynx; then let the throat resist the pushing of the hand and drive it away. Practice this till you can throw the corner of the throat out and in without the resistance of the hand. Each repulse of the hand throws the throat forward and moves the larynx downward to such an extent that the throat looks like a double chin. Speakers generally have a full throat and a deep-lying larynx. The Soft Palate. The palate, or roof of the mouth, forms the sounding board of the voice. The front part, which begins with the upper teeth and is bony and hard, is called the hard palate. OBJECTIVE VOICE. 21 The soft continuation of the hard palate, which can be raised and lowered at will, is called the soft palate. The soft palate terminates in a little tongue, called the uvula. Above the soft palate, the head contains a resonant nasal chamber. The palate determines the quality of vocal sounds. When the column of sound coming from the throat is di- rected against the hard and thick part of the palate, at the upper teeth, the sound is bright and clear; when it strikes the soft palate in the upper posterior part of the mouth, the sound is mufifled and dark. The hard and the soft palate thus are to the voice what the forte and the piano pedals are to the piano. Words change in bright- ness and in darkness in a musical scale according to the point of contact on the palate. The soft palate and the uvula obstruct the voice when they hang down. A collapsed palate kills sound in the mouth. A perfectly executed tone should pass directly from the larynx to the teeth without interference from the throat, uvula and soft palate. The soft palate should always be held in a raised, gap- ing position. The intelHgence of wishing and desiring a raised soft palate will create an open throat and remove all obstructions from the mouth. The higher the uvula, the fuller the voice. Combined Open Throat. The interior cavity of the mouth and of the throat should be as large as possible. The combined proper posi- tion of the tongue, the soft palate, the throat and the larynx is called the open throat. The open throat is neces- sary for the full and unobstructed emission of sound. Birds always throw the throat open in singing. 22 VOICE TRAINING FOR SPEAKERS. These four essentials of the open throat should be remembered: The tongue should be sunk and held down especially in the back of the mouth; the soft palate should be drawn up out of the way; the throat should be out under the chin ; the larynx should be down near the collar bone. These four parts should be held in place without any effort. The diaphragm should bear the strain of speaking. These four parts enlarge the cavity of the mouth and give the voice great volume. Volume is simply largeness of voice, not force. A cannon with a large bore, or diam- eter, has more volume in sound than a cannon with a smaller bore and the same charge of powder. The speaker should adopt the open throat before he begins speaking. An unprepared voice is like a violin without the strings in order. The great secret of voice en- durance lies in holding the throat open without any effort at the throat during the speaking. In addition to this, the speaker should stand with the weight of the body near the ball of one foot ; if the weight is on the heels, he will get a pain in the back or in the head from the constant jarring of the spine and the brain. The body should be ball-bearing. Italian Ah. This exercise is based on the vowel ah, as in father, which is the only fully open vowel sound. This vowel opens the front, middle and back parts of the mouth. Singers call it the Itahan ah and make it the basis of all voice building. When this vowel is prolonged as a pure tone, it makes the voice grow rapidly. We shall use it in many places and many ways. OBJECTIVE VOICE. 23 Exercise. — Prolong the tone ah in a low, thin and pure voice by singing it as a sustained note. The throat should be fully open and relaxed. The open throat lowers the larynx, forces the corner of the throat out, raises the uvula and depresses the base of the tongue. CHAPTER THREE. REMOVAL OF DEFECTS. Aspiration Defect. The abnormal defects which should be eradicated from the voice are aspiration, throatiness, orality and nos- trility. To these may be added air friction and dangerous pitch. Normal defects, or insufficiencies of the voice, such as weakness and lack of flexibility, are overcome by general vocal exercises. The first and worst of all vocal defects is aspiration, or the escape of unvibrated air with the tone. It causes clergymen's sore throat, "sandpapers" the tissues and de- stroys the timbre of the voice. Its excessive breathing is followed by exhaustion and nervousness. When sounds are perfectly executed, they consume only as much air as is needed to vibrate the vocal cords ; not the least breathing or whispering sound escapes with the tones; all the air that passes the vocal cords is vocal- ized. Aspiration, however, admixes a whisper element to the tones which is produced by the escape of unvibrated air. Perfect vocalization will make the greatest number of syllables or words on the least breath. The opposite takes place in whispering. The whisper makes the least num- ber of sounds on the greatest exhaustion of breath. The great difficulty in handling the voice is to obtain the great- est use of the voice with the least effort. OBJECTIVE VOICE. 25 Perfectly vocalized words are not accompanied by any perceptible outward movement of the breath. Perfect tones are so completely vibrated that a feather placed on the back of the hand would not be blown away by the voice in speaking. The air should never leave the mouth in direct onward action like that of a bullet leaving a gun and going straight out. In perfect vocalization, the air leaving the mouth is diffused and goes forward, upward and dow^nward in one enlarging funnel of vibrated sound waves. The vocalization of Spurgeon was so perfect that he could be heard as well at the extreme limits of the au- ditorium as on the platform. The breath must be controlled in speaking. The chest should not be permitted to fall, and the tendency of the diaphragm to let out all the air at once should be con- stantly counteracted. The old style of aspirating the voice to express sol- emnity and pathos in praying and preaching is a false as- sumption of seriousness, and greatly injures the voice. A darkened undertone is better than a whisper in speaking. Clergymen's sore throat is sometimes caused by in- haling through the mouth. The throat should be protected by inhaling through the nostrils. Aspiration may be cured by the development of bell tones and the removal of the aspiration in the aspirate consonants. Bell Tones. The bell tones are the quickest cure for aspiration. Words like bell, containing only liquid consonants, are non-explosive and have no tendency to cause the emission 26 VOICE TRAINING FOR SPEAKERS. of air with the sounds even when they are uttered with great force or loudness. Exercise. — Prolong the word bell as a tone by holding the ''11" sound with almost closed lips and the least escape of air. At first say bell in a high, thin and fine tone; then practice it. in lower tones, taking care to let the sound die away with delicate musical vibrations in the same pitch. When this has been achieved, the tones may be given with force, or loudness. The throat should be open. A perfect voice may be built upon such a small foundation. This famous exercise not only removes the defect of aspiration but also greatly enriches the voice. We shall use it espe- cially in chapter five for bright resonance. Aspirate Consonants. Aspiration may also be cured by practicing the as- pirate consonants P, T and K for the purpose of acquiring their proper consonant positions. The removal of exces- sive aspiration from the aspirate consonants removes as- piration from the voice. Explosive consonants are the severest test of perfect vocalization; the word two, for instance, uttered with great force, should not blow away a feather or extinguish a candle. Although the voice may be directed toward a dis- tant point in the audience and the words may travel like a bullet, yet the air should never travel with the sounds when they leave the larynx. The source of aspiration lies principally in the aspi- rate consonants P, T, K, PI and S. The consonant P throws out a little puff of air from the lips; T aspirates from the tip of the tongue ; and K, from the larynx. These consonants should be practiced till they consume no more OBJECTIVE VOICE. 27 air than necessary. When P, T and K are vocalized into B, D and G, nothing but warmth should come from the mouth. Exercises in the aspirate consonants, will be given in the next chapter. The prolonged tone may also be used to cure aspira- tion. Prolong the tones ah and oh, and guard against the escape of unvibrated air. Practice this in various pitches, especially the lower ones. The second exercise in the chapter on strengthening the voice also cures aspiration. Throatiness Defect. There are three causes of throaty tones. The tone may be throaty, gutteral and hard from holding the throat structure rigid. It may be harsh and rasping from bunched throat muscles which fill up the throat. It may be rough from choked and swallowed speaking. Speakers who have never trained their voice have a vague idea that they must make a special muscular effort in the throat when they wish to speak in a loud voice. This is a great mistake and a prolific cause of clergymen's sore throat. Compression of the throat in speaking is disas- trous to the voice. When the air is forced through a con- stricted throat, it acts as a file, injures the mucous mem- brane and makes the voice husky. Throatiness is cured by removing all rigidity from the throat and transferring all muscular action to the dia- phragm. The throat should be nothing more than the channel through which the sound passes, and should in- variably be limp and fully open. 28 VOICE TRAINING FOR SPEAKERS. The whole body, however, may be held tense and as solid as a rock. A solid body increases the resonance of the voice. Voice culture will quickly teach the throat to fall open naturally, without any muscular exertion, and to be in- stantly ready for any effort. The first attempts to speak with a languid open throat will, however, be failures. The voice should be kept in practice. Public speak- ing of every description will then be as easy to the throat as ordinary conversation, and the speaker will never be- come exhausted. Speakers often break down because the vocal effort is unusual or occurs but once a week. Any man would break down under unusual and unwonted labor thrust suddenly upon untrained muscles. The voice should be exercised every day. The speaker should always be ready. Ministers who must look down from high pulpits should take care not to draw in the chin, constrict the vocal cords and force the air through the throat. The effort to clear the throat by hawking and spitting forces air through the throat and the membrane, and should be avoided. Orality Defect. Orality is a lack of resonance and volume in the voice. A perfect voice combines head, mouth, throat and chest resonance. Orality confines resonance and volume to the mouth alone. A voice without head, throat and chest resonance is as weak and flat as a violin filled with sawdust. Female voices incline toward orality; male voices toward throatiness. Many women have flat voices because they confine the resonance of their words to the mouth. Orality is cured by the acquisition of the four reso- OBJECTIVE VOICE. 29 nances and of volume. Resonance is vibration of sound; volume is size, largeness and loudness of tone. Volume is acquired by lov^ering the larynx, depress- ing the base of the tongue, holding the corner of the throat out and raising the soft palate. Volume depends not on the size of the lungs, but on the size of the throat and of the mouth cavity, in other w^ords, on the open throat. Head Resonance. Head resonance depends on a large and free nasal chamber. When the nasal chamber is obstructed by a cold in the head, the voice is flat. Catarrhal voices are not resonant. The nasal chamber should alv^ays be cleared before speaking. This is done by the follov^ing exercise. Nostril Exercise. — To clear the nasal chamber, fill the lungs, place the thumb and the index finger against the two openings of the nose to close them entirely, then gen- tly blow^ the confined air into the nose and up into the head, v^ithout permitting the air to reach the ear-drum. This pressure will distend and open the nasal cham- bers for the unobstructed reverberation of sound. The resonance should, however, not be in the nose, but in the head. Voluminous Resonance. Resonance and volume may be combined for the re- moval of orality by practicing the following exercise. "Rome" Exercise. — Practice the word Rome in all pitches and ranges of voice and in various degrees of loud- ness. To do this take a full breath through the nostrils ; say "Ro" with open lips; prolong the "me" (m) sound, and, without breaking the sound, project it with a heavy reso- 30 VOICE TRAINING FOR SPEAKERS. nance, imitative of distant thunder, into the open chambers of the head. The mouth, throat, and chest should vibrate in harmony v^ith the sound. This was a favorite exercise of Roscoe Conkling. The tone oh may be prolonged with closed lips in such a way that the tones will ring and reverberate in the head, mouth, throat and chest. This can be done on the street, on trains, etc. The tone will sound Hke distant thunder. The exercise is very good. Nostrility Defect. The sounds of the voice should not pass through the nose and the nostrils. Resonance in the nose is called nasality; resonance in the nostrils is called nostrility. Both nasality and nostrility are caused by the soft palate when it hangs down and diverts the tones from the mouth to the nose and the nostrils. The sounds coming from the larynx should pass out through the mouth; a small portion of the sound, how- ever, should pass up into the head and vibrate through the nasal chamber. Proper nasal resonance is a rich ele- ment of the voice. Nostrility is cured by habitually raising the soft palate and impinging the voice against the hard palate at the upper teeth; this insures perfect head resonance. Air Friction Defect. Throatiness is due to bunched throat muscles. Air friction is due to excessive use of air in speaking. Aspira- tion, or hissing sounds in the words, is due to imperfect vocalization. Excessive respiration is injurious because it dries up the moisture which keeps the lining of the nose and the throat soft. Respiration should be gentle and noiseless. OBJECTIVE VOICE. 31 When the air passes through the nose with an audible, hissing sound, it burns out the membrane of the nasal pas- sages and produces inflammation of a serious nature, in- cluding catarrh. The speaker should especially avoid air friction in the throat. Throatiness is caused by constricting the throat and forcing the air through it. Air friction dries up the throat even when it is perfectly free and languid. Dryness in the throat is an indication that the breath is not being used properly. Air friction ceases when correct breathing is estab- lished. Dangerous Pitch Defect. The unvaried use of any pitch and especially the un- varied use of a high pitch is injurious to the vocal cords of the speaker and distressing to the ear of the auditors. Every voice has its own range running from its high- est to its lowest note. This scale may be divided into three sections : the high, the middle and the low, which are some- times called the head, throat and chest registers. Enthu- siastic, nervous, excited people speak in a high pitch; calm,, intellectual voices are the middle, or throat, register; com- manding, positive, serious characters employ a low pitch. A modulated low pitch is the best. A trained voice is at home in all pitches. Monotony of every kind is distressing. If one key of a piano were struck for half an hour, the strain would become intolerable. Exercises on a drum are uninterest- ing because the drum has only one note. Routine work, fixed hours, unvaried food, etc., become depressing both to the body and to the mind. In barbarous ages, men were tortured by water dropping on one spot of the body. Z2 VOICE TRAINING FOR SPEAKERS. Unvaried tones are injurious to the vocal cords of the speaker. When the vocal cords are used in a monoto- nous way, they become as tired and v^orn as any muscles which are used without any relief. Natural speaking mod- ulates the voice in pitch, time, force, form, stress and quality. Monotonous use is also injurious to the growth of the voice. The voice grows as it is used, and therein lies the Ibest reason why it should be used right. Monotonous use of the voice wears out not only the ^ocal cords of the speaker but also the ear-drum of the auditor. The ear-drum of the hearer must vibrate ex- actly as often as the vocal cords of the speaker. Audi- ences cannot bear monotonous speaking. Variety of ex- pression is refreshing. The most acute monotony is the unvaried use of a high pitch. Such use is injurious both to the speaker and to the auditor. This can be demonstrated scientifically. Every vibration of sound has two movements, one out, one in; the higher the sound, the higher the number of vibra- tions. Every octave of sound on a piano, ascending in pitch, doubles the number of vibrations of the preceding octave. The middle note C has two hundred and fifty-six vibrations to the second; the next C above has twice that number; the next C below has only half as many. It fol- lows that a high register must produce a greater strain on the ear and the vocal cords than a low register; every higher octave of sound doubles the work of the vocal cords and of the ear-drum. A voice pitched an octave lower than the middle C has only half the work required by the middle C. OBJECTIVE VOICE. 33 The action of the vocal cords is wonderful. The length of the strings of a piano determines the number of their vibrations in a given time. A piano therefore has long and short wires. The little human vocal cords, how- ever, which are each only about an inch in length and not half an inch wide, do what the immense strings of the piano do. These little cords lengthen and relax to produce low tones; they shorten and tighten for high tones; and, at the same time, they move out and in to open or close the larynx. While this is being done, the larynx adjusts itself by rising or descending in the throat. This arrange- ment is a marvel of providential creation and design. A modulated low voice is always agreeable and im- pressive. The expression of dignity and seriousness nat- urally requires the use of a low register. A high pitch would be as much out of place at a funeral as a bombastic low pitch. The habitual use in daily life, of a modulated low pitch establishes control over the vocal cords, and serves as a valuable training for the voice. The speaker who develops a low but varied register in ordinary conversation will always be able to begin his public addresses in the proper pitch, and to raise or lower the voice at will. Old text books advised speakers not to begin speaking in too high a pitch. An untrained speaker, however, cannot begin to speak in a certain de- sired pitch. The troubles of an untrained speaker are further increased by the fact that if he begins wrong, he will continue in that pitch till the end; but if he should be- come energetic or excited, his voice will become higher and louder until at last the vocal cords must collapse. This shows that the speaker should control the pitch of his voice. CHAPTER FOUR. VOICE BUILDING. Deep Breathing. Deep breathing is simply the full and uniform expan- sion and contraction of the lungs in breathing. Such breathing expands and contracts the diaphragm in full range entirely around the body, and involves the front, upper, middle, lower and side parts of the whole chest frame. The shoulders, the chest, the abdomen and the sides should expand evenly and together. Each part ,>may, however, be developed separately by local deep breathing. Shoulder breathing raises and lowers the shoulders in breathing. Chest breathing raises and lowers the chest only. Women and feeble persons as a rule use only the upper chest in breathing. Abdominal breathing protrudes and withdraws the abdomen ; this breathing is strong dur- ing sleep and convalescence. Side breathing expands the sides only. Breathing should not be confined to one part alone, all parts should breathe together. Deep breathing should become a fixed habit. A few additional points should be remembered. The chest should always be held out. The abdomen should always be held in. The shoulders should be held down, not back, during an exhalation; the chest frame should be held extended during an exhalation. There should be free action at the lower chest and slight action at the OBJECTIVE VOICE. 35 upper chest. The inhalation should be directed to the lower chest. The exhalation should be inaugurated by the abdomen. The chest should always be carried in an ex- tended position. Deep breathing is injurious if it is overdone or done incorrectly. The lungs should be emptied before being filled. As much air as possible should be exhaled before the fresh air is allowed to rush in, otherwise the fresh air will be on top of the dead air in the lungs. The ex- pulsion of the dead air forces fresh air into the four apexes of the lungs. Enough air, however, always remains to keep the lungs in shape. All breathing should be quiet, regular, full and deep. It is beneficial to hold a full inhalation occasionally, for five seconds, for the purpose of driving the fresh air into the unused parts of the lungs. The inhaled air, how- ever, does not reach the deep cells or fill out the lungs. Every inhalation produces a rapid interchange of gases in the lungs; the gases meet about half way down; b}^ diffusion, the oxygen slowly spreads out into the air cells of the lobes of the lungs and is absorbed by the blood; the poisonous carbon dioxide gas is expelled and carried off in the exhalation. It takes the lungs about forty-five seconds to make the exchange of gases, and to absorb the oxygen into the blood. The inhaled oxygen destroys injurious bacteria and builds new tissues. The purified blood car- ries supplies to all parts of the body. Deep breathing should be carried on through the nose. A breath should not be taken through the mouth unless the air is pure. The nose is a spongy filter which catches up and carries off all dangerous substances. Respiration through the nose protects the throat and the lungs against 36 VOICE TRAINING FOR SPEAKERS. dryness, cold, dust and poisonous germs in the air. The nose throws off about one pint of moisture every day. It is claimed that deep breathing will relieve catarrh and colds by carrying away moisture. Deep breathing cer- tainly prevents colds. Deep breathing counteracts nervous weakness by in- creasing the flow of blood. Nervousness prevents the full circulation of the blood. Discouraged and despondent people, such as widows, often die in a short time simply because they cease to breathe. Bad news has a depressing effect upon breathing, good news causes deep inhalations. A collapse of the chest, a sigh, an exhalation, panting, is an indication of weakness. Buoyancy is indicated by full lungs and vigorous breathing. Deep breathing is an aid to purity of thought and the restraint of morbid ap- petites. Exercise — Deep Breathing. — Hold the entire chest frame extended. Exhale steadily till the lungs are empty. Then inhale slowly and smoothly through the nose till the lungs are full. The inhalation should expand the lower chest uniformly both forward and sideways. The inhala- tion should be expended by an inward all around contrac- tion of the diaphragm on the line of the lower chest. Exercise — Inhaling or Exhaling while Walking. — Empty the lungs; take ten or more steps and simultane- ously fill the lungs. Fill the lungs and exhale gradually during ten or more steps. The value of this old exercise in breath control depends on the steadiness of the ingoing or outgoing breath. Exercise — Swinging the Arms while Inhaling. — Stand with the arms hanging at the sides. Clench the fists and tense all the muscles of the arms; slowly move the arms, OBJECTIVE VOICE. 37 like a pendulum, out forward one foot, and then back of the body one foot, taking three seconds for each move- ment. Repeat the movements five to ten times, distributing them over one inhalation and increasing their length and speed till the arms swing out and back as high as the shoulders. This develops the lungs and the interlacing muscles of the chest frame. The inhalation should be so regulated that the lungs will be full when five or ten slow swinging movements have been completed. Breath Control. The voice is no stronger than its breath supply. If the air is not held back in speaking, it will escape like steam blowing ofT all the time. The breath must never be let out as fast as it is taken in. The air column must be kept under steady and uniform control during the ex- citement of strong delivery as well as during the calmest moments. Exercise — Prolonging a Thin, Pure Tone. — Prolong the tone ah or oh for ten seconds or more in a smooth, even movement, first in thin, then in pure tone. The first step in voice culture is to obtain control of the thread of voice. This thread is a thin tone which can scarcely be heard. The ability to prolong a thin tone must be established by hard practice. The thin tone should be pure. When the efforts to form thin tones have succeeded, similar efforts should be made to make the thin tone pure. The tone should have no flaw^s. The ear should be trained to detect all impuri- ties in the tones. The thin, pure tone may be held even and full to the end for forty-five seconds. The secret in sustaining the tone lies in the control of the diaphragm. The diaphragm 38 VOICE TRAINING FOR SPEAKERS. should be held down, and the chest frame should be held up. The line of the lower ribs should be held extended in the position of the fully expanded lungs even when much air has been expended. This exercise will establish breath control and build up a good voice. The same pitch, preferably a low one, should be used till the tone is perfected. In course of time the force may be increased. Lower pitches may be used twice as much as the higher. The throat should be open. Exercise — Counting Ten in One Exhalation. — Count from one to ten in one exhalation. Fill the lungs again and count from one to ten two times in succession and in one exhalation. Instead of saying ten the second time, say twenty to show that you have made twenty counts. Continue thus till you can by rapid counting reach three hundred by counting from one to ten thirty times on one exhalation. The figures will run in the following order: I, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, 9, lo; i, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, 9, 20; i, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, 9, 30, etc., all in one exhalation. This is a breath economy exercise for breath control by cumulative counting. It prevents waste of air in speak- ing by training the diaphragm to distribute the air eco- nomically. The counting should be very rapid. Every consonant and vowel should be uttered very distinctly. The voice should not be permitted to fall in pitch on any count, be- cause falling glides invite a breath. The diaphragm should be held under control. The whole chest frame, especially the region around the lowest ribs, should be kept ex- panded; if this secret of breath control is not used, the air will all escape in the very beginning. The beginning needs the most control. Aspiration should be avoided. The ex- OBJECTIVE VOICE. 39 ercise may be varied by the use of various degrees of pitch and force at different stages. Each effort should be fol- lowed by a full inhalation and a short rest. Articulate Speech. The development of pure tones should be accompanied by exercises in articulate speech. The most beautiful voice will be useless in speaking unless the words are intelligible. Good articulation, enunciation and pronunciation is essential to good speaking. Articulation is the process of forming syllables and separating them from another. This requires good consonant touch, or skill and force in form- ing consonants. The consonants cut off sounds, or vowels, into syllables. Enunciation is the process of distinguishing tones by giving each sound, whether it be a consonant or a vowel, its full value and action. Pronunciation in a strict sense is the process of mak- ing syllables emphatic by the use of accent, or stress. It may happen that the pronunciation is good when the enun- ciation is bad. Good consonant touch is worth more to a speaker than a good voice. Speakers should above all things take care in their daily conversation to form the consonants distinctly. The sounds of language are carried by the vowels, but the sense is carried by the consonants. Con- sonants alone make speech intelligible. A strong voice with weak consonants becomes an unintelligible roar; a weak voice with strong consonants will be heard and un- derstood. Although the speaker should as a rule put as much vowel sound and as much consonant touch as pos- sible into every word, no harm is done when the conso- nants are made more pronounced than the vowels. Speak- 40 VOICE TRAINING FOR SPEAKERS. ers who use clear and distinct consonants usually make a strong impression on an audience. The firmness of great orators is usually reflected in their strong features and firm lips. Great orators have both a level head and a level mouth. Triple Consonants. Consonants are vocal touches which cut off sound into articulate speech. All consonants are made from three elementary consonant positions, or places of closure: the lips, the palate and the throat. The three elementary consonants are P, T, and K. The triple consonant changes required in forming them develop flexibility of the articulation muscles. All con- sonants should be perfected in their own articulation. Exercise — Ip, It, Ik. — Practice the following combi- nations of lip, palate and throat contacts: Ip, it, ik; ip, ik, it ; it, ik, ip ; it, ip, ik ; ik, it, ip ; ik, ip, it. In executing ip, the lips should be drawn together quickly and firmly with an action resembling that of a ma- chine for nipping wire. For it, the tip of the tongue should be pressed hard against the hard palate near the upper teeth. For the back tongue closure ik, the back of the tongue should rise and close the sound completely; this closure is more difficult than the lip closure. Ip, it, ik may be practiced anywhere with silent pantomime action. All consonants may similarly be executed with muscular touch alone. Such practice would quench the roaring habit in speaking. These three consonants are aspirate and their proper execution will serve to remove aspiration. They should be formed very slowly and firmly at first ; rapidity may be added when the execution has been perfected. All the air OBJECTIVE VOICE. 41 should be impinged in shutting off the sound. The aspira- tion of these aspirate consonants should be reduced to a minimum. Triple Vowels. Vowels are sounds which constitute the vocal part of syllables. The English language employs about fourteen vowel sounds. The mouth, however, forms them all from the elementary vowel openings ah, ee, 00, (as in the words far, feel, fool), which represent three positions of the mouth. Ah requires the most open, ee the closest flat, 00 the closest round position of the mouth. Ah opens the mouth wide, and holds the lips very far apart; ee requires a flat mouth, in which the corners of the mouth are drawn and stretched back toward the cheeks; 00 forms a small and round opening of the mouth. Ah develops the power of projecting sounds to any place in the audience; 00 de- velops beauty in sound. Great care is required in forming the vowels. Cor- rect vowel sounds insure beautiful enunciation. Exercises in the triple vowel changes develop flexi- bility of vowel action by making the mouth flexible. Exercise. — Practice the following with a full action of the mouth: Ee, ah, 00; ee, 00, ah; ah, ee, 00; ah, 00, ee; 00, ee, ah; 00, ah, ee. Difficult Words. To hammer consonants is worth more than all other voice exercises. Strength of articulate touch determines the value of any voice however strong it may be. Murdoch, a famous teacher of oratory, said the best single advice he could give for training the voice in speak- ing was to pay attention to the first and the last consonant in every syllable. 42 VOICE TRAINING FOR SPEAKERS. The first and the last consonant of every syllable should be pronounced with unusual vigor, force and atten- tion. A powerful articulation, acquired by uttering the initial and final consonants with explosive energy, is ninety-five per cent of a successful voice. Beauty, volume and richness of voice are insignificant compared with the coining of consonants and the cutting of syllables. The lips should fall like a pile-driver falling on the end of a pile. Time spent in hammering consonants is not wasted. A few minutes of consonant work every day would yield surprising results. Some words may serve to illustrate Murdoch's rule. Say ''bond''; throw tremendous pressure into the lips on *'b" before allowing the sound to burst and explode into articulation; on "d", the tip of the tongue should fairly collide, with a recoil, against the roof of the mouth. In saying "not", explode the "n" and the ''t". In saying "first" make the "f" and the "t" strong enough to lift a ton. The voice should be like a machine cutting railroad iron; the lips, tongue and jaws should exert tremendous muscular strength in developing the propulsive force of syllables. Develop every consonant, syllable, and vowel in the following words; repeat each word many times. Other words can easily be found in alphabetical order. Attempts ; accepts ; and ; budge ; bafifl'd ; bends ; bursts ; business; cribb'd; crowd; craft; clue; calls; crept; citizens; drown; dreadful; drums; drifts; dev'ls; distinctness; ex- acts; elev'nth; every; excellent; eternity (not eternuty) ; fields; fresh; faults; fraud; fifths; faults; fruit; field; glory; glided; graft; grove; great; ghosts; government; gentle- men; heav'ns; it; lifts; lengths; literary; most; months; OBJECTIVE VOICE. 43 new (not noo) ; ov'ns; pledge; precepts; quit; rise; ribs; rifts; sobs; stifl'd; sifts; sects; scalps; shrill; shrunk; shrink (not srink) ; smattering; sprout; strong; shall; seventh; sudden; silence; twists; thrice; throb; tramp; thirsts; tough'n; use; veteran; whelm; yet; zephyr; zest. Words like these can be practiced anywhere with muscular action alone. The attempt to master a few words will revolutionize a whole vocabulary. Every new word should be assimilated by being used at the first opportu- nity. A vast improvement in speech will result. The greatest obstacle to good speaking, even among educated people, is careless conversation. A clattering tongue destroys all magnetism, exhausts the mind, causes nervous prostration and ruins enunciation. All gossips have dead, tiresome voices. No good can come from a scattered use of the voice. Hammering Syllables. Solid syllables are essential to magnetic speaking. Unimportant syllables should be passed over lightly; weak syllables should receive special attention; but no syllable should be executed in a weak manner. The weak syllables of words should be repeated correctly so many times that they will never again cause trouble. The syl- lables in strong sentences should be uttered with great strength. Syllable hammering cures defective articulation. In hammering syllables, the whole body should be tense and rigid, and every nerve and muscle should be energized. Exercise. — Tense the body, the arms and the fingers. Read or utter some strong sentence. As each syllable is uttered, the fist or the tips of the fingers of one hand should simultaneously strike a determined blow on a table or 44 VOICE TRAINING FOR SPEAKERS. some other hard surface. This action co-ordinates all the faculties of voice production. This very old exercise is founded on the fact that the brain not only imparts its nervous impulse to the blow^ but also at the same time communicates its energy to the v^hole voice. The elbov^ action should coincide with the syllable. The blows make the voice solid, and untangle bad articulation. Each syllable or word should be pounded energetically. The more consonants there are in a word, the easier it will be to articulate the syllables. A stam- merer can not pound the finger tips upon a table faster than the larynx forms the sound; the fingers stammer when the brain cannot be carried into the syllables. Develop the syllables in the words in-di-vid-u- al-i-ty and pe-cul-iar-ly. Then develop the following sen- tences. ''I will have my bond." *'On the earl's cheek the flush of rage o'ercame the ashen hue of age; fierce broke he forth: And dar'st thou then to beard the lion in his den, the Douglas in his hall? And hop'st thou hence unscathed to go? No, by Saint Bride of Bothwell, no !" Difficult Sentences. The muscles of the mouth are made flexible for rapid changes of consonant touch by practice in difficult conso- nant combinations. Flexibility is readiness of change. Difficult word combinations should first be repeated very slowly and with great muscular firmness. Firmness is strong muscular position. The lips, the tip and the back of the tongue should be strained with intense compressed muscular energy and pressure of touch. When firmness of consonant touch has been estab- OBJECTIVE VOICE. 45 lished by many repetitions, the words should be repeated with great rapidity. But not a single consonant or vowel should be blurred or obscured. Every syllable should have great propulsive force, and every word should be heard even when the thinnest voice is used. Difficult sentences should be noted and developed. The following illustrative combinations should first be practiced very slowly and firmly, and after that with great rapidity. Beef broth. A million menial minions. His beard descending swept his aged breast. She sells sea-shells. Strike till the last armed foe expires. Six thick thistle sticks. A citizen sentencing him. Throat Exercise. OH-OO Exercise. — Place three fingers, on top of each other, between the upper and the lower teeth for the purpose of separating them as much as possible; with- out removing the fingers from this position, say ''oh-oo" slowly, in a voluminous, orotund voice, for several minutes at a time. This exercise expands and contracts the back walls of the throat, and makes them very flexible. The increase in the length and the width of the mouth and of the cavity of the pharynx, accompanied by the raising of the soft palate, makes the voice voluminous, establishes the oro- tund timbre, throws the tones forward and determines the form of the voice. Volume is largeness in tone and depends simply upon the enlargement of the pharyngeal and oral cavity during 46 VOICE TRAINING FOR SPEAKERS. tone production. Great volume of voice is instantly ac- quired by holding the mouth and the throat enlarged. Vol- ume of sound in the voice is called orotund timbre; this timbre is required in grand oratory. The great secret of placing the voice at v^ill at an}^ point in the audience lies in the back v^alls of the throat. When the back walls of the throat are used properly, they v^ill throw the voice forward. This is the opposite of mouthing, which holds the voice back in the mouth. The back walls of the throat also determine the form of the voice. When the tones are thrown forward against the teeth, the voice is bright and happy in form; when the tones are impinged or placed against the soft palate, the voice is dark and gloomy. Elements of Voice. Beauty and power of expression require not only a clearly enunciated but also a well modulated voice. Ex- pression should never be fixed and stereotyped. Vocal ex- pression will be monotonous unless there are lights and shadows in the voice. The various modulated combina- tions must blend as delicately as the shading in a beautiful steel engraving. Natural modulation is the blended variation of the six elements of the voice: time, pitch, force, stress, form, quality. A short description of these elements may serve to indicate vocal possibilities. Form is the brightness or darkness of tone by which the soul is represented in vocal expression. Time is the slowness or rapidity in speaking by which the importance attached to a thought is expressed. Pitch is the position of a tone in musical scale which OBJECTIVE VOICE. 47 represents vocal control. A low pitch gives force to com- manding tones. Force is loudness of voice; its seven degrees represent bodily energy. Very little force is necessary in ordering pork and cabbage for dinner; very much force must be used in addressing four thousand people. Quality is a musical combination of two or more timbres which represents the passions. Timbre is character in the voice. The timbres are to the voice what stops are to an organ; they change the character of the spoken tones. Timbres reflect the moods of the body. The timbres and the stresses of the voice are of such importance that they should be described more fully than the other elements. Additional details will be given in the chapter on individualities. There are ten timbres : pure, orotund, pectoral, gut- tural, laryngeal, oral, nasal, bell, falsetto, and whisper. The pure timbre is the beauty of the voice; it is called pure because it has no defects. The guttural timbre 'is throati- ness in tones produced by constricting, corrugating and hardening the throat; it is used to express hatred, anger and revenge. The pectoral timbre is a low sepulchral tone reverberating in the chest. The laryngeal timbre is a sickly tone common to sick and aged persons ; it is used in the portrayal of laziness, suffering and affectation. The falsetto timbre is a high fine tone which does not hurt the voice. Cats have falsetto voices. The nasal timbre ac- companies the expression of scorn. The oral timbre is resonance restricted to the mouth ; it is indicative of weak- ness, complaint and despondency. The orotund timbre is 48 VOICE TRAINING FOR SPEAKERS. volume of voice v^hich depicts grandeur. The bell timbre stands for resonance; the whisper, for secrecy. Stress is as important in the voice as timbre. Stress may be defined as the relative force v^ith v^hich a sound, syllable or word is uttered. Stress is the main element in accent and in emphasis. Every voice should have some prevailing stress. There are eight stresses. The radical stress stands for precision; the median, for beauty; the thorough, for grandeur; the terminal, for surprise; the monotone, for quietude; the staccato, or cut-up monotone, for great pre- cision and exactness; the intermittent, for feeling; the compound, for mockery. Four stresses are used very much, in the following order of value : Radical, median, intermittent and thorough. The stresses are built upon vocal force and time- length. Stress gives every syllable or sound a beginning, a middle and an end. The radical stress places the maxi- mum of force at the opening or beginning of the sound and thereby makes utterance precise. The median stress swells the sound in the middle of each syllable; the sound begins weak, becomes strong and ends weak. The me- dian stress imparts beauty to the utterance; its combina- tion with the intermittent stress prevents dryness and lack of feeling in the voice. The terminal, or final, vanishing stress throws the maximum of force to the end of the syllable; it begins weak and ends strong. The thorough stress consists of a combination of the radical, median and terminal stresses. The compound stress combines the radical and the terminal stresses. The intermittent stress is a vibration, or trembling, in the sounds. The staccato OBJECTIVE VOICE. 49 stress cuts syllables very short. The monotone utters all syllables in the same tone. Stresses and emotional tone color, once acquired, never leave the voice. The following quotations may be used for practice : Radical : "I will have my bond." Median : "Oh the long and dreary winter." Intermittent: "Pity the sorrows of a poor old man." Thorough: "Loud surges lash the sounding shore." Terminal: "What, my old friend's ghost?" Compound: "My father's trade? Why, bless me, that's too bad." Staccato: "Let-me-think." Monotone: "The curfew tolls the knell of parting day." CHAPTER FIVE. DARK AND BRIGHT VOICE. The Dark Voice. Dark Form. Form is brightness or darkness of tone. The piano brightens or darkens its tones by the use of pedals. The human voice is dark when the sound column strikes the soft palate; it is bright when it strikes the hard palate. The tone column may be compared to a steel wire extend- ing from the lungs to the roof of the mouth; the bright- ness or darkness of the tones is determined by the point of contact at which the tones strike the palate. Tones are mufHed when the lips are partly closed, they are bright when the lips are drawn away from the edge of the teeth. The dark form is used in the portrayal of the serious side of life. Deep inward feeling requires a dark voice. The moral nature of man finds expression in dark tones. Ministers should habitually speak in a low pitch with a tinge of the dark form. Thinkers usually have low and dark voices. The dark form of voice is indispensable in all indoor speaking. A sermon may be ruined by being de- livered in a high pitch and a bright form. The dark side of the voice should be used when the voice is becoming hard. Dark tones usually require slow time. The dark form is an aid to the development of pure tones. The dark form is not perfect unless it has nervous solidity. The tones should resound in the chest. OBJECTIVE VOICE. 51 The development of the dark feeling suggested by the words will lead to the gradual acquisition of the dark form in the voice. The objective speaker should master pitch, form and glides; other elements will regulate themselves to some extent. Progressions in form render the voice naturally re- sponsive to changing moods. A scale of form in the voice usually includes five stages: the extremely bright, the bright, the middle, or normal, the dark and the extremely dark form. The very bright tones impinge at the teeth; the very dark, at the soft palate. The dark form should be studied first. Dark Form Exercises. Exercise i, — Hold the tone oh in various pitches and in dark form. Impinge the tone column against the soft palate. Exercise 2. — Repeat the following sentences in low pitch and dark form. Change the feeling. "One sweetly solemn thought comes to me o'er and o'er." "The dripping rocks stand silent and alone. Like solemn ghosts of days that are no more." The low pitch expresses seriousness; the dark form expresses solemnity; the low pitch added to the dark form combines seriousness with solemnity. Clergymen should not merely lower the pitch when they wish to speak sol- emnly. The dark form should be used to express solemnity. Exercise 3. — Slide the tone oh or ah in dark form from the lowest to the highest pitch. The sound will resemble the moaning of the wind. 52 VOICE TRAINING FOR SPEAKERS. Extremely Dark Form. The extremely dark form may be called the midnight of the voice. The sound should be impinged against the lowest part of the soft palate. Exercise. — Repeat the following lines at first in a low register, without dark form, and then in a low pitch com- bined with dark form, and then in a low pitch com- bined with very dark form. The resonance should be strong and ringing. There should be no aspiration. "'Tis midnight's holy hour. "What a world of solemn thought their monody compels." Dark Intermittent Stress. The intermittent stress is a trembling vibration in the tones of the voice. In ordinary sound, the air vibrates in bulk, like a mass of gelatine in vibration; the sound waves ripple through the mass of air and thus reach and vibrate the ear-drum. The intermittent stress, however, is an additional ripple, or tremulo, added to, and running through, the moving sounds, the intermittent stress de- picts feeling, and may be called the thermometer of feeling in the voice. This stress should be made a second nature. The use of a natural intermittent stress together with the dark form is one of the most powerful aids in express- ing feeling. One of the secrets in the touching sermons of Moody was his subdued use of refined intermittent stress and dark form. The intermittent stress should be produced naturally by the trembling of the diaphragm, and not by the artificial vibration of the throat. Trembling tones are the result of feeling. The effort to produce a natural tremulo from the diaphragm develops true feeling. The artificial trem- OBJECTIVE VOICE. 53 ulo is without feeling. Affected speakers frequently use nothing but mechanical trembling tones. Singers and speakers should avoid the false tremulo of the throat. The begging voice of imposters is full of strong mechanical in- termittent stress. True feeling is not physical. Exercise i — Vibrating the Diaphragm in dark inter- mittent stress. Fill the lungs. Hold the tone oh in low pitch and dark form. During the tone, rapidly beat the line of the diaphragm with both hands in sufficient force to shake the diaphragm with strong vibrations. The tone will tremble in strong intermittent stress. The vibration will also strengthen the throat. The diaphragm should eventually vibrate without the aid of the hands. Exercise 2. — A strong intermittent stress in dark form depicts sorrow, and easily brings tears into the eyes. Prac- tice the following line in a high pitch with mental feeling and strong intermittent stress. "Pity the sorrows of a poor old man." — King Lear. Exercise 3. — Hold the tone oh in dark form and in- termittent stress. If this is done in a high pitch, the task will be very difficult. A high, dark, thin tone sounds like the moaning of the wind. Seriousness. The expression of seriousness requires either slow time or low pitch. A voice that is both low and slow has double seriousness. The dark form would add solemnity to seriousness. A low pitch and slow time are two valuable elements in controlling an audience. The combination of the low pitch and the dark form with the radical stress at once gives a teacher control over an unruly school, and insures 54 VOICE TRAINING FOR SPEAKERS. success before any audience. The seriousness of low pitch and slow time demands attention and carries conviction with it. Ordinary seriousness may be either bright or dark in form. Excited seriousness would use a low pitch in fast time. Slow time counteracts humdrum speaking. Some speakers are not able to speak slowly because they are carried away by an irresistible rhythmical onbeat in the voice. The ability to make a thought doubly expres- sive by the use of low pitch and slow time is not easily acquired. Exercise. — The following sentences require slow time, low pitch and dark form. "Slow and deliberate as the parting tone.'* "Slowly and sadly we laid him down." Absolute Profundity. Absolute profundity is expressed either by a combi- nation of extremely low pitch and slow time or by a very dark form. Exercise. — The following quotation should be ren- dered in very dark form. "It is a solemn time, the sunset of the year." The following line is very slow and low. "A melancholy dirge o'er the dead year." The following is very slow, low and dark. "'Tis midnight's holy hour, and silence now is brood- ing, like a gentle spirit, o'er the still and pulseless world." The Bright Voice. Bright Form. Brightness is not loudness and force of tone. The voice can be brightened only by impinging the tones at the teeth. This may be slightly increased by withdraw- OBJECTIVE VOICE. 55 ing the lips from the edge of the teeth. The bright form is the secret of silver-tongued oratory. Cheerfulness of mind, the inseparable companion to vitahty of the body, is always reflected in the bright form of the voice. A happy bright voice, in its turn, produces a bright disposition. The thin tone is an aid in developing the bright form. The imperfections of the voice appear in the thin tones. The thin tone should be as clear, and should always carry as far, as the strong, loud tone. Exercise. — The following line should be repeated me- chanically in bright form, thin force, rapid time, high or low pitch and tones which sound like the bright musical humming of bees. "A lily lying all alone along the lane." The following lines should be repeated with mental and vocal brightness, in bright happy high tones. **The Rhine ! the Rhine ! our own imperial river, be glory on thy track." "The tide rolls up, the rippling sunny tide. The tossing waves throw diamonds to the sky." Extremely Bright Form. Excessive happiness and exuberant vitality employ an extremely bright form. The tones are very bright when the sound impinges against the edges of the teeth. The tones of a bell are very brilliant when they are struck near the edge of the bell. Exercises in the bright form will make a gloomy voice bright. Exercise. — The following line requires very bright form, and rapid time. The pitch may be either high or low; seriousness would require a low pitch. The bright 56 VOICE TRAINING FOR SPEAKERS. intermittent stress, which depicts gladness and makes the sounds tremble, may be added. "My happy heart with rapture swells." Bright Pitch. The high pitch expresses excitement when it is used with the bright form; it expresses tenderness or excited sorrow when it is used in dark form. The high pitch pre- dominates in happiness and excitement. Exercise. — Repeat the following lines in high pitch, rapid time, bright form and intermittent stress. "Fm to be queen of the May, mother, I'm to be queen of the May !" Use high pitch, dark form, medium time and inter- mittent stress for the following. "The mother ere her time was carried forth, to sleep among the solitary hills." Bright Time. Rapid time, or rate of movement, depicts happiness, excitement and enthusiasm; it is usually bright in form. Excited people speak rapidly, in a high pitch and either bright or dark form. Rapidity in a low pitch is some- times used in the rendition of deep tragedy. Exercise. — The first of the following sentences re- quires rather fast time; the second, fast time; the third, very fast time and high pitch. "What a world of merriment their melody foretells." "Laugh, if you'd like to laugh 'till you're gray." "Pull for your lives. Pull till the blood starts from your nostrils and your veins stand like whipcords on your brow !" OBJECTIVE VOICE. 57 Bright Stress. The radical, or initial, stress gives precision to utter- ance and makes speech precise, energetic and forceful. In the radical stress, the maximum of force is at the beginning, or opening, of the sound uttered; every syllable, even the shortest, is opened with comparative force and ended v^ith comparative weakness. This stress makes every syllable a wedge of sound which tapers from a wide opening into a point. The radical stress makes the begin- ning of every sound emphatic without destroying the time- length of the syllables. When every syllable is clearly cut, there can be no mongrel conglomeration and running to- gether of syllables. The radical stress is the most im- pressive force in stamping the thoughts of a speaker upon his audience. When used to excess, it savors of arro- gance; but the absence of it makes the noblest sentiment appear insipid. "The right degree of this function," says James E. Murdoch, ''indicates the manly, self-possessed and impressive speaker. The argumentative speaker who has not this quality at command seems to strike with the flat rather than the edge of the oratorical weapon." The tremendous propulsive force of the radical stress increases the strength of consonants for power of articula- tion, gives character to speech, and with its magnetism arouses audiences to applause. Every consonant should be alive. The jaws should be constricted and tensed, as the arm is tensed for some mighty effort. A stiff, strong, flexible upper lip shows character in its iron cast of power. The upper lip should be sucked against the upper teeth, and should be held there if there is any danger of weak- ness in speech. Negroes do not articulate well because they have protruding lips. The corners of the mouth 58 VOICE TRAINING FOR SPEAKERS. should be held down a little, and then be pulled taut; the center of the thickness of the lower lip should strike against the center of the upper lip. Many a speaker and teacher has gained wonderful and sudden control over others by adopting the radical stress together with a low pitch and the dark form. The firmness and precision of fact indicated by the radical stress makes speech invincible. The words move onward with the irre- sistible power of a flying wedge. The exercises given for the development of the mouth muscles all serve to establish the radical stress, and should be reviewed for that purpose. The explosive con- sonants P, T and K should be fully developed. The first and the last consonants of words and syllables should be carefully uttered. Exercises in Radical Stress. — Practice the following lines with intense radical stress in every syllable. "By bending it breaks." "As a Roman, here in your citadel, I defy you." "I will have my bond." "Up ! comrades, up ! in Rokeby's halls, Ne'er be it said our courage falls." Bright Throat. The vitality of the fully open throat is increased by raising the soft palate during a bright tremulo tone. The tremulo raises the soft palate. This secret of voice development may be observed by the aid of a mirror held before the mouth; the soft palate rises when the tone rises, and rises higher when the tremulo is added. This process brightens the voice, increases its volume and de- stroys orality. OBJECTIVE VOICE. 59 Exercise. — Prolong the tone ah in bright form ; vibrate the tone by a trembling action of the diaphragm, and si- multaneously try to raise the soft palate higher. The same exercise in low pitch and dark form will establish the dark form and the intermittent stress. Bright Resonance. The greatest brilliancy of the voice is produced by the naturally bright bell timbre. The bell tones were used in a former exercise to destroy aspiration; here they are used for resonance. Resonance requires a large and free nasal chamber. This chamber is opened by closing the nostrils with the fingers and driving the breath into the head. The final consonant sound in the word bell should be held in the mouth and the head by closing the vocal aper- ture with the tip of the tongue held against the hard pal- ate. The tone should ring on after the first consonant has been uttered. The vibration should be carried upward into the head and thrown against the bridge of the nose. The vibration can be felt by the tips of the fingers placed on the bridge of the nose, the top of the head, the back of the neck, and the chest. Exercise in Bell Tones. — Utter the word bell, prolong the sound and permit it to die away like the diminishing vibrations of a bell. Four distinct bell tones should be developed. The first should be in the ninth, or highest; the second, in the sixth; the third, in the third; and the fourth, in the first, or lowest, pitch. The following lines from Poe's Bells may be used. For silver bells in the ninth pitch repeat : "To the tintin- 6o VOICE TRAINING FOR SPEAKERS. uabulation that so musically swells, from the bells, bells, bells, bells, bells, bells, etc." For golden bells in the sixth pitch use these lines: "How it tells of the rapture that impels to the swinging and the ringing of the bells, bells, etc." Brazen bells use the third pitch: "How the danger sinks and swells by the sinking and the swelling in the anger of the bells, bells, etc." Iron bells ring in the first or lowest pitch: "Keeping time, time, time, in a sort of Runic rhyme, to the tolling of the bells, bells, bells, etc." The voice has four resonant chambers: the head, the mouth, the throat and the chest. Perfect tones always involve the four resonance chambers together. The vibra- tion of the bell tones becomes stronger as the tones de- scend into the lower pitches. The imitation of the sound of brazen and iron bells in low pitches involves the whole chest. The golden and silver bells in high pitch involve the head and the mouth and at the same time reverberate in the chest. The whole body, from head to foot, may be made to vibrate. The bell resonance is a fine, healthy, exhilarating ex- ercise for the brain. All the fibres of the brain are vibrated through and through by the resonance. Voice work is finer and better exercise for the whole body than violent physical exercise. Clearing the Voice. Some speakers resort to mechanical aids in clearing the voice, such as eggs, sugar and egg-white, whiskey, lemons, oysters, red pepper, lozenges, beef tea, and, as a universal resort, simple water from the ubiquitous pitcher. Egg white, however, is good and water often is a necessity. The albumen of an egg is like the saliva of the mouth; OBJECTIVE VOICE. 6i when it must be used, it should be held in the throat for a long time until it fills the throat with its chief element. Saliva is the only natural lubricant of the voice, and no other is needed when the voice is used properly; it keeps the throat in good condition. Hawking and spitting should be avoided. The voice is clarified by glottis strokes, glottis blows, glottis tones and glottis slides. The glottis is the cleft, or flexible opening, between the vocal cords at the upper orifice of the larynx; it may be called the mouth of the windpipe. This opening opens and contracts like the eye of a cat. The vocal cords enlarge or diminish the opening by opening or closing, lengthening or widening it under vocal air pressure. During an inhalation, the glottis is fully open; during an exhalation, it is half open; during a whisper, it is three quarters closed. When a boy's voice breaks, the cords touch each other. The clearness of the voice depends on the sharpness of the glottis lips. The glottis lips are the sharp edges of the vocal cords. When these edges are thick, inflamed and swollen, the voice is fringed and husky. Glottis exercises clarify the voice by sharpening the edges of the vocal cords. The glottis stroke is a light, quick and clear blow of sound which instantly shuts off the sound and the air in the larynx by an instantaneous contact of the glottis lips. The stroke makes the glottis edges fine and firm, and cures huskiness. The stroke is best when it is made with the least effort. Too much glottis work destroys volume, of voice. The glottis tone is the prolongation of a clear glottis stroke. The glottis blow is a very heavy glottis stroke. t2 VOICE TRAINING FOR SPEAKERS. The glottis slide simply slides a glottis tone up or down in pitch. Glottis Stroke Exercise. — Say ho, ho, ho, etc., in vari- ous pitches, without moving the lips. The sound must be as short as possible; the vocal cords should spring together and instantly cut off the sound. Laughter consists of a rapid succession of glottis strokes. Laughter therefore makes the voice clear, bright and sunny. Some learn the glottis stroke by saying hup, hup, hup as short as possible and then saying hu, hu, hu by the action of the vocal cords alone, without any lip closure. The sound of hu should be the same as in hup. The glottis stroke can be produced in the throat by holding a tone and striking the small of the back rapidly with the back of both hands. Every blow closes the cords and cuts off the tone into a short glottis stroke. Glottis Tone Exercise. — A number of glottis strokes should be executed until a clear and perfect stroke is found ; this clear stroke should be repeated and drawn out into a glottis tone. The clear tone beginning with a glottis stroke is the glottis tone. The tone will be as clear as the glottis stroke. Glottis Slide Exercise. — Glottis slides are glottis tones which are carried up or down, from the lowest to the high- est or from the highest to the lowest pitch. Preliminary glottis strokes provide clear glottis tones, which are to be raised and lowered in pitch by the glottis slide. The tones should be carried to the full range in the pitches of the voice. OBJECTIVE VOICE. 63 The glottis stroke, tone and slide are great voice builders. A lost voice might perhaps be restored by a develop- ment of the art of breathing, blows struck against the small of the back during a tone, glottis strokes, glottis tones and slides, careful consonant practice and a proper use of the voice in conversation. CHAPTER SIX. STRENGTHENING THE VOICE. Vocal Power. The voice develops naturally by being used in the right way. Strong exercises do not injure the voice v^hen they are done properly. The work may be carried nearly to the limit of the voice, but the limit should never be reached. Depleted energy is followed by the reaction of increased power. Orators gain new strength after every exhausting effort. The whole soul should be thrown also into the physical development of the voice. Public work, however, should be well balanced. The more the voice is used vigorously in the proper way, the better it becomes. The speaker should be alive, and his voice should be on fire with intensity and vitality. This does not mean that the orator must say everything in a declaiming, calling and shouting voice. Calling is not speaking, and shouting does not improve the delivery. At times the delivery must be very quiet and intense; at other times, the speaker must exert tremendous controlled en- ergy. Sometimes every word must weigh a ton, not in sound, but in intense earnestness, and every syllable must be uttered with a solid hammer blow. But the voice should never be dead, and the delivery should never be weak. The trained voice alone will be able to meet all requirements. OBJECTIVE VOICE. 65 The vocal cords are made powerful by the exercise of the various muscles in and around the larynx. Exercise i — Saying Roll or Blow. — Throw the head far to the right or the left with a quick movement, turning the chin toward the shoulder. This compels the larynx to jump downward in the throat. When the larynx is in this position, immediately after the turn, utter the word roll or blow with a full, heavy, low voice. This will create powerful vocal cords and also cure orality, or mouth reso- nance. Exercise 2 — Loud Counting. — Count from one to three hundred, in the strongest voice, with the lungs packed full all the time and the chest frame held rigidly expanded. Each count should let out only as much air as is required to support the heavy tone, and the lungs should immediately after each count be filled for the next count by an inaudible and quick inhalation through the nose. In other words : Fill the lungs, say one very loudly and solidly, using the least amount of air in the effort and keeping the lungs fully inflated; quickly take in through the nose as much air as had to be let out with the tone, and say two with the same force. The counting should con- tinue with the fullest force on the least amount of air until the voice is weary, otherwise there will not be much progress. This was Prof. Bell's greatest exercise for strength- ening the voice. It serves also as a cure for aspiration. The exercise develops an exceedingly strong voice in the shortest time. The great benefit of this exercise lies in the refilling of the lungs by a quick inhalation after each count; this holds the diaphragm under a steady strain. The breath 66 VOICE TRAINING FOR SPEAKERS. will be quickly exhausted unless the lower parts of the lungs are kept inflated. There must be no leaking of air. Every consonant should be cut clearly; every vowel should have the right sound. The throat should be open. The counting should not be carried beyond normal limits, for the voice grows by assimilation and not by forced bloating. Exercise 3 — Counting One Seven Times with Increas- ing Force. — Count "one one, one, one, one, one, one," in- creasing the loudness on each count, without leaving the initial pitch. The force, or loudness, increases from the weakest to the strongest point in seven stages of progressive force without raising or lowering the voice in pitch. The in- crease of force should be even and gradual. The throat should open more and more as the force increases. The work should be followed by restful exercises in thin tones. The strength acquired by this exercise is not abso- lutely enduring. Progressive force strengthens the voice but does not increase its vitality. The development of force in the voice should be accompanied by the develop- ment of psychic energy. Increasing energy, will power and feeling should be combined with the increasing force. The progressive movements for strengthening the voice were invented by Prof. Murdoch. Exercise 4 — Speaking Forcibly on a Held Breath. — After holding the breath as long as possible, consume the remaining breath by repeaitng a long selection with ut- most vigor, strong tones, firm articulation and burning feeling. This great exercise was invented by Vandenhoff. The breath should at first be held only a few seconds ; the time may be gradually extended to seven, ten, twelve OBJECTIVE VOICE. 67 and more seconds. No more air should be permitted to escape from the lips than is absolutely necessary to speak the words vigorously. When the words are ended, the residue of air should be let out. The lines should not be shouted. Drudgery of the hardest kind is the only way of achieving great results. Haste in voice culture is a waste of time and efforts. No part of the required work should be neglected. The following selections may be used in speaking forc- ibly on a held breath. They may also be used simply to strengthen the voice. They require a strong voice. ''On Atair ! On Rigal ! On Antares ! Good horse ! Oho ! Aldebaran." — Ben Hur urging his horses. "Rouse, ye Romans ! rouse, ye slaves ! Have ye brave sons? Look in the next fierce brawl to see them die. Have ye fair daughters? Look to see them live, torn from your arms, distained, dishonored, and if ye dare call for justice, be answered by the lash !" — Rienzi. ''If I were an American as I am an Englishman, while a foreign troop remained within my shores, I would never lay down my arms, — never! never! never!!" — Lord Chat- ham. "Shall we gather strength by irresolution and inac- tion? Shall we acquire the means of effectual resistance by lying supinely on our backs, and hugging the delusive phantom of hope, until our enemies shall have bound us hand and foot?" — Patrick Henry. Glottis Blow. The glottis blow requires the most powerful vocal action. Power and solidity of voice depend on the ability of the glottis lips to hold back a vigorous air column. 68 VOICE TRAINING FOR SPEAKERS. The glottis blow requires abdominal contraction. This is an exception to deep breathing, which expands and contracts the whole waist line. Sudden explosive tones contract only the abdomen. The contraction of the abdo- men may be felt by placing one hand flat on the chest, the other on the abdomen, and saying the word "bold" in a loud voice ; the abdomen should contract on the word. Glottis Blow Exercise. — Utter a series of light glottis strokes, saying ho, ho, etc., till a clear stroke is found. Re- peat this clear glottis stroke with a blow, that is, with a powerful, voluminous voice say ho loud enough to be heard a mile. The sound should roll away in two or three sec- onds. The word "blow" can also be used. The blow should be as easily made as the lightest glottis stroke. All the air should be consumed by perfect vibration. There should be no irritation in the throat. The sound column should strike the hard palate, and not the throat. A strong voice should not tax the muscular or the nervous system. The glottis blow makes the voice strong very quickly. Modulation in Force. Modulation is expressive contrast in the tones of the voice. Modulation in force requires that the speaker should not address his audience in one uniform degree of force, or loudness. Monotony puts people to sleep. Strong tones alone are monotonous; but the effect is thrilling when tremendous force is subdued, controlled and varied with quiet tones. The voice should be made flexible by transitions in the use of force ranging from the strongest to the weakest degree. The degrees of force should be distributed pro- gressively. OBJECTIVE VOICE. 69 Exercise — Seven Degrees of Force. — The following quotations cover seven progressive degrees of force. The pitch, however, should be the same in all the quotations. The first quotation is very weak in force; the fifth requires average force; the seventh should be given with great force. 1. "The curfew tolls the knell of parting day." This is very weak in force. 2. "Said he with his dying breath, life is done, but what is death?" This is weak. 3. "Leaves have their time to fall and flowers to wither." This is rather weak. 4. "Once in Persia ruled a king." 5. "Answer me to what I ask you." This is rather strong. 6. "Be ready, Gods, with all your thunderbolts, dash him to pieces." This is strong. 7. "Rouse, ye Romans; rouse, ye slaves!" This is very strong. The fourth degree of loudness should be loud enough to reach a large audience. The fifth degree requires a strong, solid, extended chest. The sixth degree bursts out in heavy glottis blows. The seventh degree reaches the limit of strong force or loudness. The quotation requires a strong attitude with the fists clenched and one foot ad- vanced with a bent knee. The quotations should be ex- pressed with understanding and feeling. Vital Carriage. The chest, the vital organs, the head and the spinal column should be carried in an elevated position. A vital carriage of the whole body indicates strength. Orators 70 VOICE TRAINING FOR SPEAKERS. usually straighten up when their soul is stirred by the fire of eloquence. An arched and immovable chest gives the body a com- manding and dignified appearance. The vital power of such a carriage communicates itself to the tones of the voice. The vital organs are the contents of the chest frame. These organs are lifted up by the forward carriage of the chest. This makes the waist narrower, the chest fuller, and increases the involuntary functions of the stomach, the heart and the lungs. Crowded vital organs interfere with the circulation of the blood, digestion and breathing. All well-shaped men and women should make a constant effort to keep the vital organs in their proper position. Abdomi- nal obesity especially should be counteracted by a con- scious effort to hold the abdomen in and the chest up. The chest should be carried forward and the vital organs should be held up in their highest position until this becomes an unconscious habit. ,The head also should be held up. A drooping head is an indication of weakness or weariness. The vital car- riage of the head and of the chest is very important in per- fect walking. The spinal column should be straightened by raising the upper part of the torso. This will reduce curvature of the spine, cure round shoulders and straighten sprung knees. Food and Exercise. A lack of energy is often due to a lack of proper food and exercise. The two chief uses of food are: First, to form the materials of the body, and repair its wastes; and, second. OBJECTIVE VOICE. 71 to yield (i) heat to keep the body warm and (2) muscu- lar and other power for the work it has to do. The latest investigations on the subject of diet show that because of the difference between individuals in re- spect to their demands for nutriment and the way in which their bodies can make use of different kinds of food, we shall never be able to lay down hard and fast rules to apply to all cases. Deep breathing and judicious dieting may be very helpful in subjugating the body. The same is true of physical culture. Different people need different kinds and degrees of exercise at different ages. It is, however, certain that a strong voice requires a strong body. Every muscle of the body should be devel- oped. A good physique is an immense advantage to a speaker. Heavy gymnastic exercises are probably not as bene- ficial as free movement exercises; and ordinary physical culture is not as beneficial as walking, swimming and other outdoor exercises. CHAPTER SEVEN. FLEXIBILITY OF VOICE IN PITCH. Progressive Pitches. A flexible voice responds naturally to all the require- ments of stress, form, pitch, time, force and quality. Pitch modulation requires the use of various pitches in speaking. Exercises in pitch modulation increase the range and flex- ibility of the voice. Every voice has a normal, or central, pitch, from which it modulates the other pitches. The other pitches should be blended with this pitch by the use of harmonious varia- tions in pitch. The voice is made flexible in pitch by exercises in pro- gressive pitches. Exercise i — Counting One to Nine in Nine Pitches. — Count from one to nine in a musical scale, beginning with the lowest note of your voice and ending in the highest. Reverse this and count from the highest to the lowest pitch. Hold the throat open. Do not sing the words. The fifth pitch is the middle of the scale. The fourth pitch should be the ordinary starting point in public speak- ing. One is the lowest note. The same result can be produced by prolonging a tone in each of the nine pitches. Exercise 2. — Repeat the following sentence nine times, each time on a higher pitch, and see to it that the voice ascends from the lowest to the highest pitch while main- OBJECTIVE VOICE. n taining only one pitch on each line. Reverse the exercise by beginning on the highest and descending to the lowest pitch. Or begin in the middle pitch and descend to the lowest pitch before rising upward in pitch. Do not sing the words. All are scattered now and fled. Exercise 3. — Practice the following nine sentences in nine pitches. Get a mental picture of the scene suggested by each line and color the voice with the necessary feeling. The eyes, the face, the mouth and the tones of the voice should be alive with dramatic interest. Various actions and attitudes should be used. Every word should be enun- ciated precisely. Avoid a singing monotone. The exercise is given for the purpose of making the voice flexible in pitch. Begin with the fifth quotation, which requires a normal pitch; then utter the fourth quo- tation in a lower pitch; continue downward to the lowest pitch; then proceed upward through all the pitches till the highest pitch in your voice is reached in the ninth quotation. 9. I repeat it, sir, let it come, let it come. 8. Three millions of people armed in the holy cause of liberty. 7. The sounding aisles of the dim woods rang. 6. With music I come from my balmy home. 5. A vision of beauty appeared on the clouds. 4. Friends, Romans, countrymen. 3. And this is in the night, most glorious night. 2. Roll on, thou deep and dark blue ocean, roll. I. Eternity, thou pleasing, dreadful thought. Exercise 4 — Climax in Pitch. — The voice should grad- ually rise from the lowest to the highest pitch in the fol- lowing selection from Macbeth. 74 VOICE TRAINING FOR SPEAKERS. A climax in force, or loudness, may be combined with the climax in pitch ; the voice should, in that case, gradually increase from the weakest to the strongest loudness while at the same time rising from the lowest to the highest pitch. Each climax should be developed separately. The climax in both cases is reached on the word "sicken"; after that the voice falls in seven steps to the lowest pitch and force. The difficulty of the work may be increased by doing all this in one breath. "Though you untie the winds, and let them fight against the churches; though the yeasty waves confound and swallow navigation up ; though bladed corn be lodg'd, and trees blow down; though castles topple on their warders' heads; though palaces and pyramids do slope their heads to their foundations; though the treasure of Nature's germens tumble all together, even till destruction sicken, answer me to what I ask you !" — Macbeth. Exercise 5. — Hold the tones oh, ah, ee, 00 either in the highest or the lowest pitch of the voice. Repeat this many times in succession. The sympathy of the vibrations will develop the adjoining pitches of the voice and rapidly increase the vocal range. The voice should be forced downward by practicing the lower notes twice as much as the higher. Exercise 6. — An extremely low pitch is used to depict profundity. The following words of Hamlet require a slow, low, bright monotonous voice. "Tomorrow, and tomorrow, and tomorrow, creeps in this petty pace from day to day to the last syllable of re- corded time." OBJECTIVE VOICE. 75 Slides. A mechanical slide in the voice is a long upward or downward movement in pitch; a glide is a quick, short slide action on a single syllable or word. A glide may be the same as a slide in range, but it is shorter in time length. Slides are used as purely mechanical exercises to make the voice flexible; glides are used for expressive modulation in speaking. The momentum of the slide action carries tones be- yond their ordinary range into a higher or a lower pitch which the tones would otherwise not reach. Exercise i — Rising Slide. — Begin in the lowest pitch and slide the tone oh or ah upward smoothly, without any breaking or wavering, until the highest pitch is reached. Exercise 2— Falling Slide. — Begin in the highest pitch and gradually slide the voice, in a prolonged singing tone, to the lowest pitch. This slide should be practiced very much because it deepens the voice. Exercise 3 — Double Slide, Rising and Falling. — Slide the voice in one breath from the lowest to the highest and from the highest to the lowest pitch. The double slides tax the capacity of the voice. Exercise 4 — Double Slide, Falling and Rising. — Slide the tone from the highest to the lowest and from the low- est to the highest pitch in one unbroken movement. Exercise 5— Swelling Slides. — Prolong the tones ah or oh either in the rising or in the falling slide, and increase the force or loudness, with the slide. This swelling gives the tones a double momentum of slide and increasing force which rapidly develops the strength of the upper and the lower registers. The slides develop the pitch of the voice ; the increasing force makes 76 VOICE TRAINING FOR SPEAKERS. the extremities of pitch strong. Weak spots may easily be detected during the swelling of a tone. The slides are sometimes used in modulation when long upward or downward slides must be thrown into the voice for dramatic effect. Glides. Glides are short, rapid slides used in giving meaning to words and syllables. A glide may be as long as a slide in range and time, yet it is a glide as long as the movement conveys meaning. The mentality of the voice depends on the glides. The longer the glides, the more developed the meaning. Audiences are more interested in the glides of the voice than in the voice itself. Glides are the most valuable element of intellectuality in the voice. Good speaking requires changes of pitch in the em- phatic words and syllables. Every accented word or syl- lable should have some rising or falling glide action. A glideless voice is a monotonous singsong in its tones. Singing is distinguished from speaking principally by a glideless use of syllables. A slur in singing is like a glide action in speaking. Pulpit tones which are due to a lack of glides must be broken up by glide work. A change of glides changes the meaning of words according to the glides that are used. A member of parHa- ment apologized thus: "I called Mr. N. a liar; it is true, and I am sorry for it." Much depends on the glides in the following: "The man would have died if you hadn't cut his arm ofiF." Glides were formerly called inflections. An inflection, however, is really a double glide, or turn, in the voice. A glide is a straight action. OBJECTIVE VOICE. 77 There are four elementary glides: rising high, falling high, rising low and falling low. Rising Glide in the High Register. Rising high glides express indecision, hesitation, doubt, surprise, inquiry and the like. The rising high glide is the weak character glide in the voice, and is used by persons who have no strength of will or character. Sweet characters also use rising gHdes in the upper pitches of the voice. Love tones are never decisive but express a quietude that betrays doubt and hesitation. It is sometimes said that all questions should end with a rising glide. All questions may, however, just as well take a falling glide. The glide in questions is determined by the character of the speaker. Self-asserting characters question in falling glides, doubting characters use rising glides. An experienced lawyer asks questions with falling glides ; a young, inexperienced lawyer uses rising glides. Exercise. — Slide the tone ah, etc., from the middle pitch to the highest pitch. The following line from Dickens requires a high pitch with an upward glide on each syllable. "Martha not coming?" Falling Glide in the High Register. Impatience and sharpness, both in assertion and em- phasis, employ falling high register glides. Falling glides are characteristic of a controlling mind; rising glides be- tray a weak and subdued temperament. Scolding voices use high and falling glides. The lower part of the falling high glide means enthusiasm. We shout hurrah with a falling high glide. 78 VOICE TRAINING FOR SPEAKERS. Exercise. — Slide the tone ah from the highest pitch to the middle pitch. Hamlet uses a high pitch and a falling glide on every syllable in saying, "Peace, peace, Mercutio, peace !" Rising Glide in the Low Register. The rising low glide expresses gravity of inquiry, mildness and tenderness. The lov^ pitch is serious. A grave and mild man says ''good morning" v^ith a ris- ing low glide. Exercise. — Slide the tone ah from the lowest pitch to the middle pitch. The grave question, "Would you rather Caesar live?" should be expressed in a low voice and rising glides. Falling Glide in the Lrow Register. The falling low glide expresses command, decision and emphatic conclusion. Supremacy and decision in character are marked by falling glides and a low pitch. Falling glides are demandatory in character. Falling glides should be developed from a low starting point; as a rule, the falling glide is not commenced low enough. The word defied takes this glide in the words : "Thou art defied." It is indispensable in the following: "Roll on, thou deep and dark blue ocean, roll." Exercise i. — Slide the tone ah from the middle pitch to the lowest pitch. Exercise 2. — Count from one to ten in one pitch using the rising high, the falling high, the rising low and the falling low glides. Double glides use two glides in one movement. The double rising high glide rises and falls in the high pitch. OBJECTIVE VOICE. 79 the double falling high pitch falls and rises in the high pitch, etc. Modulation in Pitch. No consecutive word or syllable should be spoken in the same pitch unless monotonous effect is desired. Change of pitch by the use of glides makes the voice musical. Exercise. — Practice the following quotation from Othello in the indicated pitches and glide movements. *'Do(i) deeds(2) to(3) make(4) heaven(6-2) weep, all(5) earth amazed(8-4), but noth-(9) ing(8) canst thou to damnation add greater than this." The figures represent the pitch of the word after which they stand. One is the lowest, and nine is the high- est pitch. Where two figures are given together, the sec- ond represents a glide. There are four glides : one repre- sents the rising high, two the falling high, three the rising low and four the falling low glide. The figures 6-2 indi- cate that the word heaven is in the sixth pitch and the falling high glide. The last eight words of the selection fall in pitch, with emphasis on the word greater. Preparatory Pitch. Sentences have word-groups; the groups have thought-words, or thought centres which carry the thought; the thought-words have emphatic syllables. The thought-word should stand alone in a pitch opposite to that of the other words. If the thought-word is in a high pitch, the preceding words should be in a lower pitch. According to the rule invented by Prof. Bell, modula- tion in pitch requires that all syllables preceding the thought-word of the group shall be spoken in a pitch op- posite to, and away from, the pitch of the thought-word. 8o VOICE TRAINING FOR SPEAKERS. This rule may be illustrated by the question, "How do you do?" If the last word is made the thought-word, then the preceding words must be spoken in an opposite pitch. If the last word is given in the number four falling low glide, then the preceding words should be uttered in a high pitch. If the last word takes the rising low glide, then the preceding words take a falHng high preparatory pitch. Each of these four words may be given in the four glides with the other words in a preparatory pitch. The sixteen movements possible in this one sentence would serve to establish natural modulation. The following rule should be applied at the same time. Progression in Pitch. "All syllables following the thought-word," says Prof. Bell, "should progress in the direction inaugurated by the pitch of the thought-word." This may be illustrated in the sentence, "Laziness grows on people." "Grows" is the thought-word, and takes the falling high glide ; the following words "on peo- ple" should continue in the falling high pitch direction. The preceding word "laziness" obeys the law of prepara- tory pitch, and must begin low. The rules applies both to words and syllables. What is true of the thought-word is true of the emphatic sylla- bles in words. The first syllable in "laziness" is emphatic; the following syllables in the word should therefore follow the pitch of the thought syllable ; preceding syllables would take an opposite pitch. The rule applies also to double glides. The glides assist the mind to catch the meaning thrown into a word or syllable. Audiences laugh when OBJECTIVE VOICE. 8i double glides throw a double meaning- into a word. Double glides either rise and fall or fall and rise in pitch on one note. The two parts of the glide may not have the same pitch length; the glide may rise one third of the length of the pitches, and then fall two thirds, etc. The time length also may be unequal in the two parts of the tone. The voice naturally executes all kinds of glides without con- scious effort. Deliberate glide work makes the voice flexible. The charm in speaking and action lies not in the large movements, but in the small details. Audiences closely watch the fine points, such as a glide in the voice, a glance of the eye and a movement of the hand. The voice is musical when the words are rendered in musical proportions. Children are guided by their feel- ings; up to the sixth year their voices are full of musical glides. Boys, however, use no length in glides. The naturally flexible voice does not follow any fixed notes, but is guided by the ear and the general effect ; the modulation shifts naturally and correctly with the feelings. CHAPTER EIGHT. BEAUTIFYING THE VOICE. The Pure Timbre. Timbre is character in the voice. This character changes with the timbres. The timbres are to the voice what stops are to the tones of the organ. The voice should be made flexible also by exercise in tim- bre transitions. The pure timbre expresses beauty in the voice. This tim- bre is called pure because it is free from defects. The pure timbre can be established almost in an instant by the simple opening of the throat. When force, or loudness, is added to the tone, and a low pitch is used, the pure timbre becomes the orotund timbre. The pure timbre is not at home in the lower pitches ; the orotund timbre is not at home in the higherl pitches. Heavy tones prefer a low pitch. Exercise. — Repeat the following lines in pure timbre, bright form, medium pitch and force. "One by one, in the infinite meadows of heaven, blossom the lovely stars, the forget-me-nots of the angels.'' "Look how the floor of heaven is thick inlaid with patines of bright gold.'* Beautiful Vowels. The speaker should carefully distinguish the different vowel sounds. This is very difficult. The vowel sound Er, for instance, may be written in all five vowels, as the following OBJECTIVE VOICE. 83 words prove : toward, her, bird, word, absurd. There is a dif- ference in the vowels of such words as on and lawn, ere and] air, ought and nought, no and o'er. Prof. Bell, the inventor of the system of visible speech, and father of the inventor of the telephone, invented a vowel scheme in which he gave each vowel a fixed number. The scheme presents the vowel sounds in the order of their action according to the position of the lips ; five vowels are flat, four are open and three are round. One stands for E, as in meet and we; 2 is I as in mit and stick ; 3 is A as in mate and late ; 4 is E as in met and red ; 5 is A as in mat and hat ; 6 is A as in mast and ask ; 7 is A as in mar and far ; 8 is ER as in her and sir ; 9 is U as in up and cup; 10 is O as in not and on; 11 is O as in ore and core; 12 is O as in old and oh; 13 is 00 as in book and stood; 14 is 00 as in boot and pool; 7-1 is the diphthong I as in mite, which consists of the vowels 7 and i ; 102 is the diph- thong 01 as in oil; 7-14 is the diphthong OU as in out; 15 is long U as in muse. The sounds should be remembered by the key-words meet, mxit, mate, met, mat, mast, mar, her, up, not, ore, old, book, boot, mite, oil, out and muse. The effort to number the vowels of words according to this vowel scheme will compel the mind to find the correct vowel sound. The voice should not be permitted to deceive the ear as to the true vowel sound. Speakers should not be driven to evade certain words because they cannot pronounce them properly. The short E needs special attention. Do not say govern- munt for government, citizuns for citizens, etc. 84 VOICE TRAINING FOR SPEAKERS. Beautiful Consonants. Some consonants are beautiful, some are plain and some are rough. Liquid consonants in such words as moan, mourn, lily and learn are very pleasing to the ear. Plain consonants in such words as good and bad are of medium value in musical speech. The rough consonants in such words as take, sect, car and catch need much polishing. Beautiful consonants serve to make the voice beautiful. The liquid semi-vowels L, M, N, R, W and Y are especially useful. L is the only liquid consonant that can be prolonged in tone. W is composed of the two vowel sounds OO and AH. Exercise. — Practice the following lines in a thin, pure, bright and very rapid tone. Repeat the lines many times. A lily lying all alone along the lane. Many men. Beautiful Stress. The median stress represents beauty in stress. This stress is produced and developed by swelling and increasing the force, or loudness, on the middle of a syllable. The tone should slightly swell and diminish, with a maximum of force on the middle of the syllables. The swelling notes of music are most pleasing and thrilling. The median stress is the foundation of a silvery voice. Speakers who use mechanical tremulo tones in speaking should abandon this habit and use the median stress in its stead. The median stress and the pure timbre may be acquired naturally by repeating selections which contain beautiful thoughts and sounds till their spirit is reflected in the tones of the voice. All the vowels should be practiced in the median stress. OBJECTIVE VOICE. 85 The nervous system must be kept in a strong tension dur- ing the development of the median stress. Without the ten- sion of nervous interest, the stress and the expression will be lifeless. Lack of interest in the use of the voice destroys stress. Mechanical speaking is uninteresting. The speaker must be alive to his thoughts and show interest in his work. A solid chest and full lungs should accompany the voice as it plays in its various elements. Exercise i.^ — Use the median stress in the following quotation. Swell and diminish the tone in oh, long, dreary, etc. "Oh, the long and dreary Winter ! Oh, the cold and cruel Winter!" Exercise 2. — Use the median stress and the dark form in the following line: "O ever moaning river." "O stern impassive river." Exercise 3. — The median stress and the pure timbre form a beautiful combination in Bible and hymn reading. In the following lines, the voice should swell on Lord, shepherd, Jesus and Lover. The whole body should be solidly tense, and the lungs should be filled to the utmost. A flood of mean- ing and feeling should be thrown into the words : "The Lord is my shepherd " "Jesus, Lover of my soul . . . . " Exercise 4 — Swelled and Diminished Bell Tone. — The median stress in speaking can be developed by swelling and diminishing clear tones. The mere holding of a pure tone makes the voice grow rapidly in strength. The swell and di- minish of a thin pure tone, however, increases the volume, purity and resonance of the tone to such a degree that it has a wonderful effect upon the voice. The exercise may also be 86 VOICE TRAINING FOR SPEAKERS. practiced to establish beauty of vocal resonance. Exercises in bell tones, which are simply clear and ringing tones, will be found in the section on bright resonance. First develop a thin bell tone ; then prolong the thin tone in pure timbre ; finally swell and diminish this thin, pure tone. The tone should begin weak, gradually swell in loudness and volume in the middle, and then die out. The tone may be swelled with great force and volume. The tones ah, oh, ee and oo may be used in various pitches. Many hours should be spent in practicing the swell and diminish. The physical and nervous impetus derived from the work will remain even when the voice is not used for a long time. Enriching the Voice. The voice is enriched by a combination of the median stress, the dark form and the pure timbre. These elements should be perfected separately ; each of them alone would take roughness out of the voice. Exercise i — Pure Tone. — Hold the tone ah as purely as possible. The pure tone is the natural basis of vocal work. Keep the mind on the tone and endeavor to detect any rough- ness. The tone should be tested in every pitch and force till it is certain that it is resonant and pure and does not contain! any aspiration, nasality and throatiness. Exercise 2 — Median Stress. — Prolong the tone oh and swell it in the middle. The strength of a pure voice is no| greater than the ability to swell the tones. Exercise 3 — Dark Form. — Hold the tone ah in the middle, dark form, which is not entirely dark. The sound column must impinge against the soft palate. The dark form is always rich, but it does not travel very far. OBJECTIVE VOICE. 87 Exercise 4. — Hold the tone oh in pure tone, median stress and dark form. Swelling tones in dark form and pure timbre rapidly enrich the voice. Sweetness of Voice. The voice is sweetened by diminishing the force of a ris- in;j pitch. The force should decrease in proportion as the voice rises in pitch. The rising pitch indicates interest, enthusiasm and excitement ; the diminishing force shows depth of feeling. This is a golden realm of the voice. The tender caressing tones of the voice naturally move up- ward in pitch, naturally diminish in force, and naturally are tinged with the laryngeal, or throat, timbre. Sweet characters never use force in a high pitch. Scolding women use force in high pitch. Growling men simply vary the pitch. The woman who is heard speaking to a child in a high pitch and loud force is not the mother ; the mother would speak in high pitch andl diminishing force of tone. The sweet notes of birds begin with the highest pitch in diminishing force. The word sweet may be used in develop- ing bird notes. Men's voices are too low for bird notes. In uttering the word sweet with sweetness, the voice should use a rising pitch, and the force of the tone should di- minish into a minimum. The words "come here" are sweet when they are spoken in a rising pitch and a diminishing force; they are scolding sounds when they are said in a rising pitch and an increasing force. Beautiful Voice. The voice is complete and beautiful in all its parts when it simaltaneously intones in the head, rings in the mouth, vi- 88 VOICE TRAINING FOR SPEAKERS. brates in the throat and reverberates in the chest. The perfect voice combines these four resonances. The voice is like a four-sided house ; if one side is miss- ing, the house is incomplete. The voice which vibrates only in the throat is metallic ; sounds confined to the mouth are oral ; resonance in the chest alone is flat. The voice should use all its parts together. The four great resonances should be established separate- ly before they are combined. Resonance in the head register may be acquired by prac- tice on words containing liquid consonants, such as "Rome.'* Resonance in the mouth may be developed by repeating the bell tones contained in the word bell. Vibration in the throat depends on the use of the intermittent stress, which adds trembling vibrations to the tones. Chest resonance may be quickly developed by exercises on the word roll in a low regis- ter. The chest cavity is the seat of heavy vocal resonance. The larger the chest cavity, the better the resonance. A large chest is indicative of great vitality. The reverberation of sounds in the chest increases the health of the cells of the lungs and is a better exercise for them than beating and pounding, which pre- vent an elastic return of the cells. Chest reverberation is the finest thing in the voice. Closed intonations, made by closing the mouth and open- ing the throat during tone production, perfect the tones of the voice. The pure timbre should be used. The correct position for closed intonations requires closed lips and a large oral cav- ity. The tone should be held as a humming sound. The head register requires a high pitch; the throat register, a middle pitch ; the chest register, a low pitch. The sound E is the key vowel of the head register for pitches nine, eight and seven. OBJECTIVE VOICE. 89 Oh is the key vowel for the middle register in pitches six, five and four. Ah is the key vowel for the low pitches three, two and one. Exercise i. — Slide a tone downward through the nine pitches in the key vowels E, Ah and Oh, following each other in one unbroken tone ; change from one to the other as thd voice passes through the pitches. The sound will consist of the tone E-Ah-Oh. Exercise 2 — Fourfold Resonance. — Prolong the word roll as a tone vibrating in the chest, throat, mouth and head. The word is easily prolonged in a low register, but here it should involve four registers. The word roll should first be uttered in the bell tone for mouth resonance. After the tone has been formed in the mouth resonance, it should be diverted to the head by closing the inner part of the mouth with the tip of the tongue. The throat resonance is added to the tone by opening the throat wide, as in yawning, and vibrating the tone with an intermit- tent tremulo movement. Finally, while the tone is being sus- tained in the mouth, head and throat, the resonance should be carried down into the chest. The tone will then vibrate in four resonances at the same time. The whole body will feel the vibration. If this is too difBcult, the tone may be slid from the head to the chest in one movement ; but the low chest tone should- carry the full resonance of all the parts. A fifth point is sometimes added. It is possible to some voices to carry the chest resonance in the head register, that is, to vibrate the tone in a high pitch as much as when it is in the chest. The secret of chest reverberation in a high pitch lies in keeping the chest frame extended. 90 VOICE TRAINING FOR SPEAKERS. This exercise combines the head vibration which was de- veloped by the word Rome, the bell tones of the mouth, the in- termittent stress of the throat, and the chest register which was established by exercises on the word roll. Exercise 3. — The complete perfect voice may be tested by vibrating the tone "awe.'' The tone should reverberate in the chest in such a manner that the head, the mouth and the. throat resonances are included in the reverberation. The vi- bration in the chest is much stronger than the vibration of the; other parts. The vibration of the voice may be felt on the nose bone between the eyes, on the top of the head and on the back of the neck. The nose bone should vibrate not only when the tone is in the head, but also when it has gone into the chest. The high register should not leave the chest support, and the low register should not be without the intonation in the head. The bones which are vibrated by the voice are like the woodwork of a violin, the sounding board of a piano, the heavy sides of a harp, or the enormous sounding board and resonant chamber of the bass viol. In bright tones, the voice impinges at the upper front teeth. Dark tones impinge at the soft palate. i Both the bright and the dark tones should be used in these exercises. CHAPTER NINE. POWER. Calmness of Voice. Calmness is a powerful aid in speaking. A calm voice uses a combination of the middle pitch and the middle time. An uncontrolled voice raises the pitch and increases the time. Excitement always betrays itself by a high pitch and rapid time. It is very difficult to speak with calmness before an audi- ence. Unusual efforts disconcert the voice. Men who were taught to declaim and recite have an uncontrollable tendency to declaim, recite and call out everything that they have to say publicly. The great fault of actors is that they declaim the commonplaces of life. Speakers should overcome the reciting voice. Calmness, however, does not exclude feeling in the voice. There are times when the voice and the action cannot be calm. Balance is essential to every kind of good vocal work. Calm- ness must be used only when it is an aid to expression. Dignity and Moral Grandeur in Voice. The middle degree of the dark form, which is half dark, expresses dignity and moral grandeur. Orators must choose between the bright and the dark voice. The bright voice is best for open air speaking ; the dark voice is best for indoor work. Orators who must do much outdoor work should have a hard, solid, heavy, orotund voice 92 VOICE TRAINING FOR SPEAKERS. which will not only serve to do the hardest work, but will never wear out. Such a voice should hold the throat open and use a modulated low bright register. Clergymen should use a slightly darkened voice and subdued tones. Exercise. — The following should be rendered with full vowels in a dignified darkened voice. "And then might he ascend unhindered to the bosom of his Father and his God." Grandeur in Timbre. The orotund timbre depicts grandeur in the voice. This timbre combines the largest volume, the deepest resonance and the fullest thorough stress. This timbre alone can reach the strongest degree of force. It is usually together with the thor- ough stress ; if these two are exaggerated, they will develop a bombastic style. The orotund timbre itself is not bombastic and ostentatious. The orotund timbre may be produced by raising the uvula, lowering the larynx and throwing the corner of the throat out to such an extent that the whole mouth, except the lips, is in a large yawning position. The orotund timbre is also established by swelling and di- minishing a pure tone. Exercise i. — Repeat the following three quotations in the orotund timbre, a low pitch and the loudest degree of force. The chest frame should swell with the feeling of grandeur. ''Together! shouts Niagara his thunder-toned decree." *'l am the Emperor." ''Every inch a king." Exercise 2. — Repeat the following in a grand orotund timbre. "Figure to yourself a cataract like that of Niagara, pour- OBJECTIVE VOICE. 93 ed in foaming grandeur, not merely over one great precipice of two hundred feet, but over the successive ridgy precipices of two or three thousand, in the face of a mountain eleven thou- sand feet high, and tumbling, crashing, thundering down with a continuous din of far greater sublimity than the sound of the grandest cataract." — The Falls of the Zambesi. The selection requires a very solid and sonorous voice and good pitch modulation. The voice rises slowly in pitch and force. The climax of pitch is on the word tumbling; the greatest force is on thundering. The three words tumbling, crashing, thundering fall from the highest to nearly the lowest pitch ; after that, the voice falls in a cadence of weakening force and pitch to the end. Exercise 3. — Repeat the following powerful selection in strong orotund timbre and thorough stress. The words in black type are emphatic : "And you, ye five wild torrents, fiercely glad, who called you forth, from night and utter death, from dark and icy caverns called you forth, down those precipitous black, jagged rocks, forever shattered and the same forever? Who gave you your invulnerable life, your strength, your speed, your fury, and your joy, unceasing thunder, and eternal foam ? And who commanded, and the silence came, — Here let thy billows stiffen, and have rest ?" — Chamouni, by S. T. Coleridge. This is a magnificent exercise. The voice should be grandly orotund. The emphatic words should have strong downward glides. The climax in force and pitch is reached on the word joy, followed by a cadence. The word commanded should be preceded by a pause and followed by a low pitch. The voice rises on fiercely and on thunder. The last sentence should be spoken in a monotone. The words should not be 94 VOICE TRAINING FOR SPEAKERS. rushed. The consonants should be strong. Unless the con- sonants are uttered very distinctly, the voice will roar. The whole selection should, if possible, be uttered in one breath. Grandeur in Stress. The thorough stress depicts grandeur. The thorough stress is force, or loudness, distributed evenly over every part of the syllables and the words. This stress cures orality. The timbres are the foundation of the voice, the stresses are the superstructure. The beautiful pure timbre is the best foundation of the voice. Exercise i. — Repeat the following in a voluminous voice and an even force on each word. "Forward the light brigade! charge for the guns! he said." The words are long and even, but they should not be sung ; glides must be put into them. The word charge espe- cially takes the thorough stress in a long full tone. The words "he said" require radical stress. Exercise 2. — The following should be given in thor- ough stress and orotund timbre. "Loud surges lash the sounding shore." Safeguards. The pure timbre and the median stress are, when they are used alone, comparatively insipid ; when they are used together, they are doubly insipid. Both the orotund timbre and the thorough stress are grand ; since they are usually together, care must be taken not to exaggerate them. The thorough stress should be combined with the pure timbre to prevent insipidity in the voice. The median stress should be combined with the orotund timbre to prevent a bombastic voice. Stress is a safe- guard to the speaker. OBJECTIVE VOICE. 95 Exercise i. — Use the pure timbre and the thorough stress in the following quotation. "How bravely autumn paints upon the sky the gorgeous fame of summer which is fled." Exercise 2. — Use the median stress and the orotund timbre in the following quotation : "Nail to the mast her holy flag, set every threadbare sail." Breath Backing. Rapid counting, with a rapid inhalation after each count, cultivates strong breath backing for the voice. Breath back- ing keeps the lungs packed with air and provides a constant supply of breath for the voice. Exercise — Rapid Counting. — Count rapidly and light- ly from one to three hundred, and take a quick, inaudible breath through the nose after each count. The air should be taken in by a light rebound of the lungs after each count. The breath should, in public speaking, be caught naturally, unobserved by the audience, and should be coming in and going out all the time as it is needed. Neither- more nor less air should be taken in or let out than is needed- The mouth may be closed momentarily while the breath is be- ing drawn in through the nose. Air may be inhaled through the mouth only when the air is pure and the throat is raw. The air should not pass through the nostrils audibly. Audible respiration tears away the membrane, and may in- crease the mucous flow to such an extent that catarrh will de- velop. The art of taking a quick breath must be acquired by training. The rapid counting exercise trains the lungs to in- hale in an instant. The diaphragm drops and rebounds quick- ly for each inhalation. The speaker should be able to take a 96 VOICE TRAINING FOR SPEAKERS. quick inhalation, whenever it is needed, without becoming con- scious of any effort. Rapid, unconscious breathing by the action of the diaphragm never tires the speaker. The clergy- man whose Sunday exhaustion forces him to rest the whole next day would fare better if he would adopt a proper method of breathing. No pause should be made to take a breath. An inhala- tion should be taken without apparent movement of the chest. The length of a respiration often depends on the length of a natural pause in the speaking. Natural inhalation and exhala- tion must take place at the thought-pauses, and not at the com- mas and periods. Pauses are sometimes required by the thought when no pause is required for breath. The exercises in hammering consonants, syllables and words may be reviewed here because they add to the power of the voice. CHAPTER TEN. SUPPLEMENTARY HELPS. Face and Eyes. The interest of an audience is largely dependent on what it finds in the face and especially in the eyes of a speaker, for the eye is the direct sense of the brain and conveys thought quicker than the sounds of the voice. The face and the eyes are the mirror in which the mind and the soul of the speaker are reflected. The eyes and the face of the speaker should play in harmony with his thoughts and feelings. A leaden, stiff, hanging face is uninteresting. The face looks stupid when the eyes lack expression. Interesting eyes will relieve even a dull speech. We speak of a strong eye, a dead eye, a wild eye, a quick eye, etc. The meaning of the eyes changes with the position of the eyelids. The eyelid half-way over the pupil of the eyes indi- cates calmness; at the top of the iris, interest; above the top of the iris, showing a narrow line of white above the iris, excite- ment ; far above the iris, showing much white, uncontrolled ex- citement. When the eyelid is down half-way over the dark pupil of the eye, it indicates deep thought ; when the upper eye- lid is at the top of the iris and the lower eyelid is up at the edge of the pupil, it indicates scrutiny. The expansion and contrac- tion of the pupil shows the measure of the speaker's genius. When the speaker is aroused in speaking, the pupil dilates, or expands. The eye brightens as the magnetism of the speaker increases; under tremendous excitement, it becomes jet-black. 98 VOICE TRAINING FOR SPEAKERS. The eye does not change when the speaking is only physical and muscular. Health is shown by the clearness of the eye- balls. The eyes can be made flexible and expressive by gymnas- tic movements of the eyeballs. Faults in vision are usually due either to a flattening or to a bulging of the eyeballs. The rotundity of the eyeballs may sometimes be restored by exercis- ing the eye muscles. Exercise will certainly strengthen the eyes both for sight and for expression. Care, however, is nec- essary, and the eyes should return to their normal place after each movement. The head should not move with the eyes. Exercise — Eye Movements. — Move the eyes far to the right, return them for rest to their normal place, then move them far to the left. Move the eyes upward and look straight up; after return- ing them to their place, look straight down. Look up far away to the right ; look down toward the left ; look up toward the left ; look down toward the right. Move the eyes in circles, right, up, left, down and reverse, in one movement. Magnetic Eyes. Exercise. — Stand before a mirror. Develop a pene- trating gaze by looking straight at the pupil of the eye in the mirror with a determination to outlook it. Stare hard at the mirror and put intensity into the muscles of the eyelids ; open the eyes wide and hold them tense while trying to open and tense them still more. Open them as widely and as tensely as possible. Stand dead-still. This will develop inward eye growth. The speaker should habitually cultivate the tense open, magnetic eye. The look, however, must not be excited, and OBJECTIVE VOICE. 99 the eyebrows must remain normal. Ught should never be per- mitted to fall directly on the eyeballs. Eye Control. This subject is introduced here only because it is connected with the exercise of the eye muscles. It will be discussed again twice at the end of the book to show the order of its value in expression and its service in controlling audiences. Self-control commences with the eyes. When the eyes wink and wander aimlessly, the words will not appeal to any- body. A far-away mind will assume a far-away look. The eye must be kept under control, and, like the voice, must never be permitted to roam about in empty space. The eyes look off into empty space when the speaker is about to break down. As long as the mind is in control and the work is purely objective, the eye should never be taken off the audience. The voice and the eye should constantly cover the whole audience. By the refraction of light in the eyes, the eye takes in the whole audience even when it seemingly is directed toward only one person. The eye should not be on two persons at one time ; it must, however, never be fixed on one person. The safest rule for reaching all the people in an audience is to speak to the ex- tremes, or rear lines, of the auditorium. This rule applies only when the mind is in control and the work is objective. Subjective speakers do not look at the audience as long as the work is subjective; objective speakers never take the eyes off the audience as long as the work is objective. Both ob- jective and subjective speakers hold audiences by the power of the eye. The subjective speaker sees the audience mentally and emotionally, without looking at individuals, and the audi- ence feels that it is under control. The objective speaker must look at individuals in succession and at the same time include loo VOICE TRAINING FOR SPEAKERS. the whole audience. An objective speaker is a part of the audience; the subjective speaker is a part of the Hfe or scene which he portrays ; a look at the audience would destroy the picture. In objective work, the eye gestures like the hand. In subjective work, the eye, the hand, the body and the voice be- come dramatic and emotional. Whenever the eye is used in objective work to take the place of a gesture or to follow an imaginary picture, it must immediately return and cover the audience again. A wandering eye loses control of an audience. Both objective and subjective speakers must mentally see the pictures which they draw. Polish and Politeness. Polish and politeness are valuable in physical expression. Polish is of the body, politeness is of the mind. They are nat- ural only when they are habitual. Polish is muscular smoothness and refinement. A blow can be struck in a polished manner. The muscular system should be educated in muscular refinement. The body should have good physical presence. Polish includes grace. Polite- ness includes polish and grace. Grace is obedience to the law of poise and flexibility in the carriage of the body. Mere grace is cold and colorless as long as it lacks warmth of polite learn- ing and action. Human beings are like diamonds, which are not beautiful till they have been cut and polished. Polish can be acquired only at home. Our words and our actions should be under constant surveillance. If our conduct is not as scrupulously correct at home as before an audience, some unguarded mo- ment in public will betray everything. What we do ordinarily we will surely do before an audience. We should never do in private life what we would not do publicly. Occasional polish OBJECTIVE VOICE. loi is unnatural because it is not habitual. Lord Chesterfield was famous for mental polish. Edward Everett was most polished physically. Polish may be acquired in the following manner. Imag- ine yourself present in refined society, such as the society of polished ladies who are queens in refined ease; practice meet- ing them, introducing them and conversing with them. A pre- sentation at court is always preceded by a careful preparation in handling the body and the dress. The private practice of meeting imaginary polished people answers all practical pur- poses in developing polish. Mental politeness should be cultivated as much as physical polish. Politeness is an art. Politeness combines generosity, deference and love toward others with a mental smoothness in the use of the muscles. Politeness sincerely desires to serve mankind. A rough laborer who possesses no culture and no polish may be truly polite. Politeness sacrifices personal com- fort to the welfare of others. Washington was polite even to his slaves ; when they raised their hats to him, he raised his hat to them. Solicitude for the comfort and happiness of others is a paying investment. The polite man receives more than he gives. Dignity. Dignity in the movements of the body requires directness of action. Dignity avoids unnecessary and superfluous actions. A dignified person would turn the leaf of a book with a single movement of the hand, and button a coat without working at the button holes. Grace is founded on dignity, and dignity is founded on simplicity. Dignity in character requires an even temperament. The irritation of our nervous age grows with the increase of the re- 102 VOICE TRAINING FOR SPEAKERS. finements of life, and becomes settled in the soured dispositions of men. Dignity of action and of character should be combined with simplicity of speech. Speakers should cultivate composure. Composure is an element of success in dealing with an audience, and wins great battles. Automatic movements should be avoided. In public work there must be no winking of the eyes, no swaying at the ankles, no twisting at the elbows, no hitching of the body. The speaker should be able to stand still when necessary and not look stupid when slight embarrassments occur. Supreme ap- parent indifference to the audience, combined with an apparent desire to please or help it, will be a great aid in speaking. Men- tality alone cannot succeed. The art of expression includes culture of every kind. The true orator avoids all display before an audience. Display is offensive to cultured people. The exercises used in cultivating the art of speaking must be discarded and kept out of the mind in public work ; the mind must not be hampered by thinking of rules for speaking. The great benefit of rules and exercises lies in the development of the speaker's personality. The audience should never be allowed to suppose that a man has studied oratory for display before an unthinking public. Even flowery language and delivery may be offensive to good taste. Tone Color. Tone colors are either objective or subjective. Tone color is mental and emotional interest apparent in the voice. The tones of the voice should bear the impression of the brain and the heart. Words should never be uttered without mental or emotional feeling. Colorless voices are dead. Tone color is the soul of the voice. OBJECTIVE VOICE. 103 The development of tone colors is the quickest way of ac- quiring the art of effective speaking. Thought and feeling can quickly be thrown into words. Both thought and feeling are very expressive. Thought is expressed in mental tone colors ; feeling is expressed in emotional tone colors; the one is ob- jective, the other is subjective. Subjective tone colors are dramatic. Words that are given with mental tone color express and convey the speaker's mental appreciation and impression. Men- tal tone color adds to the words a forceful specific intellectual meaning which they themselves may not contain. Mental tone color in the expression of thought requires the use of conscious mental power and all the arts of expression in such a way that the thought will receive its fullest suggestive mental expres- sion. The voice should have dynamic force in the expression of thought and mental appreciation. Emotional tone color should be distinguished very clearly from mental tone color. Emotional tone color expresses and arouses the emotions and passions. It requires emotional and passional force of such strength that it may rise to the very summits of expression. Emotional tone color belongs to the subjective voice and must be treated in a separate chapter. Mental Tone Color. The voice should show mental interest in what is being said. The speaker must mean in his voice what he thinks. Mental tone color utters the words with a determination that they shall be understood and felt as the speaker understands and feels them. There are many mental tone colors. Every thought has its own mental coloring. Mental interest is infinitely varied in character and degree. 104 VOICE TRAINING FOR SPEAKERS. The mental tone colors may be developed by practice in throwing the required mental interest and expression into cer- tain selected quotations. Each selection should be repeated till the voice has the de- sired color. The mental color itself may be acquired before it is expressed in the voice by repeating each color many times mentally. The following tone colors may be practiced as illustrating tone color. 1. Determination. — Repeat the words, "I will not" with determination. Various renditions are possible. The tones of the voice may express the calm and indifferent refusal of a re- quest. They may be the tones of a positive man speaking in a low pitch, slow time and falling glides to settle a controversy. They may be uttered with intense feeling, clenched fists, and glaring eyes, etc. 2. Surprise. — "Gone ! to be married !" The word gone takes a long rising low glide with the accent on the end of the word. The same glide should be used on the word married. The meaning becomes more pronounced when the glide is lengthened in time. 3. Wonder. — "Oh, a wonderful stream is the river time." The word wonderful is emphatic and suggests the proper tone color. The beauty of the words should be express- ed by the median stress, which swells the middle of the syl- lables. 4. Exultation. — "Ay, every inch a king." King Lear. This may be given in strong tones, orotund timbre and thor- ough stress. The chest may be thrown out. The body may seemingly float in air. The arms may be folded on the chest. The voice should glow with exultation. OBJECTIVE VOICE. 105 5. Defiance.— '1 tell thee, thou'rt defied !"— Scott's Mar- mion. The tones should be intense. The head and the chest should be raised high. The index finger may be pointed at the enemy. 6. Melancholy. — "The melancholy days are come, the saddest of the year." This is slow and low in tone. 7. Sarcasm. — "I rather choose to wrong the dead, to wrong myself, and you, than I will wrong such honorable men." Marcus Antonius at first speaks in a serious, half-dark voice, but on "honorable" he uses a double glide in the voice. He shows his sarcasm also in his actions. To designate "the dead," his right hand goes out and down to the corpse of Cae- sar ; on "myself*, his hand goes to his heart ; on "you", his left hand goes out to the left toward the people ; but on the word "honorable men," he throws these men away, while calling them honorable, by throwing his right hand from his heart far to the right and down behind the body. 8. Horror. — "Hence ! horrible shadow ! unreal mockery, hence!" Macbeth here defies the ghost. He throws his hands out to repel it. Miniature Exercise. The voice and the body should be prepared before speak- ing by the use of as many preliminary exercises as are neces- sary to unlimber the voice and the expressive action. Exercise i — Body. — Do all kinds of gymnastic move- ments to unlimber the body before speaking; rise on the toes, step far out on the bended knee, twist the body, throw the arms in circles, shake the hands from the wrists, stretch and circle the fingers, etc. io6 VOICE TRAINING FOR SPEAKERS. Exercise 2 — Diaphragm. — Fill the lungs and hold the breath. Press the hands hard against the lower ribs, and bend right, left, backward and forward. Exercise 3 — Chest. — Hold the breath, and knead the chest with the hands. Then beat all parts of the chest rapidly with very light blows from the flat of the fingers. Do not pound. Exercise 4 — Neck and Throat. — Stretch the muscles of the neck by turning the head in various directions. The throat should be massaged by light blows, etc. Exercise 5 — Nostril Exercise. — Open the nasal cham- ber by closing the nostrils with the fingers and filling the nasal cavities with air. Exercise 6 — Glottis Stroke. — The voice should be made clear by successions of light glottis strokes in various pitches. Exercise 7 — Glottis Tone. — Prolong a clear glottis stroke into a pure tone. Exercise 8 — Glottis Blow. — Say "ho" with a heavy strong tone. Or turn the head, with a sudden movement, to the right and to the left and after each turn immediately say "blow" or "bold" with strong force and volume. Exercise 9 — Resonance. — Prolong the word "Rome" or "roll" with full resonance in the chest, the throat, the mouth and the head. Exercise 10 — ^Breath Backing. — Count to one hundred with distinct enunciation and vocal variations, taking a breath very lightly after each count and keeping the lungs packed. Exercise 11 — Dark Form. — As a preparation for in- door speaking, prolong tones in the dark form. Exercise 12 — Range. — Slide the tones, ah, oh, etc.. OBJECTIVE VOICE. 107 from the lowest to the highest pitch and from the highest to the lowest pitch. The tones may be swelled. Exercise 13 — Pitch. — Repeat words or sentences in the nine pitches. Exercise 14 — Intermittent Stress. — Prolong tones in the various degrees of the tremulo, vibrating stress. Exercise 15 — Consonants. — Before speaking in public, always practice words with difficult consonants. Exercise 16 — Control. — The body should be held dead- still for a few moments, and the mind should be in a still mood before the work begins. End of Objective Voice. PART TWO Subjective Voice CHAPTER ONE. WORD POWER. Objective and Subjective Voice. The objective voice is intellectual, the subjective voice is emotional. The objective voice holds an audience es- pecially by the power of the eye, and the use of the various arts of speech; the subjective voice uses the emotions to arouse an audience to the highest pitch of emotional thought and feeling. An objective, didactic lecture is not more instructive than a book read by the fireside. Sub- jective work is soul-stirring both in speech and action. Objective work reveals the mind; subjective work re- veals the soul and colors all words and actions with mag- netic nerve power. The whole art of expression is built on words and actions. Objective work is nine-tenths words and one- tenth action; subjective work is one-tenth words and nine- tenths life and action. Action, however, is not theatrical acting; the centre of interest in acting lies in the stage movements. Action is the portrayal of life. Vocabulary. Growth of character as well as of power is co-exten- sive with a usable vocabulary. Words have a great in- fluence on human character because they both express and create thought. Webster became Miltonic in language and character by the constant study of Milton. 112 VOICE TRAINING FOR SPEAKERS. A good vocabulary is needed in good speaking. An orator must be a master in the use of language. The value, weight and meaning of words must be appreciated by all those who desire to achieve success in speaking. A speaker's vocabulary is limited to the range of the words whose meaning is famihar to him and which are at his command. The acquisition of a vocabulary of five thou- sand words would be a source of great oratorical power. Men ordinarily use less than five hundred words. Rufus Choate had a command of seventeen thousand words. This great vocabulary was acquired by him through the habit of using every new word at the first opportunity. Words do not become a part of the speaker's usable vocabulary unless they are used as soon as they are learned. New words should immediately be used even though it should become necessary to force a conversation to do so. Every new word is a rich acquisition. The inner meaning of words should be grasped. The value of words depends on their expressive power. This power may often be found by enunciating the words ac- cording to their meaning. The meaning should appear in the sounds of the voice. The sound frequently has more expressive value than the word itself. Shylock throws villainous hate into the words, "I hate him for he is a Christian." Old Scrooge says "bah" with utmost mean- ness, and puts a meaning into the word which the printed word does not depict. Special attention should be paid to the words in which the thought or feeilng of a sentence centres. These words should be found instinctively. The contents of a whole page may sometimes be ascertained by a glance at a single SUBJECTIVE VOICE. 1 13 word. A train of thought can be memorized by catching the important words in succession. A whole speech may- be evolved out of the suggestions contained in a few words. The speaker who has a good vocabulary is supplied with such a rich fund of words that the words will fairly throng around the ideas waiting to fall into place. Diction. Greatness of expression is dependent not only on the range of words which a speaker brings into use but also on the choice and arrangement of words and modes of ex- pression. Everyday diction and the parlance of the street, the household and the newspaper should be eschewed. Speak- ers should use good language. Inaccuracy in the use of words leads to many blunders in expression. When a man says that he is much obliged, he should not be told that he is welcome; and when he says, "I thank you" he should not be told in the words "not at all" that he is not thankful. A speaker must not be at a loss for words in speak- ing. Extra words should be thought of which may be needed during the course of a speech. Many shade words should be learned to avoid repetition of terms. A speaker should not think of his words while he is speaking. If the speaker stops to correct himself, he will fall into the mannerisms of halting and hitching. Halting grows on a person. The voice will not halt when the end of a sentence is kept visible in the mind. The language of an address should flow like the flow of lead in the linotype. The mind should never be hampered by the work. The words of an oration should be found incidentally by a preliminary development of the action. The action 1 14 VOICE TRAINING FOR SPEAKERS. and the ideas should be evolved before any attention is given to the w^ords. A painter tells everything at once; an orator must elaborate his v^ords and actions by a labor- ious process. The spirit of the words should be estab- lished before the v^ords receive any thought; v^ords w^ith- out spirit v^ill vanish v^hen words are needed the most. When the action has been established, the words will come spontaneously and fall naturally into their place. Oratorical success often depends on the way in which things are said both in words and actions. Good speaking requires an artistic temperament. An untrained speaker speaks in an ordinary way; an artistic speaker can present a subject with a wealth of meaning and feeling. The subjec- tive power of some speakers is so great that every word which they use seems great. A good reciter does not de- pended on the recitation for effect but can make even the poorest recitation very effective. Emphasis. There are three kinds of emphasis. Physical em- phasis is exclamatory; emotional emphasis is actional; in- tellectual emphasis is deliberate. Intellectual emphasis is mental and argumentative; emotional emphasis is dra- matic; physical emphasis is mere noise. Emotional em- phasis feels, and produces feeling; intellectual emphasis lays stress on the thing to be done; physical emphasis neither thinks nor feels. The question, "What shall I do?" takes physical emphasis on the word do, intellectual em- phasis on the word what, and emotional emphasis on the word shall. Argumentative speech uses either purely mental em- phasis, including the glides, or a combination of mental and emotional emphasis. SUBJECTIVE VOICE. 115 Inflexible voices usually employ force and simple en- ergy in emphasizing. Shouting and ranting, however, never make a speech emphatic or convincing. Loud tones irritate an audience. An empty wagon makes the most noise. Lyman Beecher facetiously said that he hollered the louder in preaching, the farther he was from God. The deeper the feeling, the less the physical expression and outward action. Physical speakers usually aggravate the physical emphasis of shouting and calling by the addition of pounding and stamping. The voice should be let out only for contrast in expression; then it will rest the au- dience. The word which carries the thought in a group of words is called the thought-word. The thought-word re- quires emphasis; the sentence requires modulation. Words are emphatic when they represent time, place, transaction and the participant, or, in other words, when they respond to the questions, when, where, what and who. Emphasis implies either contrast or comparison. Con- trast separates, comparison likens. Emphatic words al- ways suggest their opposite ; when we emphasize the word quality, we suggest quantity. The second term of a con- trast alone is emphatic; when we say, "Contrast is not comparison", we emphasize comparison. The meaning of the entire thought is affected by a change of emphasis from one word to another. This may be seen by chang- ing the emphasis on the different words in the question, "Will you ride to town today?" In comparison, only the word that establishes the comparison is emphatic; when we say, "She sang like a nightingale," we emphasize the word nightingale. In compound thought, the last word is emphatic; when we say, the King of England, we empha- ii6 VOICE TRAINING FOR SPEAKERS. size England. The qualifying word is never emphatic un- less the qualified word is emphatic. Involved words are not emphatic; one word in the thought is emphatic, and the others are taken for granted. Words that merely carry on the general thought should be passed over lightly in reading and speaking. Unemphatic words should not re- ceive much attention. Emphasis should never be jerky. In objective work, the emphatic word and its accented syl- lable take the gesture. The emphatic word should be framed, or set off from the other words. The word should not be emphasized merely by putting more force on it. The emphatic word should in all cases receive enough attention to make it stand out among the other words. There are over twenty ways of emphasizing words. The best emphasis brings out the emphatic word by a pause, or ellipse, both before and after it. The use of a contrary pitch on the emphatic word is next in value in emphasizing. Another form of emphasis makes the word emphatic by subduing the surrounding words. Very strong emphasis is produced by subduing the emphatic word and elevating the surrounding words. A change of timbre sometimes provides the emphasis. The habit of measuring off groups of words by fre- quent pauses makes the reading intellectually exact, but unnatural. The words in a sentence which have mental or emotional emphasis should be brought out by giving them their proper tone color, and everything else in the group should be subordinated to the color. Reading should not be mechanical. The emphatic words must be grouped, pictured and colored with either thought or emotion. Good reading requires that the words shall have as much meaning as possible. SUBJECTIVE VOICE. 117 The voice should be trained to resist rhythm. Rhythm kills sense; the ordinary rhythm in the voice should be reversed. In the following illustrative quotation the words joy, calms and death should be contrasted. All the words should be uttered with falling glides and beautiful pitch modulation. "O my soul's joy; if after every tempest come such calms, may the winds blow till they have awakened death."— Othello. Some Species of Emphasis. Emphasis is a special importance given to words and phrases. This may be accomplished in one of the following ways, or through a combination of two or more thereof. 1. Force. — Increasing or decreasing the prevailing force produces emphasis, e. g., "Study to show thyself a man." 2. Stress. — Changing or intensifying the prevailing stress produces emphasis. Median, (a) changed: "O change! O wondrous change ! Burst are the prison bars." (b) Intensified: ''But all, thou hast all seasons for thine own, O death !" Radical, (a) changed: "Whence and what art thou, execrable shape?" (b) Intensified: "Be ready, gods, with all your thunderbolts, dash him to pieces !" Final, (a) changed: "Back to thy punishment, false fugitive!" (b) Intensified: "Thou slave! thou wretch! thou coward !" Compound, (a) changed: "Ecstacy ! my pulse, as yours, doth temperately keep time.' (b) Intensified: "Tried and convicted traitor !" ii8 VOICE TRAINING FOR SPEAKERS. Thorough, (a) changed: "O Rome! Rome! thou hast been a tender nurse to me." (b) Intensified: "Arm! arm! ye heavens, against these perjured kings !" Intermittent, (a) changed: "And my soul from out that shadow, that lies floating on the floor, shall be lifted — Nevermore.'* (b) Intensified: "Tell me- — tell me, I im- plore." 3. Quality. — Timbres are certain characters which are given to the qualities of voice. They depict our feel- ings. Qualities are certain combinations of timbres ready for use. Changing the prevailing quality produces em- phasis. Aspirate: "And then I cried for vengeance." Gut- tural: "Revenge is stamped upon my spear, and blood's my battle cry !" 4. Pitch. — Raising or lowering the prevailing pitch by a discreet movement produces emphasis. Raised pitch: "Simpson came up with his face pale as ashes, and said, ^Captain, the ship is on fire !' Then, *Fire ! fire ! fire !' on shipboard." 5. Inflection. — Raising or lowering the pitch pro- duces emphasis. Raising: "I fail!" Lowering: "Yes, you fail !" 6. Time. — Increasing or decreasing the prevailing time produces emphasis. Increasing: "If ye are men, follow me." Decreasing: "Not among the wounded — missing! That was all the letter said." 7. Pause. — Every word that is emphasized by force, stress, quality, pitch, inflection or time, should be pre- ceded and followed by a pause. The lengthening of a pause that precedes a word will of itself produce emphasis. "To be, or— not to be." CHAPTER TWO, FEELING AND MAGNETIC WARMTH. Brain Functions. The brain has three parts : the cerebrum, the cerebel- lum and the medulla oblongata. The cerebrum, or front portion of the brain, is the seat of thought and mind; it trains the cerebellum, or middle portion, to execute its commands. The cerebellum controls and directs the mus- cles. The cerebrum thinks, the cerebellum acts, the me- dulla, or rear portion of the brain, feels. The cerebrum is mental, the cerebellum is physical, the medulla is emo- tional. The cerebellum co-ordinates the action of all the nerves, muscles and bones of the body; it may be trained by frequent repetitions to perform certain actions auto- matically. The medulla controls the heart, the stomach and the lungs, or the circulation of the blood, digestion and breath- ing, which are not subject to voluntary control. Personal magnetism is impossible when the intelli- gence of the brain is not under conscious control or is withdrawn from muscular performance. Automatic ac- tions are devoid of magnetism. The speaker should never give way to agitation; strong mental agitation is bene- ficial only as long as it is controlled by the will. Irritabil- ity also should be conquered and suppressed. Worry, care, bad news, nervousness, etc., depress the action of the medulla and injure the health by interfering with respira- I20 VOICE TRAINING FOR SPEAKERS. tion, digestion and blood circulation. Bad news, for in- stance, destroys appetite. Care absorbs vitality. Magnetic Forces and Conditions. Personal magnetism, in one word, is attractiveness. An attractive and interesting speaker has great power over audiences. The three great magnetic forces in speaking are feel- ing, fire and character force. They may be described in a few words as warmth of emotional feeling and passion, in- tensity of nervous and muscular force, and energy. Feel- ing is represented in the voice by the intermittent, or tremulo, stress. Fire tenses the nerves and the muscles. Character force reveals strength of character by solidity in the tones of the voice. The three forces always work to- gether although each remains in its own sphere. The action of the three forces is simliar to that of a thunderstorm. Feeling, or pathos, is the shower; intensity is the lightning; energy is the thunder. Dead voices often use much thunder in their tones. Orators should seek to thunder less and lightning more. The effectiveness of the three great magnetic forces depends on the following conditions: i, indomitable will; 2, a large magnetic life; 3, a persistent thinking of, and yearning for, the object which is desired; 4, the throwing out of the magnetic lines toward the desired result. There are four obstacles and barriers to magnetic power: i, an empty voice; 2, automatic action; 3, embar- rassment ; 4, unwillingness to do difficult tasks. The three magnetic forces will be considered in detail in the following sections. SUBJECTIVE VOICE. 121 Feeling. The first magnetic force is feeling. Feeling requires the use of the intermittent stress. Physical power in the voice is expressed by force, or loudness; mental power, by glides; emotional power, by the intermittent stress. This stress may be either mechan- ical or emotional. Physical and mechanical intermittent stress is not very valuable. The intermittent stress loses its effectiveness when it is so pronounced as to be noticeable. Street beggars use large wavy tremulo tones. Some of the poorest speakers are all tears in the voice. Sermons and prayers are not im- proved by large trembling tones. The intermittent stress should be concealed, and its influence only should be felt. An agency of influence so marked as to be noticeable to others at once loses its efficiency. The emotional intermittent stress serves not only to express the feelings of the speaker in his voice but also to produce feeling both in the speaker and in the audience. Feeling in the voice excites a responsive condition in the nerves. The muscular sound of the voice excites only the physical sense of hearing. The voice should therefore never be used without feeling. The intermittent stress shows feeling. Congregations love pastors who have a quiet tremulo voice in which the tremulo is not noticed but felt. The intermittent stress should be produced by the gentle vibration of the diaphragm. The vibration of the diaphragm itself should be inspired and produced by the gradual development of feeling. The vibration which singers produce in the throat is valuable only as an artificial exercise. Ice and coldness in the voice may be removed by 122 VOICE TRAINING FOR SPEAKERS. practicing glides in large tremulo waves. Ice in the feel- ings may be melted by using the orotund timbre in the in- termittent stress. The intermittent stress takes dryness and dullness out of the voice, and saves the throat. The use of the intermittent stress is facilitated by the use of low pitches in speaking. The waves of the intermittent stress should be studied with the aid of a chart. The chart should show the range of the feelings in ten degrees running from a lack of feel- ing to a climax of feeling. Voices deficient in feeling would be represented by a long horizontal line consist- ing of fine and close waves. Voices awaking in interest, or the second degree of feeling, would be represented by a line of waves one-eighth of an inch high and wide. The third degree, which is the most valuable, although it can- not be distinguished by the ear, would have waves one- fourth of an inch wide and high. Average emotion, which should be hardly noticeable to the ear, would be a line with waves half an inch high. In the sixth degree, the waves would be half an inch wide and more frequent lin- eally. The singing tremulo would have waves about three- fourths of an inch high. The tenth degree, which is used in strong emotion and represents the climax of feeling, would require a broken line vibrating in heavy waves one inch wide and one inch high ; the tones would be almost as broken as running laughter. The emotional degrees of feeling run from the first to the fifth degree. The third degree should be used as a rule by every voice. The fourth degree of the tremulo in the voice goes home to the heart. The fifth degree is the limit of the emotional intermittent stress ; if the voice goes beyond the fifth degree, it may fall into excessive affecta- SUBJECTIVE VOICE. 123 tion. Beyond the fifth degree lies the passional use of the voice. Moody used the fourth degree of the intermittent stress in his preaching, but never permitted the tones to become tremulous. Beecher and Spurgeon prayed in the fifth degree of the intermittent stress. Exercise. — Prolong the tone ah in each of the ten de- grees of the intermittent stress. The fifth degree employs a noticeable tremulo. The third degree reduces the wavy movements of the voice to such an extent that it is diffi- cult to distinguish any tremulo in the voice. The tremulo should be used in every utterance of the voice. The intermittent stress may be produced mechani- cally by rapidly beating the line of the diaphragm while prolonging a tone. Intensity. The second magnetic force is fire, or intensity. Mag- netic fire requires the use of a tense voice. The magnetic quality of the voice depends upon the amount of intensity thrown into it. Nervous intensity is the electricity of the body excited into a magnetic state. Magnetism is not hypnotism. Hypnotism puts people to sleep, magnetism wakes people up. Personal magnet- ism is the predominance of mind over matter. Magnetic persons magnetize their daily habits by vitality, conservation, repression and tension. Magnetic vitality of the nerves is generated either by exercises or by habit. Conservation is the habit of saving the vitality. Repression is waiting power which compels the energy of the body to remain quiet ; the initial increase of energy, so common in beginning a speech, should be checked by con- sonant touch, by stress and by holding the body dead-still. 124 VOICE TRAINING FOR SPEAKERS. Tension is an extraordinary vigor of nervous vitality in speaking whose most useful form may be acquired by ex- ercises in tense speech. Artificial tension in speaking should be avoided. A distinction should be made between mental mag- netism and personal magnetism. Some speakers have mental magnetism but lack personal magnetism. Mental magnetism is intellectual, personal magnetism is emo- tional. Mental magnetism photographs strong mental pic- tures on the brain of the audience by intense mental thought. Such mental magnetism is created by extempor- izing ideas in rapid succession. Personal magnetism, or attractiveness, is an outflow of life, nervous vitality and will power. This magnetism cannot be developed unless all the faculties are aroused both by an ever present mental determination to accom- plish a certain purpose and by a continuous interest in the process of accomplishment. Magnetism requires a strength of the fibres of the body which can be acquired only by hard practice. After the electrical vitality of the body has been generated, it is stored away in the nerve centres, or ganglia, which are distributed through the body and serve as electric storage batteries. The large nervous life required by personal magnet- ism is due to nerve tension, oxygen, proper food and ex- ercise. Oxygen is obtained by deep breathing, which vi- talizes the blood and carries off waste matter. The nerves are tensed by a gradual tightening and hardening of the muscles. The muscles should be tensed very gradually; a sudden tensing of the muscles would develop the muscles but would not strengthen the nerves. The muscles should be totally relaxed and devitalized before they are tensed. SUBJECTIVE VOICE. 125 The whole body and all its members can be devitalized and tensed. The gradual clenching of the fists will vitalize the nerves of the arms. Languor in the tones of the voice is due to a lack of muscular and nervous tension. The muscles and the nerves should be tensed according to the intensity of the feelings aroused in speaking. The nervous and muscular tension in the tones of the voice is the magnetic fire. The tightening of the strings of a violin raises the pitch of the notes. Magnetic tension develops fire in the nerves. The loss of control destroys magnetism. Such a small matter as a smile may let the mind out of the face and reduce the power of expression. Intense magnetic fire requires a tense chest. All warmth of feeling should be felt in the chest. The chest should be filled to overflowing with tense warmth. The tension should be stronger than its outward expression. Electricity is produced mechanically by friction and chemically by acids. A gradual increase of the tension of the nerves, accompanied by a gradual inhalation, excites chemical friction in the body. Rapid actions also produce electricity in the body. The following exercises are based on the theory of nerve tension and rapidity of action as sources of magnetic vocal power. Exercise i — Electric Exercise. — Stretch the arms wide apart ; fill the lungs ; then, keeping the arms straight, clap the hands together and throw them wide apart again with the rapidity of lightning in both movements. The body is electrified by the rapidity of the action. Exercise 2 — Magnetic Exercise. — Hold both arms out straight forward. Gradually inhale, and fill the lungs ; 126 VOICE TRAINING FOR SPEAKERS. at the same time, gradually clench and tense the fists up to their utmost tension. The inhaling and the tensing must go together and be completed at the same moment. The elbows should be kept elevated. The lungs should not be full till the utmost tension is reached. The exercise can be done by clenching the fists in the pockets, gradually grasping a seat, etc. A gradual tensing of the muscles, combined with a gradual inhalation of air, is probably the only way in which the nerves can be exercised. A sudden tensing of the muscles would not strengthen the nerves. The exer- cise of will power in gradually tensing the muscles put the nerves under the influence of the muscular strain; the gradual inhalation of air drives a fresh current of blood through the body and enables the muscles and the nerves to absorb nourishment during the tension. Other parts of the body may be tensed in the same manner. When one part is being tensed, the other parts should be relaxed. This often relieves nervousness. Strong exercises should be approached gradually, and should alternate with gentle exercises. Power comes by momentum. Exercise 3 — Rapidity of Utterance. — Under the pres- sure of great feeling, rapidity of utterance thrills the voice. Fill the lungs. Stand dead-still; the slightest movement defeats the result. Repeat the words with furiously rapid utterance. The pitch should be low. The consonants should be coined with intense magnetic touch. The voice should be very solid. Not force, but intensity of voice and strong consonant touch is the object of the exercise. Con- sonants touched with energetic nerve power magnetize the voice. The following quotation should be used. SUBJECTIVE VOICE. 127 *'Now you see the water foaming all around. See how fast you pass yon point. Up with the helm, now turn, pull hard, quick, quick, quick, pull for your lives ! pull till the blood starts from your nostrils, and the veins stand like whip-cords on your brow!" — Gough. (Boat going over Niagara.) Exercise 4 — Magnetic Walk. — The tensing and re- laxing of the body and the limbs in walking magnetizes the body. When a limb is free, every muscle in it should be completely relaxed; but when it takes the weight, every muscle should be tensed by a direct act of the conscious will. Relaxation should alternate with tension. The eye should show interest. Exercise 5 — Intense Utterance. — Practice the follow- ing lines in quiet tones, without force, but full of inward tensity of feeling: "Burned Marmion's swarthy cheek like fire, and shook his very frame for ire."^ — Contort the body, clench the fists and writhe with powerful nerve exer- tion, while the tones are absorbing the true feeling of the lines. Be sure the voice has no force. Make every sylla- ble tense, almost to a demoniac power. The work should be all intensity and no force or loudness. Have no half-way work about it, but grasp the exercise with an iron will, and light furiously all along the line. Character Force. The third magnetic force is energy, or character force. Character force requires the use of solid tones in the voice. Strong magnetic speakers throw the whole strength of their character into the tones of the voice. Characer force is expressed in the voice by solidity of tone. Com- pressed solidity makes the voice intense in nervous interest. The tones of the voice are made solid by tensing the 128 VOICE TRAINING FOR SPEAKERS. full lungs. The lungs must be full of pent up air, and the breathing must be done on full lungs. The whole body should be solid; every muscle should be so tense and alert that the whole body is as light as a feather. Repressed solidity of impassioned speech develops magnetism in the voice. The orotund timbre is valuable in developing solidity of tone. The voice should be large and full, the throat should be released, and the chest should be solid. The ^natural solidity of the orotund timbre is increased by en- larging the chest and tensing the consonants during tone production. Exercise — Orotund Solidity. — The following selec- tion requires a solid, grand voice. The chest should be enlarged, the throat should be open for volume, and the consonants should be tense. "But thou, most awful form, risest from forth thy silent sea of pines, how silently * * * Around thee, and above, deep is the air and dark, substantial black, an ebon mass ! But when I look again, it is thine own calm home, thy crystal shrine, thy habitation from eternity." — Cha- mouni, by Coleridge. Thrilling Power. An audience can be perfectly thrilled only when the speaker quietly and firmly maintains that higher form of inspiration which denotes absolute feeling. The quiet vi- bration of the tones is thrilling. All magnetic intensity comes from the gray matter of the brain, which is distributed through the body in the form of ganglionic nerve-cells. The magnetic power of the speaker must originate within himself, and not from without. The speaker should SUBJECTIVE VOICE. 129 not only be thrilled through and through by the thrill which he desires to impart to the audience, but he should also quietly and firmly maintain the thrill within himself while its waves are running through the audience. The orator should thrill others, but he should not let others thrill him. The thrill strengthens the speaker, but weakens the audience. Audiences love to be thrilled; when they have been weakened by the thrilling power of a speaker, they resolve to be great ; but the next day they will be weaker than ever. The influence of exterior power weakens character. People should not let themselves be thrilled and influenced into secondary power. Speakers should free themselves from the impressions created by others. Exercise i. — Practice the words, "All hail the power of Jesus' name" with thrilling power. The tones of the voice should be solid, the body should be held very tense, and the words should be thrilled through and through with a nervous glow. The word Jesus should be uttered with deep emotion; its first syllable should be uttered with an open swelling tone which reveals a flow of sublime soul life. Exercise 2. — Repeat the following words of Patrick Henry with thrilling power. "Is life so dear, or peace so sweet, as to be purchased at the price of chains and slavery? Forbid it, almighty God ! I know not what course others may take ; but as for me, give me liberty, or give me death !" Magnetic Power. There are three distinct oratorical temperaments: i, the magnetic, which burns the voice and its expression into an audience; 2, the virile, manly and heroic, which is espe- 130 VOICE TRAINING FOR SPEAKERS. cially valuable in the expression of noble and sacred things; and 3, the light and delicate. When the nerves and the ganglionic nerve-cells are charged with electricity, the whole body becomes mag- netic. This magnetism communicates itself to the tones of the voice. The voice indicates exactly the amount of vitality and magnetism possessed by the body. The voice is sick when the ganglia have been exhausted by loss of sleep or by automatic actions. The magnetism of the body should never be allowed to escape. A speech loses its power unless the magnetism of the speaker is held in store undiminished to the end. Uncontrolled loudness in speaking destroys magnetism almost instantly. The voice cannot be magnetic when it is physical. Nervous prostration is often due to the mongrel vocal friction of ordinary conversation. There are four propositions of power which should be observed in the cultivation of magnetism: i, what is worth doing should be done well ; 2, the speaker must com- pletely absorb the work into his being; 3, a picture of the whole work and all its details should be clearly formed and established in the brain; 4, the picture should be trans- mitted to the audience by an interchange of power between the speaker and the audience. First Proposition of Power. — Magnetic speakers must do their work well. The work that is being done should be the most important thing in the world to the speaker at the time. The audience must be aroused to see the im- portance of the work. A great speaker can throw a uni- verse of importance into a single line. If the work is of no importance to the speaker, it will also not impress the audience. Great importance may be attached to seemingly SUBJECTIVE VOICE. 131 unimportant details. Business men succeed only when they are interested in their work and know how to com- municate their interest to others. Second Proposition of Power. — The speaker must completely absorb his work. This will leave him free to maintain control over his audience. Third Proposition of Power. — The absorption of the work must be continued till it produces a clear picture in the brain. The brain is a camera, and concentrates an im- mense range of vision on one little point. The photograph on the brain of the audience cannot be clearer than the negative in the brain of the speaker. Fourth Proposition of Power. The picture in the mind of the speaker should be transmitted to the audience. This cannot be done unless the speaker establishes har- monious relations between himself and his audience. Un- responsive relations exhaust the speaker and depress the audience; a congenial interchange of spirit is exhilarating both to the audience and to the speaker. When an orator has gained absolute control over his audience he can sway it according to his will. Orators use their power of mak- ing strong pictures in their own brain to drive out every- thing in the brain of the audience except the desired men- tal picture; Patrick Henry even drove out the judges of the court. When a speaker is in control of his audience, he will feel what he is saying; when the audience does not respond and its interest lags, the speaker will feel that he is speak- ing only to a confusion of fine sounds all around him. The speaker who merely recites his work, or speaks with a lack of feeling, will never be able to impress anything upon an audience. 132 VOICE TRAINING FOR SPEAKERS. Magnetic conditions are the connecting link between the speaker and his audience. Speakers who lack magnet- ism are neutral, and neither repel nor attract. There are three propositions of power also in the ap- plication of magnetism: i, magnetism should be devel- oped and stored ; 2, the collected magnetism should be pre- served and increased; no erratic movements and auto- matic habits should be permitted to diminish it; 3, mag- netism should be stimulated in its growth by being used. Three things aid in the application of magnetism: i, good judgment ; 2, policy, or tact and pleasing methods ; 3, agreement with an opponent. These principles should be applied at every opportunity. Good judgment is required in the use of voice and action and the treatment of the sub- ject. Pleasing methods avoid irritating actions and a mo- notonous use of the voice. Agreement adjusts itself to the disposition and mood of an audience till an entering wedge can be found. No speaker should ever challenge an audi- ence by suggesting in his manner that he considers himself above his audience. CHAPTER THREE. THE PICTURE. Value of Pictures. Three things are of great value in expression: i, a good and well-modulated voice; 2, ready and responsive action; 3, the pov^er of seeing in the brain what the voice and the action are to portray. A mental picture is a clear conception in the mind of the speaker of the scene which he desires to depict. The outlines of the whole speech and of the various scenes in the speech should be fixed in the mind of the speaker as distinct pictures. Details require special attention. The speaker must see all the details of a scene as clearly as a painting. The mind must see in a few seconds as much as an artist would paint in several months. The mental pic- ture should be as complete as the finished picture of an artist. The speaker who sees in his own mind a clearly de- fined picture of the thought which he is uttering will in every case irresistibly impress it upon his hearers. Mental pictures serve to create ideas, ideas serve to create words, and words serve to create fluency of speech. Mental Vision. Mental vision is the faculty which forms mental pic- tures in the mind of the speaker. Mental vision should be cultivated. 134 VOICE TRAINING FOR SPEAKERS. Mental vision should develop its pictures gradually. The picture should never be forced or thrust upon the mind. The details of the picture should be developed in cumulative order by a frequent repetition of the Hues. The words should be reviewed with a formulating mind till the picture is clearly seen in all its details and its proper set- ting. Mental vision must be alert to recognize and visualize the details, characters and objects in a picture. Only the keenest use of the senses can bring out the little incidents of a picture. The brain must actually see the details of the picture. The speaker must be able to evolve scene after scene in his mind, and to co-ordinate the various scenes into one effect. The same process is involved in the development of ideas, which might be called thought scenes. Mere oratorical mentality does not impress an audience. Audiences are as a rule swayed not by objective argumentation but by the imagination and the feeling which an orator puts into his words. What the mental eye sees in a picture depends on the artistic sense of the speaker. Some persons see only the facts stated by the words, others see a world of meaning in the words. None but amateurs follow the suggestion of the uttered words. Orators have the great gift of inven- tion. Unless a man fully knows and understands his sub- ject, he will not be able to speak on it. Without a knowl- edge of the subject, the knowledge of the words will be worthless. The more closely a man sees his subject and his object, the better he will speak. Mental vision is an aid to gestures. When a mental picture of a scene, an idea, a thought has been fully elab- orated, the gestures will come freely and spontaneously. SUBJECTIVE VOICE. 135 Aritstic expression does not require the elaboration of ges- tures. A flowing series of mental conceptions is one of the best cures for a halting voice. The speaker should always see with his mind, and his eyes should be kept steady by his mental vision. The emphatic ideas should receive the mental vision. The following exercises may serve to illustrate what is meant by mental vision, (i) Develop a complete picture of a ship and all its parts. Shut the eyes, and let the out- lines deepen. (2) Repeat the words, "A wonderful stream is the river time," and see a stream in boldest relief. (3) Repeat the line, "Friends, Romans, countrymen," and see the faces and costumes of the Romans whom Marcus An- tonius is addressing. Illusion. Mental vision creates pictures in the mind of the speaker. The picture created by the speaker in the mind of the audience is called an illusion. The mental vision should by its picture produce an illusion. It is as difficult to create an illusion as to produce a picture in the mind. The picture force of the brain of the speaker conveys the scenes to the mind of the audience by a species of vocal telegraphy. The brain may be called a wireless telegraph station which receives and transmits mental pictures through an indescribable inner ether which pervades the air. Suggestion and thought transference play an impor- tant part in assisting the orator, but, after all, it is very probable that electric life flows out in some mysterious manner from the speaker to the audience. The mental pictures of the brain are transmitted to others by nerve 136 VOICE TRAINING FOR SPEAKERS. power. The work of the speaker either creates an illusion or gives the audience time to create it. Unless the picture in the mind of the speaker is clear in all its details, the illusion in the mind of the audience will be cloudy. The picture should be placed before the audience in such a way that the illusion produced will be accepted as a reality. The actor Talma made Napoleon forget that he saw only acting. A genius can conjure up illusions in the brain of the audience even when the words are inadequate. The speaker who desires to create an illusion in the mind of an audience must lose all consciousness of himself and of his audience, and must have only the affirmative consciousness of the scene which he presents. If he is not conscious of the scene, the words will leave him. He must place himself into the scene, and see it all around him; the carpet must be grass, the walls trees, etc. He must, how- ever, make his work appear natural. The illusion must reproduce the mental and the ner- vous state of the speaker. The illusion should be alive with emotion. The Bible is very rich in great scenes. The story of the prodigal son, of Christ's miracles, of Christ's suffering, death and resurrection, of St. Paul preaching on Mars Hill are more thrilling than anything in human lit- erature. The details of the scenes should be worked out first; then the mental and the emotional interest should be developed and reproduced in such a way that the audi- ence must see and feel what the speaker sees and feels. The work must not be an imitation; it must be real. Dramatic scenes should not be rendered as pieces of oratory. A troubled and foaming ocean should be made to live again. A storm should not be an ordinary drizzle. SUBJECTIVE VOICE. 137 If the audience fails to see the storm readily, the words of the description should be uttered with less speed. The audience will catch and follow the ideas and feelings of the speaker who is alive to his work. The eyes play an important part in creating an illusion. In subjective work, the eyes behold the scene which is being depicted, and never leave the scene to look at the audience ; in objective work, the eye never leaves the audience, but tells the audience all the objects and details of the scene. Three things should be remembered concerning the expressive use of the eyes: i, the eye should never be used without expressive meaning; 2, the eye should never wander or be restless; 3, in subjective work, the eye should follow the picture, and never address itself directly to the audience. The imaginary details of a descriptive portrayal must often be abandoned as the story advances. A recitation may in the first stanzas portray a maiden as having flowers in her hand and in the end represent her as having a dagger in her hand. The picture, mental vision and the illusion should be used whenever it is possible to do so. CHAPTER FOUR. EMOTIONAL COLORS. Breaking the Crust. Children employ all the arts of expression. In course of time, however, their natural powers of emotional ex- pression become covered with a crust because they habitu- ally seek to hide their feelings from view. The power of expression in most grown persons is therefore very limited. There are three crusts which must be broken to make artistic expression possible : the emotional, the intellectual and the physical. The emotional crust is easily broken by exercises in emotional work. Practice in the expression of the emotions opens the inner nature of man and permits it to burst through the enveloping outer circle of ordinary interest. The intellectual crust interferes very much with facial expression. Some intellectual giants are like owls in their facial expression. The crust can be broken by a general training in expression. Physical restraints are removed by physical training. The speaker should not give way to his feelings. A complete exhibition of feeling interferes with expression. Quiet colors are hard to get. Great strength is required to tone down the feelings in artistic expression. A clergy- man may let his eyes fill with tears at a funeral, but he must not actually cry. A lawyer would not increase the thrilling powder of a pathetic case by dropping tears on the SUBJECTIVE VOICE. 139 floor and indulging in copious weeping; the opposing coun- selor might make a motion to have the roof examined to ascertain whether it be capable of standing the strain of the leaking. Expression may be concentric, excentric and neutral. Concentric expression knits the expression together. The outward expression of feeling should as a rule decrease as the intensity increases. The expression should, however, never become weak. Excentric expression is wild in char- acter and flies out from the center of control. The man who is very loud in his grief will not die broken-hearted; true grief is deep and quiet. Emotional Color. Emotional tone color should be distinguished from mental tone color. Mental tone color shows mental inter- est; emotional color shows feeling. Mental tone colors were described in the last chapter on objective voice. When the nerves are on fire with emotion, the nervous feeling will be reflected in the tones of the voice. The color of the voice changes with the emotions. Sick people have a sick voice, etc. The emotional effects in the voice may be aided by a proper use of the face, the eyes, the attitude and the actions. Emotional color in the voice comes only by practice and appears more in effect than in expression. The de- sired emotional color must be approached in such a way that it will gradually dawn on the mind. The emotional expression of the voice must come from the effort of the soul to go out into the expression of the tones of the voice. Emotional colors cannot be forced either in the feelings or in the voice. The difficulties in emotional expression 140 VOICE TRAINING FOR SPEAKERS. are increased by the fact that many renditions are possible for each emotion. There are as many emotional colors as emotions and passions. The voice should be able to play on the emo- tions, and in the emotions, as on a thousand-souled instru- ment. The development of emotional colors should be the chief v^ork in expression. The v^hole art of expression may be learned through the emotional colors. The use of emotional tone colors is especially valu- able to ministers. Ministers must weep with those that weep and rejoice with those that rejoice. On Good Fri- day they must feel the solemnity of the sad scenes. On Easter they must exult in victory. At funerals they must be sorrowful, at weddings they must feel happy. Every ministerial act requires some emotional color. The emotional colors should be carefully distinguished in practice ; each emotion should stand out as a separate thing. The emotional colors will then serve to develop the emotions. In speaking, the emotional colors should be distinct, yet each color should harmonize with the others as beautifully as the many shades of green blend into each other in a forest. Emotional effect should depend chiefly upon delicate shading in emotional work, and not on strong vocal changes. Lights and shadows must be used to set oE the various emotions. In practice, however, the differ- ent colors should be compared till the voice can give each emotional color in a distinctive way. Ten Passions. The following ten passions may be used for practice as emotional centres around which other emotions may be grouped and developed. The colors are : love, hate, hope, grief, pride, shame, resolution, fear, excitement, depres- SUBJECTIVE VOICE. 141 sion. Each quotation should be repeated many times with full emotional color and expressive action. Each quota- tion may be interpreted in various ways. This is the only way in which the emotional crust can be broken. Love. — "And when night came, amidst the breathless heavens, we'd guess what star should be our home when love becomes immortal." The lover, Claude Melnotte, may be represented as standing with his left arm over the back of the chair on which Pauline sits and his right hand pointing to the stars. His voice is full of ideal love. On the word "heav- ens", he steps forward, and his outstretched arm sweeps toward the right. On the words "our home," he looks at Pauline. The words "what star" are uttered with great intensity. On the word "immortal", his hand rises up over his head, pointing to the sky. This rendition is merely an illustration; other renditions should be used. Hate. — "If I can catch him once upon the hip, I will feed fat the ancient grudge I bear him." These words are uttered by Shylock. His looks and his voice are full of hate. He may be portrayed either by attitude or by action. In the attitude, he might be seen standing still with clenched fists, wicked eyes and his body turned slightly away from his gaze. In action, he may be presented by bending forward and clutching the enemy with the hands. Some interpreters consider Shylock a lofty wronged man, others depict him as a violent mon- ster. The voice should be subdued. The words should be repeated at first in an ordinary way; feeling and action should be added gradually. Hope. — "Ah, well ! for us all some sweet hope lies, deeply buried from human eyes." 142 VOICE TRAINING FOR SPEAKERS. These words moralize. The eyes may be raised to look upward. The right hand may be used in an objective gesture referring to the sky on the words "sweet hope". Grief. — "I have been patient with my Maker, but this grief is far too great for me to bear." The voice should use the dark form and the intermit- tent stress. Pride. — "Behold it! Listen to it! Every star has a tongue; every stripe is articulate." This refers to the national flag. The words should be rendered in bright form, orotund timbre and thorough stress. Shame. — "To be now a sensible man, by and by a fool, and presently a beast." — Othello. These words are uttered by Cassio. Shame depresses the head and relaxes the main lines of the body. On the first phrase, Cassio depresses the head slightly; on the sec- ond, a little more ; on the third, very much. The voice de- scends in pitch as the body relaxes. Every word is spoken in the radical stress. In dignified shame, the head only leans forward. A slave kneeling before Cleopatra in abject shame would lean far forward and finally fall prostrate. Physical cowardice, however, does not imply moral and intellectual cowardice. A scriptural instance of shame is found in the story of the prodigal son. Resolution. — "They'd rob me of my daughter, would they? Let them try it." These words of Shylock are a good exercise for the development of magnetism in the voice. The rendition should be very quiet, deep and intense. In an attitude, SUBJECTIVE VOICE. 143 the arms may be folded, and the chest may be held out. The words should be shaded with delicate lights and shadows. In action, Shylock first expresses the informa- tion which he has received; then he steps back, folds his arms and says, "Let them try it." If other action is used, the rendition should not be erratic; the arms should not fly through the air; the voice should not be loud; the limit of determination should not be overstepped. The fists may be clenched while the words are being uttered. The work may be overdone only for the purpose of breaking the emotional crust. The words should never be de- claimed. Fear. — "Whence is that knocking? How is it with me, when every noise appalls me." The words are preceded by a gasp. The hand clutches at the heart. The second half of the quotation is spoken in the usual tone of the voice. Excitement. — "Away on a hot chase down the wind. But never was fox-hunt half so hard, and never was horse so little spared, for we rode our lives !" This should be rendered in rapid time, bright form,, high pitch and a climax of pitch and force on "lives". Depression. — "Nay, take my life and all; pardon not that." This is slow, low, dark and intermittent. Erratic Passion. Violent passions are excentric, and have a tendency to use a loud voice and violent actions. In proportion as the body depicts uncontrolled passion, the feet, hands, fin- gers and arms fly out from the body. Yet even the most excentric expression requires some restraint. No interpre- tation should fully reproduce what the words and the feel- 144 VOICE TRAINING FOR SPEAKERS. ings suggest. A rough, violent and erratic exhibition of passion is inartistic even when it is natural. Expression should never overstep the limits of artistic taste. Passional Reservation. — The voice is best used in the expression of passion when it approaches its limit of force without reaching it. All deep feeling is subdued. The greatest self-control is necessary in the strongest work. The best speakers show the most repose in their work and appearance. The great actor Garrick merely moved his lips in expressing his awe at the appearance of the ghost in Hamlet. The deeper the feeling, the quieter the voice. CHAPTER FIVE. VOICE SUMMITS. Proportion. The law of principality demands that there should be only one leading idea in every selection or oration and all other ideas should be subordinated to the leading idea. The attention is distracted when the minor details are en- larged and the central idea cannot be followed in an easy and rational manner from the beginning to the end. The various points of interest should not receive more than their due proportion of interest. Every strong literary production should have an in- teresting climax built not only on a gradual increase in in- teresting thought but also on a growing intensity of emor tion. One of the most striking defects in speakers and readers is the inability to present climaxes artistically. The speaker must husband and distribute his resources in such a manner that when the moment of greatest interest is reached he will have suiBcient power to produce the de- sired effect. The end must be kept in view from the very beginning. Climacteric Voice. There are many kinds of climaxes in expression. The most popular climaxes are in force, pitch, energy, intensity and action. Climaxes require a careful management of the voice; the voice should not be jerky. Amateurs usually end a 146 VOICE TRAINING FOR SPEAKERS. climax by straining the voice. The voice may rise within ninety-nine per cent of its highest reach, but beyond that the effort will end in a collapse. A speaker should not be an impassioned ranter. Spectacular climaxes are inar- tistic. Climaxes in action should be in harmony with the vocal climax. Action reaches its climax when it ap- proaches an attitude large in its picture effect and limited in its movements. A mere increase of force, or loudness, is not a good climax. A climax in force should be accompanied by an increase of intensity and energy. Intensity becomes stronger when the force is subdued. The best climaxes use very little force. A rising pitch and an increasing energy of force, op- erating together in rapid time, produce the vocal climax of excitement. This may be seen in the following lines, used in the last chapter, which employ rapid time and end in a climax of pitch and force. "Away on a hot chase down the wind. But never was fox-hunt half so hard, and never was horse so little spared, for we rode our lives !" Exercise — Climax in Pitch and Force. — A climax in pitch and force should not contain more than thirty words. The following quotation from Rienzi's Address contains a fine climax in pitch and force. The word "either" is em- phatic. There should be a pause before "I swear." The word "shall" takes a strong, downward slide in the voice. The climax is on free. "And once again — hear me, ye walls that echoed to the tread of either Brutus ! — once again I swear the Eternal City shall be free." SUBJECTIVE VOICE. 147 Exercise — Climax in Pitch, Force and Intensity. — In the following line, the voice shall rise swiftly in pitch, force and intensity to the word "lied". "Lord Angus, thou hast lied." Exercise — Climax in Force, Energy and Intensity. — An increasing succession of force, energy and intensity, in voice, action and feeling, when skillfully handled is the summit of climacteric expression. Force is loudness; en- ergy is solidity of voice ; intensity is fire or tension in the voice; these three may be combined and increased within themselves into a climax of irresistible force. Pitch may be added to this triple climax. The following grand selection from Webster should be practiced as a splendid climax in force, energy and in- tensity. The voice should be voluminous or orotund. The pitch should be varied. The radical stress should be used. The climax is reached on the "and" between Liberty and Union. "When my eyes shall be turned to behold, for the last time, the sun in heaven, may I not see him shining on the broken and dishonored fragments of a once glorious union; on states dissevered, discordant, beUigerent; on a land rent with civil feuds, or drenched, it may be, in fra- ternal blood ! Let their last feeble and lingering glance rather behold the gorgeous ensign of the republic, now known and honored throughout the earth, still 'full high advanced' ; — its arms and trophies streaming in their orig- inal lustre, not a stripe erased or polluted, nor a single star obscured — bearing for its motto, no such miserable inter- rogatory as 'What is all this worth?' nor those other words of delusion and folly, 'Liberty first and Union after- wards', — but everywhere, spread all over in characters of 148 VOICE TRAINING FOR SPEAKERS. living light, blazing on all its ample folds, as they float over the sea and over the land, and in every wind under the whole heavens, that other sentiment, dear to every true American heart, — Liberty and Union, now and forever, one and inseparable.'* Expressive Slide. The expressive slide is a long downward slide of the voice. The short expressive slide slides the voice from the middle to the lowest pitch on a single syllable or word; the long expressive slide slides the voice downward from the highest to the lowest pitch on one or more words. Ex- pressive slides impart a powerful expressive movement to the voice. Exercise — Short Expressive Slide. — Use the short ex- pressive slide in the following quotations. "Liberty and Union." The word "and" is emphatic, and takes the slide ; the voice begins the word in the middle pitch and slides it down with a solid voice into a low pitch. "The eternal city shall be free." The voice of Rienzi gradually rises to the word "shall"; the voice then turns and falls in this word from the middle pitch to the lowest. The last word may be uttered in a loud high pitch. Exercise — Long Expressive Slide. — This slide falls from the highest to the lowest pitch on one or more words. Practice the following lines. "I'd launch the curse of Rome." The voice should fall from a high pitch to the middle pitch on the word "curse", and from the middle to the low pitch on the word "Rome". "The aliens blanched." The upper half of the slide should fall on "ahens", the lower on "blanched". "I will be forced to die." The voice should fall in full range of pitch on the word "forced". SUBJECTIVE VOICE. 149 Thunderbursts. Thunderbursts in the use of the voice are sudden tre- mendous explosions of tone. A thunderburst is climacteric when its approach is unexpected. Thunderbursts are used chiefly to produce startling effects. The voice should not use all its force in a thunderburst. Exercise. — Parts of the following quotations may be used for thunderbursts in the voice. "He has done the murder. No eye has seen him, no ear has heard him. The secret is his own, and it is safe !'* In these sentences, Webster's voice dropped and died away nearly to nothing. Then followed a bolt of lightning in the words, "Ah ! gentlemen, that was a dreadful mistake." Then Webster yelled, "Such a secret can be safe nowhere. The whole creation of God has neither nook nor corner where the guilty can bestow it and say it is safe.'* This startling thunderburst paralyzed the audience. In the magnificent oration by the entrancing orator R. S. Shiel on the "Irish Aliens and English Victories," the stately flow of the wonderful oratory brings the audience to a tremendous realization of the false accusation that the Irish were aliens. The orator points to the fact that these "aliens" had, under Wellington, hurled back the legions of Napoleon. His voice rolls on with irresistible climacteric force, and finally bursts out into a terrific thun- derburst on the words: — "Tell me, if, for an instant, when to hesitate for an instant was to be lost, the aliens blanched." On the word "aliens", the voice should glide upward on the first syllable and then immediately turn downward with an expressive slide from the high to the middle pitch. The voice should render the word "blanched" with ter- ISO VOICE TRAINING FOR SPEAKERS. rific force and a slide from the middle to the lowest pitch in one second. Steady Onbeat. The steady onbeat of the voice is an irresistible and in- creasing flow of powerful language which goes steadily on, without a pause, and at the same time increases its power and intensity. Every syllable should push onward with impetuous power. The steady onbeat is like the increasing headway of a great steamship. The onbeat of the voice reveals an irresistible flow of power. The onbeat must begin quietly. All the muscles of the body should be held tense. The momentum of the words must constantly increase. A loss of control would destroy the onbeat. The feeling must be held in check like chained lightning and at the same time gradually be let out without any loss by diffusion. Exercise i. — The following description of eloquence by Webster is a fine example of the steady onbeat in the voice. "The clear conception, outrunning the deductions of logic, the high purpose, the firm resolve, the dauntless spirit, speaking on the tongue, beaming from the eyes, in- forming every feature, and urging the whole man onward right onward to his object — this, this is eloquence; or, rather, it is something greater and higher than all elo- quence, it is action, noble, sublime, godlike action.'* The voice reaches its climax on the word "action"; this word should be in the eighth pitch, nearly at the top of the voice. The three following words form a cadence ; "noble" should be in the sixth, "sublime" in the third, and "godlike" in the first, or lowest, pitch. The voice should SUBJECTIVE VOICE. 151 not be excited. Action involves the mind, the soul and the body. Exercise 2. — Render the following quotation with a steady onbeat. "On the earl's cheek the flush of rage o'ercame the ashen hue of age. Fierce broke he forth." The voice should rise in pitch and energy to the word "o'ercame", then it should fall to the end of the first sen- tence. "O'ercame" is emphatic and loud. The word "fierce" should be given in very high pitch, very strong force and a falling high glide. The last words are spoken rapidly. Cadence. Cadences are the opposite of climaxes. Cadences let the voice fall away gradually for the purpose of imparting a finish to the ending of well-rounded sentences by dimin- ishing the force, lowering the pitch and decreasing the speed of the voice. Cadences usually fall from three to seven syllables. Exercise i. — The Seminole's Reply ends with a cad- ence on the last six words. Cadences must not be sung. "But I'll swim the sea of slaughter till I sink beneath its wave." Exercise 2. — The following quotation contains both a climax and a cadence. The voice rises in pitch and force from the beginning to the word joy, after that it falls in a cadence of five words to a low pitch. The word thunder should have a rising glide; the word eternal should have a falling glide. The thorough stress and the orotund timbre should be used. "Who gave you your invulnerable life, your strength. 152 VOICE TRAINING FOR SPEAKERS. your speed, your fury and your joy, unceasing thunder and eternal foam?" Glide Lengths. Singing is the utterance of sounds without either ris- ing or falling glides; it creates feeling, but does not make people think. Chanting is a cross between speaking and singing which shortens and shifts the tones without using any glide ; it has feeling rather than thought. Intoning is a cross between speaking and chanting which makes a par- tial use of glides. The drawl is due to a lack of glides in the voice. Glides give meaning to the tones of the voice. In speaking, the words are uttered with short glides. The in- crease of glide length in a word increases its amount of meaning; the meaning develops in proportion to the length of the glides. Convincing argumentation uses strong glides. The voice is at its best in childhood. Children nat- urally use glides in their voice. The glides in the voices of children are destroyed in school by monotonous glide- less unison in reading, speaking and reciting. Teachers should express the meaning of spelled words in glides. Strong ghdes may be developed by practice in the use of double glides. The four ordinary glides were de- scribed in a former chapter. Double glides rise and fall or fall and rise on one tone. In saying "excuse me," the voice rises and falls on the last syllable of "excuse". The falling side of the double glides should be developed more than the rising side. The ear should be trained to follow the glide lengths until they can be regulated according to the full sense of the thought. Exercise. — The following glides should be practiced in the vowel "ah" etc.. and in suitable words. SUBJECTIVE VOICE. 153 The double rising high glide, which falls and rises in the high register, is used in words to express surprise and doubt, and to suggest an antithesis. The glide begins in a high pitch, falls to the middle pitch and then rises again to its initial pitch. Say, ''I fail?" with this glide on each word. The double falling high glide, which rises and falls in the high register, is used to express petulance, arrogance, triumph, pride, and strong elements. The glide begins in the middle pitch, rises and then falls again. Say, ''Oh, is that all?" with this glide on three of the words. The double rising low glide is used for mockery, warn- ing and for suggesting contrasts; it begins in the middle pitch, falls and rises again. Illustration: — "What is this? Proud, — and I thank you, — and I thank you not; — and yet not proud?" The double falling low glide is used for grandeur, strong decision, conclusion and emphasis; it rises and falls in the low register. This glide should be practiced very much. Use this glide on the word ''grandly" in saying, "Oh, grandly flowing river." Triple glides have a triple action. The triple rising high glide rises, falls and rises in the high register; it is used for excessive warning, great surprise and dramatic expression. — The same glide action may be used in the lower half of the voice. A triple rising high glide may be used in each one of of the following words: "Oh, I'll be patient." The voice rises, falls and rises again in the high register on each word. CHAPTER SIX. PERSONALITY. Veilue of Personality. The personality of the speaker is one half of the genius of good speaking. Artistic expression can never be greater than the character or personality of the speaker. Orators and reciters cannot put any more into their words than they have in themselves. Ora- torical success cannot be borrowed from others. Personality in speaking is of a dual character. The speaker should have a working and a governing personality. The working personality does the work of speaking; the gov- erning personality, however, governs the audience, supplies the oratorical material, gauges the effect produced and controls every action. This governing work proceeds from the cere- brum, or thinking brain ; the cerebellum is the working brain. Strenuous efforts should be made to strengthen the governing personality. Great orators step into a third personality which is sub-conscious, intuitive and inspired. This personality alone creates new things. This is not clairvoyancy. When this per- sonality is aroused, a new realm of mental activity is opened up. Genius springs from an inner creative world. Great ora- tions are produced only when the mind is in a creative mood. A strong personality will resist all outside influences and de- pend on itself. The mind grows strong only when it is com- SUBJECTIVE VOICE. 155 pelled to act. A productive mind will not take on cargo all the time, but will try to unload its ideas. Aggressive activity alone is productive. Many lives are limited because they never take the initiative. Few persons have the persistency and tremendous deter- mination to develop their personality. Personality cannot grow when a man is languid instead of being active and alert. Genuine hard work makes the nerves, bones, muscles and sinews strong. Genius makes its conditions even when diversity of conditions seems to make genius. Character must be built up by conscious effort. Strong characters climb over others by using them as stepping stones; and there are great masses of such stones to climb on. Opposition and detraction should be treated as sure signs of success. The orator should balance the use of the faculties. Un- balanced use produces softening of the brain. Excessive single use leads to paresis. Non-use results in atrophy. Some men are physical, some are emotional, some are in- tellectual. A balanced character has uniform control of all his powers. Some speakers think out everything; some are so deter- mined in the use of will-power that the ceiling drops ; some are wild with emotion. It takes three such fellows to make a man. Nobility. Nobility of character is a great aid to a speaker. The voice cannot be grand unless it is based on grand thoughts and feel- ings. It is, however, also true that the use of the voice in the ex- pression of great literary masterpieces will react on the char- acter and kindle noble thoughts and impulses. The sublime in 156 VOICE TRAINING FOR SPEAKERS. nature and in the transactions of life elevates human character. Great sentences should be repeated with energy of thought till the mind and the heart rebound under the generous impulse. An orator should recite aloud whatever may enrich bis mind. A Wfebsterian orator would recite Webster's orations. This practice develops reflective genius which is not as great as crea- tive genius. Voice culture will not develop the character unless the work is done in solitude. Solitude shuts out foreign influences. Men will have time enough for such work if they will save the hours which usually are wasted. The orator especially should live in an inner mental world. The orator should study and assimilate only the gems which are found in great orations. These gems are absorbed when they are used vocally. The great masterpieces of ora- tory are famous not in their entirety, but only in the sublime gems of thought with which they are studded. Edward Ever- ett declared that the absorption of great thoughts is the surest and quickest means of building up a strong character. Careful and slow practice, even on obscure literary selec- tions, will develop personality. Amateur reciters look for great pieces ; men of great ability love to develop weak pieces and de- velop themselves at the same time. Many a dull and appar- ently uninteresting piece becomes fascinating in the hands of a skillful reciter or a man of very strong personality. The temperament should be suited to the exercises. The student should at first select only such selections for practice which require a temperament like his own. When that work can be done, the temperament should be changed only by a gradual accommodation to selections which require only a slight change of temperament. SUBJECTIVE VOICE. 157 Collective Strength. A strong attitude of the body is indicative of a strong per- sonality. A strong attitude requires the union of the follow- ing parts : firm limbs, erect spinal column, full chest, firm neck, clenched hands, depressed brows and elevated head. This collective representation of strength in one attitude gives the body its full exhibition of power. The legs should be firm, reasonably near together, and not sprung forward or back ; the free limb, which is momentarily without the weight, should be relaxed and slightly, but not visibly, bent. The spinal column should be erect in order to take the curvature out of the spine, and prevent the body from bending. The full chest should be thrown forward; a full chest depicts courage, pride, grandeur and sublimity. The shoulders should be drawn down, not back. The head should be elevated in a lofty carri- age. The neck should be firm in order to forward or sideward lolling of the head. The clenched hand indicates resolution. The depressed brows show firmness ; they should be held down, but should not be drawn together into a frown. When the brows are held high, they indicate weakness or lack of character. A mean man carries the corners of the mouth down ; a flighty and shal- low character carries them up. Coordination. The spontaneous execution of subjective expression de- pends upon the coordinating powers of the cerebellum, and is the outgrowth of careful rehearsal. The secret of success in this respect lies in intelligent experience. The mind, the muscles and the nerves may be trained to coordinate properly by executing a desired action with exactitude a great many times. Coordination in action requires coordination in 158 VOICE TRAINING FOR SPEAKERS. thought. Rehearsals train the cerebellum to execute the ideas correctly. Coordination unites all the parts of the body to work to- gether harmoniously under one impulse. The hand cannot throw a ball with a perfect aim unless there is a perfect coor- dination of the action of the feet, limbs, hips, waist, chest, shoulders, arm and hand. The cerebellum must direct the muscles to work together. A speaker cannot speak and act with expressive power unless he is able to coordinate all the faculties of expression. Perfect coordination can be acquired only by practice. Coordination in voice culture is the result of intelligent practice. A blind and unintelligent use of the voice, and the body is not a growing experience. A speaker will not become a better speaker simply by making speeches. Conscious effort alone produces progress in expression. A true orator is very anxious to improve with each experience. Rehearsals are beneficial when they are performed intelli- gently. The rehearsing should be carried on patiently to the point of drudgery. Hard work does not wear out the facul- ties, but draws nutrition to them even when they have been strained to the utmost. Exhaustion is succeeded by renewed and increased strength. The man who has more to do than he can do is fortunate. The speaker should tax his powers of en- durance by intelligent, patient and progressive work. The speaker should not utter the words too readily. The audience must have time to see that the speaker is thinking. The words must, however, not be obstructed with faults. The simple desire to communicate thought will result in agreeable directness. SUBJECTIVE VOICE. 159 Power of Readiness. The rendition, both of extempore productions and of the thoughts of others, should be so thoroughly spontaneous that no effort is required in executing it. Even the most talented speakers fail to use this principle, and usually seem to feel out with the mind for what is to come next. The speaker should carefully prepare himself for his work. He should read his words aloud in order to catch the phonation of the sounds. The vocal swing of the language, especially that of the beginning and of the end, should be caught. The meaning of the thoughts should be stamped on the voice. The situation and its requirements should be keenly appreciated. Although it is true that the lines must be well prepared,, it is also true that the mind must not be hampered with an ef- fort to recollect the ideas and the words. The speaker will have trouble if he is compelled to grope for what he is going to say. If manuscripts are put into the pocket instead of be- ing left at home, the mind will wander into the pocket. The speaker must not use an audience for the purpose of exhibiting himself. An audience should never know that a speaker has had special training and that his power is not spontaneous. The speaker should never let anybody know that he studies his art. Exercises are stepping stones, and should not be practiced before an audience. There should not even be any coaching. When the training is completed, the helps and exercises should be thrown aside. True genius is self-reliant. The speaker who has worked faithfully in preparing him- self should never think of his voice in his public work. The only constant side-thought in speaking should be to hold the i6o VOICE TRAINING FOR SPEAKERS. throat open. The speaker must let himself go. The ability to let go is the result of training. The ability of a speaker reveals itself when it is unex- pectedly called on to perform some great task. The speaker should therefore be ready for such work. Webster was ready long before he delivered his great reply to Hayne. New Habits. After sufficient drill in the principles of objective and sub- jective voice and action, the mind and the body should be trained to entirely leave these principles behind and to depend upon the new habits based upon them. The object of the whole course of training in the art of expression is the making of new habits in the art of expression. The idea must be un- done that the exercises are to be the work. Good habits provide a general foundation for successful work. A balanced nature is a great aid in public speaking. Not only the voice but also the heart, the mind and the soul should be cultivated. The heart should be charitable and generous in judging others. Stratagem, fads, low humor, flippancy, sulkiness, ex- cesses, sarcasm, obstinacy, profanity, slang and flattery should be eschewed. Refinement, dignity, kindness, self-control and optimism should be cultivated. The mind should be developed as much as possible. The speaker needs the magnetism of a strong intellect. Years spent in the acquisition of knowledge are not spent in vain. The orator should possess a rich supply of representative thoughts and quotations which may serve to embellish his own efforts. The gems of literature should be freely absorbed. Great authors, such as Shakespeare, Milton and Macauley should be carefully studied. Biography, history and poetry should not be neglected. SUBJECTIVE VOICE. i6i The great living leaders of men should be seen, heard and studied. The Bible should be read and believed. The greatest ora- tors and writers have been profoundly moved and influenced by the Bible. Training should never cease. CHAPTER SEVEN. INDIVIDUALITIES. Definition of Individuality. Individuality consists of advantageous peculiarities or characteristic v^ays of doing things. Peculiarities stamped with personal power or charms are attractive and should be developed. Peculiarities that detract from power or personal charms are mannerisms, and should be avoided. Faults, such as hesitation in speech, drawling, mouthing, mumbling, sway- ing, scowling, etc., are offensive and should be eliminated one by one. Vowel Changes. Some individualities are marked by peculiar vowel changes. A single vowel may establish a peculiar individual- ity. One character may flatter the vowels in psalm, calm, etc., another may add a "y" to words, as in "gyirl, gyarden, etc." Consonant Changes. Some individualities are marked by peculiar changes in consonants. Stuttering and stammering are simple peculiari- ties in speech. Negroes elide consonants in their words. Eng- lishmen have trouble with the "h" sound. Some people drop the final ''g" in words, as in "goin, walkin." Some characters lisp. Two peculiarities should not be given to the portrayal of one character. Timbres. The true character or inner life of a person shows itself in the timbre that prevails in that person's voice. Nearly every SUBJECTIVE VOICE. 163 voice has a peculiar timbre. Timbre is character of sound. We distinguish voices by their peculiar and individual twang tim- bre which is due to the condition or position of the individual larynx. The nature of the timbre depends on the character of the channel through which the air passes. The stops of an or- gan change the timbre of the organ tones. A brass cornet and a silver cornet, exactly the same in size, have not the same tim- bre. The larynx and the pharnyx make the timbres in the hu- man voice. Some persons, especially negroes, have fat tonsils and excited salivary glands, which form a rich structure for very mellow voices. Some voices have a tin-pan timbre or a smoker's voice, caused by the use of cigars, cigarettes, alcohol, soda water or anything that hardens the tissues of the throat. A timbre is always an element. Timbres are used in com- binations with each other, like a combination of organ stops. They cannot be separated from bright or dark form. There are ten timbres : pure, orotund, guttural, nasal, oral, whisper, laryngeal, bell, falsetto and pectoral. The pectoral timbre is the chest timbre and is made by im- pinging the tones as low as possible in the throat. This timbre may be used in the words, 'T am thy father's spirit," spoken in low, deep tones by the ghost in Hamlet. The guttural timbre is the throat timbre ; it uses growling tones. The bright form of this timbre is often used in grand delivery. A closed, rough guttural timbre expresses mean character and hatred. An open, hard guttural timbre should be used in expressing the words, "I loathe you in my bosom." A closed, hard guttural timber would express the hate in the words of Shylock, "I hate him for he is a Christian." Every voice should have a little of the nasal timbre. The nasal timbre is a rich element in the voice. Nasality, however, which impinges the tones in the nose, is used only to portray i64 VOICE TRAINING FOR SPEAKERS. defects. A pronounced nasal tmbre is used to depict scorn, for instance in the words," I scorn you with mine eye." The tone should impinge in the nasal chamber. The pure timbre has no defects and serves as a center from which the other timbres are developed ; it depicts beauty. The orotund timbre is a voluminous pure timbre. The follow- ing line should be rendered in the pure timbre : "Look how the floor of heaven is thick inlaid with patines of bright gold." Also, "One sweetly solemn thought comes to me o'er and o'er." The pure timbre can be developed, first, by mechanically taking away vocal defects, and, secondly, by the natural way of reciting lines of beauty with feeling till the voice becomes pure and beautiful. The orotund timbre is produced by enlarging the throat for volume of sound ; it depicts grandeur. This timbre prefers low pitches. The student can acquire this timbre naturally by uttering grand thoughts till their grandeur is reflected in the tones of the voice. The following line may be used to develop the orotund timbre : "Roll on, thou dark and deep blue ocean, roll." The oral timbre confines the tones to the mouth. It rep- resents weakness. Use it in the following : "I am dying, bend down till I touch you once more." The whisper represents extreme secrecy. It may be used in such lines as : "Why, look you there, look, how it steals away." The laryngeal timbre is a sickly tone in the throat ex- pressing suffering. Use it in the following line : "Leave me, O leave me, I am so tired." The falsetto timbre is high and shrill like the voice of a cat. The following should be rendered in this timbre : "The SUBJECTIVE VOICE. 165 barn is high, and if you slip, and fall, and die, how will my liv- ing be secured ? The bell timbre represents resonance. Expression may be developed naturally by connecting the spirit of a selection with its utterance. Proper facial expres- sion usually aids the expression of the feelings, but contortion should be avoided. Art reproduces nature by following its processes, principles and rules. Gesticulation. Gesticulation differs from gesture in that it assists, accom- panies and relieves speech by peculiar expressive actions. A single peculiar gesticulation is sufficient to individualze a char- acter creation. On the physical side of expression, nothing is more telling than gesticulation. Both sexes may have the same peculiarities. There are thousands of physical peculiarities which are used as gesticulations. Some individuals emphasize their statements by snapping the fingers ; some pound the desk on the emphatic points ; some shake the head forcibly ; some clap the hands together. Frenchmen gesticulate wildly with the hands, and shrug their shoulders in speaking. Some Jews illustrate their ideas by drawing the elbows against the sides and raising the hands with the palms facing upward. Shylock calculates at the tips of his fingers. A dog gesticulates with his tail ; for mirth, he gives it only a little movement ; for pleasure, he wags it from its tip to his ears. The effort to reproduce peculiarities will counteract the tendency to use them in speaking. Automatic Actions. Automatic actions often serve to establish an individual- ity. Au:omatic actions are fixed erroneous movements which are made unconsciously by nearly everybody. These actions i66 VOICE TRAINING FOR SPEAKERS. differ from gesticulation in that they are unintentional and do not serve to express thought. Automatic actions may occur with or without speech. A man may habitually swing his leg without saying a word. Excitement increases the rapidity of automatic actions. Automatic actions are countless in number. Some men habitually adjust their collar; some move the head as though the collar button were pressing on the neck ; some bite the lips, some pinch the eyebrows together constantly ; some wink hab- itually ; some always hold the hands behind the back ; some walk the floor in deep thought ; some step around in a sort of hen-dance; some walk like a stick; some say "thank you" con- stantly. Every action which is repeated often finally becomes automatic. Automatic actions are very effective in the dramatic por- trayal of individualities. It is interesting to observe automatic actions in the people whom we know. Automatic actions can be overcome only by checking them as soon as they occur. It takes a strong effort to overcome little faults. Refinement. Refinement of the body sometimes becomes a characteris- tic individuality. Physical refinement does not imply intellec- tual refinement ; great mental refinement may be accompanied by great physical coarseness. Carlyle possessed mental refine- ment only. Johnson was famous both for literary brilliancy and physical coarseness. Physical refinement requires the ac- quisition of absolute repose and supreme calmness. Audi- ences love refined characters. Affectation, however, should be avoided. SUBJECTIVE VOICE 167 Roughness. Some individuals are rough and crude. A rough man holds the arms stiff, spreads the feet and moves in a crude way. Rough persons may assume roughness in addition to their nat- ural roughness. A man with a rough voice may speak with an assumed rough and growling voice. Vigor. The natural energy of youth and the assumed energy of age are distinct individualities. Vigor tenses the muscles. Speed, however, is not vigor. Strong men have a vigorous walk ; the happy young man and the happy old man walk vig- orously. A dignified judge walks in a straight line to his bench, and sits down slowly ; he stands still with a lack of vigor when he is in deliberation. The young man with a vig- orous mind walks into a contest with a vigorous step, and is sure to win; the weak, frightened opponent walks with autb- matic movements. There is much difference between the vig- orous handshake of the university oarsman and the weak hand- shake of a dude who presents only his fingers. Weakness is the opposite of vigor. Youth. Youth has its bright and its dark sides, but each is cast in a crude mold. The boy under twenty and the girl under seven- teen are always crude. A girl of seventeen, however, is as old as a man 01 twenty-five. The most polished man is never as polished as the most polished woman. Youth is, as a rule, crude in what it says and does. Crudeness is very apparent in boys. Boys differ in crudeness according to their age and caste. Girls have many mannerisms. Many girls jerk the body around quickly, and act in quick movements. Girls with excessive tongue action have big open faces. A youthful girl often runs her tongue out in speaking. i68 VOICE TRAINING FOR SPEAKERS. Maturity. Maturity is characterized by the various phases of reason in thought, word and deed. Mature men act rather than talk. In maturity, even the muscles seem to think. Maturity is long- headed. Mature people concentrate their eyes on an addressed person. Shakespeare portrays his clowns as mature philoso- phers. Age. The individuality of age plays about the various phases of decrepitude with an attempt to conceal it. Youth is character- ized by crudeness, maturity by reason, age by decrepitude. Age tries to appear young. An old man taking a young lady to church trots around her at street corners, and attempts to conceal that he has no sprightly spring in his steps. Age has an unsteady and shaky voice, caused by the shaking body. The voice of aged persons is oral, sickly and weak. Age walks flat- footed, with the knees and the head bent. Although age tries to seem sprightly by raising the head, the body still re- mains bent in a decrepit position. The Sexes. Woman is individualized by her graceful and emotional temperament ; man, by directness and logical moods. A man's mind runs to the logical side. Woman knows and grasps ideas by intuition, or direct knowledge, which is the highest form of intellect ; she arrives at facts without logical processes. A woman will say, "the room is too warm," a man will arrive at that conclusion by looking at the thermometer. Woman by her manner of living is more graceful than man. Man states a series of facts with physical energy ; woman, with emotion. Man is more physical and can do more rough work than a woman. Book agents play on the feelings of women; before men they must show reasons. SUBJECTIVE VOICE. 169 Dialects. Peculiarities of dialect sometimes serve to establish an in- dividuality. This is especially true of foreigners trying to speak English ; they speak their own language, however, with- out any peculiarity. When the speaker or reciter wishes to rep- resent such dialects or tell a story in dialect, he should not be- come too realistic ; a few peculiarities of dialect will be suffi- cient. The delicious brogue of the Irish can be reproduced by drawing the upper lip below and behind the lower lip, and from that position making the necessary consonant and vowel changes. Frenchmen trying to speak English are represented as speaking rapidly in slightly nasal tones, with precise syllables, and an excessive use of the long E sound ; ^'the" they say '*zee." They gesticulate much. The Italians end as many words as possible with vowels. Jewish dialects are a corrupt German. When Mongolians try to speak English, they use the tongue merely as a clapper which strikes flatly against the gums. Their favorite consonant is L ; their favorite vowel long E. Their tongue and their lips are held flat, and their mouth is spread. Negroes mouth the vowels and slide the consonants. They use the oral timbre. The negro oral timbre can be acquired quickly by commencing the sound "hoo", in an oral high tone sounding like a moaning wind, and speaking in the same tone in a lower pitch. Character Creation. Speakers sometimes impersonate exceptional characters. Common peculiarities and oddities should not be added to such impersonations. A character creation of an old man can be 170 VOICE TRAINING FOR SPEAKERS. produced by representing an old man as always wetting the thumb on the tongue before turning the leaves in a book. Authors love to create imaginary characters. Sometimes five or six real persons serve as the basis for one imaginary charac- ter. Portraying Character. There are three ways of portraying character : reading as- sumption; portrayal, or suggestive rendition; and full charac- terization, or impersonation. The reading rendition of a character has nothing to do with reading from a book, but is a simple effort on the part of a speaker or reciter to express and present the thought of a character as well as possible. This is the ordinary way of speaking and reciting. The reading rendition would make no attempt to portray a darkey, but would only represent and re- produce hij thoughts. Especial care is required in the reading rendition of Bible characters. Suggestive rendition is the highest form of dramatic art, and pleases audiences the most. The suggestive rendition of a darkey would suggest the voice, face, gestures and speech of a negro; the reciter would not put on the darkey's color and dress, but would remain himself. The suggestion is always stronger than the reality ; the contrast between the reciter and his work makes the suggestive rendition interesting. It is better to be taken for an artistic negro than to appear as a real, perhaps dirty, negro; perfection would in ihat case mean de- struction. When animal noises are to be reproduced, they should not be rendered in full force. The reciter should not assume the full roughness of a laborer or a mechanic, but should let the audience work out some of the details. Actions should not be fully reproduced. Distance may be suggested by SUBJECTIVE VOICE. 171 the half approach of the hand toward the eye, as if the eye were going to gaze far away; appropriate facial expression may be added. A suggestion of the distance is much better than an actual tracing of the distance. A step may be suggest- ed by half a step. Imitative reproductions are crude. The minister may suggest Christ and St. Paul, but he must never act them. Impersonations belong mostly to acting. In the imper- sonation, the impersonator loses himself entirely, and appears as the character portrayed; he passes out of himself and changes completely in dress, features and expression, with or without the aid of pencils, washes and make-up. A negro im- personation could not be distinguished from a real negro. In looking, the impersonator would place the hand over the eye and actually look. Although the impersonator speaks and acts for the audi- ence, he should nevertheless leave something to the imagina- tion of the audience. Suggestion is necessary even in full im- personations. Children impersonate at will till they ire old enough to become conscious of self. When a child is placed on exhibi- tion, artificiality at once sets in. The education of repression forbids people to laugh, cry or visibly to enjoy themselves. The wall of repression should be broken down, and the emotions should be permitted to play freely. Elocutionists are unnat- ural because they merely decorate the plaster of expression with artificiality. A speaker should catch all the senses of an audience. A good speaker always has command of the public ear. The glory of Cicero enhances in fame with the march of the cen- turies. CHAPTER EIGHT. PUBLIC SPEAKING. Natural Speaking. It is most difficult to speak naturally when one tries to do so. Few persons have self-control before an audience. Any- body can sit down to breakfast at home with perfect ease, but it is difficult to sit down to breakfast before an audience. The difficulty in public work is caused by a forced effort to act with ease and self-control. The natural voice and action of the platform are unnatural compared with the voice and the action of daily life; the larger surroundings naturally require a larger action and a stronger voice. The orator who desires to speak naturally cannot always speak as he would at home with a plate of soup before him. The hackneyed advice to address audiences in a natural, conversational voice is very misleading. The conversational voice is not the only natural voice. A grand description like that of Mt. Blanc by Coleridge cannot be rendered in a conven- tional voice. True art adheres to nature, but nature is not or- dinary life only. People love to hear speakers who are elevat- ing. When conversational tones must be used in public speak- ing, they must be on a larger scale than those of ordinary con- versation. Ordinary conversation is usually carried on in mon- grel tones ; public conversation requires a good voice. Ease in the use of voice and action can be acquired only by a conscious coordination of the voice and the action. This coordination must be developed by constant practice. SUBJECTIVE VOICE. 173 Mind, muscle, nerves and soul may be called the four de- partments of human being. The distribution of the gray mat- ter of the brain through the body in the ganglionic cells enables the mind to subject the whole body to a harmonious coordina- tion of all its members. The mind and the muscular system should work together according to mental and physical laws ; the nervous system and the soul should work in harmony with the emotional and the moral laws. Embarrassment is caused by self-consciousness. Self-con- trol is both consciousness of power and freedom from embar- rassment. Mere stillness is not self-control. Physical embar- rassment is a lack of perfect control of the muscles ; it is over- come by a gradual control of the muscles. Nervous embarrass- ment is a lack of perfect control of the feelings ; it is overcome by dynamic control of the forces that manifest themselves through physical organism. Mental embarrassment is a lack of perfect control in formulating ideas ; it is overcome by habits of analysis. Speech embarrassment is a lack of perfect control in expressing ideas ; it is overcome by control of the fluency of speech. Smoothness or readiness in rendering thought is the result of continuity of thought. Smoothness of speech may be aided by smoothness of action. The voice can be made to flow smoothly by forcing the muscles to act with the words. Artistic impulses cannot develop unless restraints and limi- tations are removed. A speaker will be a stick as long as his voice and his actions do not respond to his will. Beginners especially are restrained in the art of expression and cannot ex- tricate themselves to do the right thing in the right way. The pupil who desires to acquire ease in appearance must learn how to sit, to rise, to walk and to stand before an audi- ence. Ease in the expression of thought before an audience will follow. One famous teacher, therefore, began his instruc- 174 VOICE TRAINING FOR SPEAKERS. tions in the art of expression by inviting his pupils to walk in his garden ; the pupils at once manf ested embarrassment ; when the teacher passed them and raised his hat to them, they did likewise; when he shook hands with them, they responded with a rough grasp. By this process they finally acquired ease in physical expression and were ready for vocal expression. Proper sitting requires that one heel should be behind the other, and that both feet should be near the chair. When the body rises, the weight must be thrown on the retired foot ; this leaves the other foot free. A standing position is graceful only when one foot is a little behind the other ; the retired limb should be only partly visible from the front. The limbs should never be held wide apart ; a sailor walk is the only exception to this rule. The audience should not be able to look through any space between the speaker's limbs. A standing position is graceful when the base is as small as possible. Beginning an Address. An address should be weak in the beginning and strong in the end. A weak beginning paves the way to great success. Ambitious persons are impetuous. Strong characters, however, control and overcome their impetuosity. Wendell Phillips spoke in a languid, oily voice. Cicero curbed his ve- hement delivery, and spoke quietly. The beginning of an address should be relatively weak. Good speaking is built on the laws of logical increase. An Easter sermon may begin with triumphant gladness, but it must be stronger in the end than in the beginning. Depression in the end would be disastrous. The speaker who, in the be- ginning, holds the audience with quiet control, then gradually changes its mild disappointment into surprise, and finally dis- plays marvelous power in the end, will make a great impres- sion. The beginning may be slower than necessary. Action SUBJECTIVE VOICE. 175 also should be taken up only under the law of momentum. The body should cooperate with the mind and the voice in a grada- tion of increase in power. If this process is not observed, fail- ure will be certain. An audience will surely be disappointed if it expects much in the beginning and gets very little in the end. The opening propositions of an address snould be laid down gently. The speaker should appear before an audience with the sincere desire not to inflict himself upon the people. An audience will sympathize with the man who is at a disad- vantage. The speaker should therefore begin his work in a simple natural manner. Unless the audience is prepared, it will resist positive and absolute propositions with instantaneous resistance. A bold beginning is a challenge which arouses the opposition of the audience. Audiences will also resist the con- ceit of the man who conveys the impression that he considers himself better than his audience. Speakers cannot accomplish anything till they have the good will of the audience. Although the speaker must unfold his power gradually,, yet the audience should not be permitted at any stage to sup- pose that the speaker has no power. The progress of the work must not be too smooth. A speaker should in this respect learn from acrobats who do not go through their work smooth- ly lest the audience think it easy. After the audience has been gained, the speaker must gradually increase his hold upon it. The work must grow in importance. The satisfaction of the people will increase when they see that the speaker is equal to the occasion ; they will be carried away when their highest ex- pectations are exceeded in the end. Bible and H5min Reading. The first and most essential principle in Bible and hymn reading is the suppression of self and of all display of artistic 176 VOICE TRAINING FOR SPEAKERS. effort. The reader should serve only as a channel for the con- veyance of the truth. The only personal element that should be added to the reading is the subdued manifestation of a virile, vigorous and heroic temperament. The second element in Bible and hymn reading is dignity. The heart and the soul should be in the reading. This re- quires the use of the dark form. If a very dark form is used, the reading becomes too solemn and serious. Dignity in the voice may be sufficiently expressed by the use of the fifth form, v^hich is neither bright nor dark. The flesh predominates in the bright, vital and physical voice. The soul comes forth in the half dark form which is neither bright nor gloomy. A tinge of the dark form in reading reveals, feeling and makes the reading dignified. A third requisite of good Bible reading is grandeur. The grandeur of the inspired word is e:j^pressed in the voice by full and grand tones. The sound of the voice should harmon- ize with the meaning of the words. The voice is grand when it uses the orotund timbre, which combines volume, resonance and thorough stress. The pure timbre would make the voice beautiful, but it lacks volume and depth. The volume of voice required by the orotund timbre does not mean that the reading must be loud. When the voice is too strong, the reading be- comes physical. Volume in the voice should not drown the consonants. Bible and hymn reading must, of course, like all reading, have meaning. Meaning is given to words by modulation and emphasis. The glides and the stresses are very important in giving meaning to words. If the glides are taken out of the words, the reading will sound like a singsong. The glides should be neither too long nor too short ; long glides are argu- SUBJECTIVE VOICE. 177 mentative, short glides make the reading short and jerky. The principal stress in Bible reading should be the median stress, which depicts beauty. This stress is formed by swelling and diminishing the voice on the syllables. The Bible and hymn reader must not read everything in the same manner. One selection should never be read twice in the same way. Two selections should not be read alike. Every selection may be rendered in various ways. The rendi- tion must always adjust itself to the state of the feelings and to the requirements of the occasion. Soldiers victorious in battle would recite a psalm with a triumphant voice ; an old man would read the same psalm with stiffened lips and with dark tones in the voice. A careful immediate preparation is required for public Bible reading. The text should be read aloud, at home, with strength of voice, not once, but many times. Each reading will make the meaning of the verses clearer, and increase the expression of the soul and the spirit by means of the voice. Progress in reading must be made in the emotions. A minister must adapt himself in his reading and preach- ing to his audience. Personal power often comes from the responsive relation between the speaker and the audience. Speakers, therefore, frequently have more power at one time than at another. The preacher must never stand as if he were a stranger in the gates, but he must come in with the audience. The people should not see ice-water in his face, instead of blood. His very first words should make the audience his friends, and all his utterances should appeal to the plainest in- tellect without causing a diminution of the worth and value of his work. The work of a speaker will not be successful unless he gets as close as possible to the hearts of the people. 178 VOICE TRAINING FOR SPEAKERS. Pictures from Life. Audiences always enjoy refined reproductions and touches of life. Every address should contain some touch of human nature which will be remembered. Stories from life told by a refined speaker are always telling. The best lecturers work in illustrations. Audiences are greatly impressed when the work of a speaker is true to life. Care must be taken in the use of anecdotes. If anecdotes are not used right, a lecture will fall to pieces. Illustrations should not be used in the beginning of an address. Startling and strong anecdotes should be avoided, because they always react unfavorably. The speaker should never descend to low humor, bombastic style and the pyrotechnics of elocution. The speaker should preserve instructive observations and stories by writing them down. A written record should also be kept of the thoughts which the creative function of the brain has inspired ; every recurrence of the thought and every refer- ence to it will stimulate the brain to increased and larger activ- ity. Every word, feeling, impression, impulse and thought of an inspiring nature which arises during the inspiration of a public address, should be preserved in writing for future use. Some ministers, therefore, begin work on a new sermon im- mediately after the Sunday services, in order that they may utilize the mental exhilaration produced by successful work. This also helps to make the work true to life. Reciters must know how to arrange programs. A pro- gram of recitations should consist of short and pointed recita- tions. One of the most successful entertainers, Marshall P. Wilder, entertained only for about twenty minutes, at each entertainment with a program consisting entirely of little sketches and anecdotes. The program should be varied. Tragedy should alternate with comedy; pathos should be SUBJECTIVE VOICE. 179 mingled with humor. If music is on the program, singing also is required for balance. No part of the program should consist only of one kind of entertainment, such as music or re- citations. The weakest and the shortest numbers should al- ways be given in the first part of the program. The strongest selection should be at the end. Proper Spirit. The speaker must live in his work and thoroughly absorb it into his nervous system. The mind and the heart must be imbued with the spirit of the work. The words must be studied till the mind catches the ideas. The whole work must be reviewed so frequently that expressive action will come of itself. Most of the time should be spent only on the gems of thought and language which are to be presented. The speaker who has mastered his thoughts may in speaking forget the words which he intended to use without experiencing any in- terruption in the work. The speaker who works out his speeches with great care will always be ready even when he is called on for unexpected work. The nervous system absorbs the work rapidly when the thinking, acting and speaking is done in solitude before imag- inary audiences. Solitude facilitates the development of char- acter. Valuable physical training may be derived from prac- tice before imaginary audiences by the assumption of an atti- tude of general polish. It is not necessary to repeat words aloud in order to catch their spirit. Singers learn a song by muttering it before they sing it aloud. The muttering style of preparatory rendition does not vocalize the words but merely mutters them with in- tensity of feeling without letting out any force of voice during the practice. This style of rehearsing develops the voice from i8o VOICE TRAINING FOR SPEAKERS. the nerves and stores away a vast amount of magnetism in the soul. The mouth should articulate the words with every de- gree of force ; the feelings, however, should not be suppressed in the least. Webster developed one of his great speeches in this manner while sitting in a boat and fishing. The spirit of the work often depends on its local coloring. Gray's Elegy breathes the spirit of a neglected churchyard. Actors appreciate the value of local coloring. When the great actor Booth was preparing his interpretation of Shylock, he lived and associated with Hebrews for weeks ; before the pre- sentation of the play, he would shut himself up in his room for days and wrap himself up in the desired character. Ministers catch the spirit of their work by brooding over their sermons. Many interpretations are possible for a single selection or thought. The rendition must follow the feelings, the thought and the personality of the speaker, and adapt itself to time, place, and circumstances. One rendition may be natural on one occasion and unnatural on another. Applause. Good speaking usually wins applause. Even the minister in the pulpit can tell exactly by the looks of the people at what points he has gained the silent applause of the congregation. Every speaker should make every possible effort to win applause before the end of his work. When the orator has reached a point where there should be applause, he should bid for it and indirectly wait for it ; this will nearly always draw the applause. A direct pause should not be made for applause. Spontaneous applause should never be cut off. Applause which bursts out and interrupts the work ia genuine and highly com- plimentary to the speaker. Laughter is genuine applause. Audiences often applaud in the wrong place. When the speaker SUBJECTIVE VOICE. i8i must cut the applause off, he should continue in his work by saying a few words; as soon as the audience begins to listen, he should repeat the words which he uttered to interrupt the applause in order that nothing may be lost. Speakers frequently win applause only by the way in which they do their work. The very finest work can be done by the use of intense magnetic feeling accompanied by a con- tinual, momentary, winning control of the audience. The true artist should constantly try to do better. There is no limit to personal improvement. It is said that Hogarth, the painter, was never unhappy in his art till he produced a painting with which he was satisfied. Telling Points. The speaker should endeavor to make telling points. Work that has no telling points will fall flat before an audience. Speakers must learn to speak and act slowly. Hurry is characteristic of amateur work. Good speaking does not rush on like a locomotive steaming ahead with an open throttle. The speaker must have time to make telling points. Mentality alone will not hold an audience. Speakers should elaborate their work. Every point should be carefully considered, and rehearsals should be held to make the work telling. The effort to make a telling point should begin soon enough to let the audience get ready for the telling point. As long as a thought holds an audience at a telling point, the art- ist must pause and let the audience drink in the enthusiasm which he has created. A good speaker always knows what the audience is thinking. Telling points should be climacteric. Each successive point should be stronger than the preceding point ; all the points i82 VOICE TRAINING FOR SPEAKERS. should lead up to a climax on the last and strongest point. The work should end soon after the final climax is reached ; the cli- max is the end. No oration, recitation, scene or play should ever end in an anticlimax. An audience is restless during an anticlimax. The final climax in voice and action may be consummated with great effect by an attitude. When the voice and the ac- tion have reached their highest pitch, the speaker may prolong the effect by holding the final attitude as immovable as a statue in the supreme effort to compel the audience to applaud. The success of the effort depends on holding the attitude till it sinks into the audience. The least motion would destroy the effect of the attitude. The attitude may be used whenever the voice and the action end in a climax during the work. CHAPTER NINE. THE LYCEUM. Placing the Voice. The lyceum includes all work before the public in an instructive and entertaining way, such as lectures, enter- tainments and the management of audiences. The voice must be used in such a way that the words will reach every person in the audience. The varying size of audiences and auditoriums requires a varied placing and adaptation of the voice to suit the hall, the occasion, the audience and the individual. The speaker must ascer- tain how much voice he will need and how far his voice must go. The sounds must fit the receiving capacity of the audience. Special care must be taken in speaking to large audi- ences. A large audience requires large and slow action, strong voice and slow time. In a large hall, the words must be spoken slowly and deliberately. The larger and more restless the audience, the slower should be the time and the more intense the voice. The words will be in har- mony with the largeness of the audience only when they are uttered slowly and distinctly. The speaker should, as a rule, address the last person and the last row in the au- dience ; from this general direction he should turn occasion- ally toward individuals in the different parts of the audi- ence and of the platform. The words should be thrown to the end of the hall with thought and will power in the i84 VOICE TRAINING FOR SPEAKERS. tones of the voice. Every syllable must be uttered with a firm muscular touch. The consonants must be coined very clearly. Distinct consonants carry the voice farther than loudness. Loud tones should not be used unless the consonants also are very strong. Physical force has a ten- dency to drown the syllables and the consonants. In speaking out of doors, the speaker should always stand with his back against the wind; the wind will then carry the sounds toward the audience, which should face the wind. The speaker can by mental power place his voice ex- actly at one spot and upon one person, without looking. When the mind is directed toward a certain person, the sounds of the voice will travel in the inaugurated direction as unerringly as a rifle ball. The addressed person will feel that it is being addressed. The speaker should acquire the power of speaking to one person in an audience with- out looking directly at that person or causing others to do so. A committee may be addressed while the whole au- dience may be meant. The sound must not be interrupted by anything in its way. The speaker must move away from persons who obstruct his voice and view. The speaker must use common sense in placing the voice. When the audience is small, the speaker must speak directly to the people, and not use a voice large enough to fill a convention hall. A tremendous, ill-adjusted voice is not business-like. There is no sense in using a sixty ton voice for a sixty ounce audience. Every room or hall has its own key-note. The key of the voice must be changed to harmonize with the pitch of each auditorium. SUBJECTIVE VOICE. 185 When the speaker begins to speak in a strange audi- torium, he should speak slowly and distinctly in order that he may adjust his voice to the surroundings. The tones should be directed to a prescribed destination. The ear should listen for the effect of the sounds. When the har- mony of tonal progression has been established, the speaker may proceed boldly; every ear will be attentive, every word will reach its destination. As a preparation for real work, the speaker should learn by practice to address an imaginary audience of as many as five thousand people. Expressive Value of Action. Action, especially pantomime in an ellipse, takes the first place in the order of value in expression. Action be- comes of secondary value when it is aided by the voice. The voice alone is of the least value in expression. The eye is more expressive than the face; the face is more expressive than the body; the body is more expressive than the hand; the hand is more expressive than the voice. Gestures are of very little value in expression. Pantomime is the most expressive form of action. In pantomime, action passes to action, and the action is made to tell the story. Pantomime does not use words but speaks with the body, the hands, the attitude and the facial expression. The best speakers unconsciously use panto- mime action in expressing themselves. Good reciters pan- tomime their recitations before they deliver them. As a man pantomimes so will he act in his speaking. The Ro- mans were masters of pantomime. All pantomime begins with the action of the eyes. The ear is an indirect channel to the brain. Action appeals 1 86 VOICE TRAINING FOR SPEAKERS. directly to the brain through the eyes. The eye often un^ derstands when the ear hears nothing. The effect of a speaker's words depends largely upon the expression of his eyes. Audiences always watch the eyes of the speaker. The action of the eyes should, as a rule, precede the ex- pression of the words. When the speaker is nervous, he will not be able to concentrate the action of his eyes, and his voice will not be open and round. Some speakers are frightened by the lightning in the eyes of the people in the front rows of the audience and the darkness of the human thundercloud beyond. Consciousness of mind is necessary to overcome nervousness also in the use of the eyes. Facial expression is nearly as expressive as the expres-- sion of the eyes. The audience studies both the face and the eyes of the speaker. The face reflects the speaker's mind and feelings. The expression in the speaker's face will be reproduced in the faces of the audience. When the facial expression is wrong, everything will be wrong. The expression of the face should receive attention before men- tal or emotional tone color is given to the words. The face lends color to the expressive action of the body. Tal- mage had more power in his face than in his voice. The face and the eyes can be used to take the place of the body and the hands in expression. The action of the face shows interest, expresses thought, and colors the voice. If the hands were tied, the eyes alone could desig- nate any person or any part of a vast amphitheater. The meaning of the eye is more intense than the meaning of the hand. Audiences absorb the work of a speaker in various ways and degrees. The highest kind of mental absorption is able to read a speaker's thoughts before he is half SUBJECTIVE VOICE. 187 through with the words. Since the eye is quicker than the ear, audiences absorb quickly what they can see. The voice produces the least mental absorption. The mind may hear every word without catching a single thought. The ear becomes dull when it is surfeited with sounds. Men in a boiler shop cease to pay attention to the noise. Some people sleep comfortably during the loudest preaching. Control of Audiences. The magnetic control of audiences should not be con- founded with mechanical control. Magnetic control was discussed in another chapter. The helps given here be- long to the mechanical control of audiences. The placing of the voice should be accompanied by a constant, minute and momentary study of the audience, in order that the speaker may be able to constantly gauge the value of his work. The speaker must feel the audience all the time, even when he depicts scenes or otherwise throws himself absolutely into his work. He must con- stantly place his voice upon the persons who are farthest away or most distant in interest. The study of the effect of the work on the audience should be analyzing to the finest degree. The speaker's valuation of his efforts will tell him that an immediate change of methods is impera- tive when the interest of the audience lags. A tired and restless audience is an evidence of failure. The vocal control of audiences may be summarized in the advice to lower the pitch, reduce the speed, darken the form, and use the radical stress. These helps used singly or combined, serve to control a restless audience and to subdue an unruly school. A high pitch scatters the i88 VOICE TRAINING FOR SPEAKERS. interest of an audience; a low pitch is both serious and pleasing. Both slow time and low pitch stand for serious- ness, which is the very element that holds audiences in check. The speaker who wishes to control an audience must therefore slow the time and lower the pitch. Great speed cannot be used unless the audience is dead-still. When a break occurs in the interest of the audience, the speaker should at once add a shade of the dark form to his voice; the slight darkening will regain the lost attention. The dark form represents impressive soul power. The addition of the radical stress, which cuts syllables clearly, would add the element of will power to the control of the audience. The use of the radical stress wakes the audi- ence up ; it also shows that the speaker is waking up. The audience should always be held back till it is under con- trol; when it is under control, the speaker may measure his power over it. Amateurs would rush ahead and try to hold the audience spellbound by the continuous rattle of their words. The ellipse, or pause, is another aid in controUing an audience because it compels the audience to work out something in its own mind and to anticipate what is going to be said. The pause gives the audience time to think and to drink in the thought. A deliberate expressive pause be- fore a word at once makes the audience anxious to know what is coming. Thus the pause helps the speaker to get a powerful control over his audience. The pitch of the voice may be lowered after an ellipse. A long pause may be followed by a very low pitch. Reciters use the pantomime ellipse to tell a story with- out words during a pause in the speaking. Pauses are doubly effective in controlling an audience when they are SUBJECTIVE VOICE. 189 not only filled out with expressive meaning but also with expressive action. Speakers can do this only to a limited extent. When the speaker uses the pantomime ellipse, he should not speak and act at the same time. Friends show true joy in meeting each other when they shake hands silently and then speak. President Garfield gained the attention of an uncontrolled mob in New York by rais- ing his right arm high and holding this attitude without a word. The eye should be used to the fullest extent in con- trolling audiences, both in objective and in subjective work. Objective work seeks to present thought as clearly as possible. The objective speaker should, as a rule, never take his eyes off the audience but let his gaze rest momen- tarily first on one then on another person. The persons who have been addressed in this manner will not lose in- terest for half an hour. Ministers lose control over their audiences when they continually look off into space. When objective speakers depict scenes in a subjective man- ner, the eyes must follow the scenes till they are finished and then return to the audience. The audience always follows the eyes of a speaker. Subjective work is dra- matic and emotional. Subjective speakers act with their eyes not only in expressing their ideas but also in express- ing their feelings. An expressive use of the eyes gives the subjective speaker strong control over his audience. Action also is of great value in controlling an audi- ence because it holds the eye of the audience and reaches the brain by direct impression. Action includes every- thing that the body does to aid expression. The speaker should use as much expressive action as possible. The best 190 VOICE TRAINING FOR SPEAKERS. kind of expressive action is an intelligent expression of the face. The speaker must not mistake hard muscular labor for expressive action. The force of action that is necessary to drive a thought home should be as gentle as that of a giant sweeping dust from a table. All expression should be balanced. Energetic expression should never end in rant- ing; quiet expression should never be tame or insipid. Good speakers neither strive after mechanical effects nor make any apparent strained efforts in speaking. Audi- ences are repelled by forced expression. A speaker should simply desire and try to do the work of speaking as well as possible. There is great power in quiet expression. Speakers must caress their audiences and not fire wooden balls at them. The quietest work may be full of magnetism. An audience may be electrified by a single word or action. Orators may be compelled to thunder occasionally, but they must not thunder all the time. Speakers who do nothing but raise storms do nothing but damage. Another element in controlling audiences is the use of will power. The words should be directed and expressed by an active will. The active will not only means what the words say, but utters the words with a definite purpose. All utterances should be specific; generalizations are dull. The speakers should not even look at an audience without looking mentally and with a conscious purpose. In say- ing, "I am glad to see you," the speaker should in fact be glad. The body may by the aid of the will be thrown into a tense condition which will magnetize the audience. When the audience does not respond and its interest lags, the speaker will feel as though he were speaking to SUBJECTIVE VOICE. 191 a confusion of fine sounds all around him; when he is in control of the audience, he will feel what he is saying. Words should never be recited at an audience without conscious meaning and feeling. The speaker must move the audience, and not him- self. Amateurs alone allow their feelings to have sway over their mind. The speaker must not be overcome even by the most touching scenes. If the speaker breaks the spell of his work, he will not be able to regain control of the audience. A speaker cannot get intelligent control of an audi- ence unless he makes a special study of each audience and finds out what to do with it; he must understand its nature and correctly gauge its mental calibre. This is a psychological necessity. No speaker should ever underestimate the people. The average human being is endowed with real and ear- nest education of life. The less an audience knows of books, the more it knows of real life. Children are the keenest observers. No audience is ignorant. All audi- ences understand speakers whose work is true to life and whose logic is easily understood. Audiences do not think fast, but they feel fast. When the speaker begins his work, he should be as nearly neutral as possible for a few minutes in order that he may become accustomed to the audience and that the audience may become accustomed to him. Both the voice, and the action should not show any effort. The work must, however, be sufficiently interesting to attract the various kinds of people in the audience. The speaker should make every effort to get the at- tention of the people who do not seem interested. Both 192 VOICE TRAINING FOR SPEAKERS. the mind and the voice should be consciously directed toward the uninterested persons, but the eyes should see them only mentally. The speaker should always, in begin- ning his work, by a swift glance ascertain the individuals who seemingly do not appreciate his work; after that he should work upon them in his mind, his voice and his ac- tions, without looking at them directly, till he has won them. Thus group after group may be captured until the whole audience is won. The effect of the work may be seen by the speaker in the kind of attention which he receives. When the au- dience pays respectful attention, but engages in subdued conversation, keeps in motion and looks around, the speaker is not doing well. When the audience keeps its eyes on the speaker all the time, moves but slightly and uses fans, etc., gently, the speaker is doing fairly well. But when the audience is dead-still, when there is uQt a movement of the muscles, not a rustle of garments, and the audience does not breathe, then the speaker has gained the inner mind of the audience. The greatest compliments which an audience can pay a speaker are dead-still atten- tion and unexpected applause. Audiences love to hear good speakers. The principles of good speaking should not be treated as theories, but should be carried out in practice. After they have been absorbed by practice, they should not be carried into public work. A speaker should never think of his voice. The best orator is he who has no use for rules. The principles of expression should be executed by an indomitable will, a large magnetic life, a persistent yearn- SUBJECTIVE VOICE. 193 ing for the object desired and the throwing out of the mag- netic lines toward that object or wish. There are no absolutely unappreciative audiences. A magnetic speaker can hold any audience under control. The smallest audience should be as important to the speaker as the largest. Perfection in the art of speaking is impossible. The best speakers are full of imperfections. The greater the artistic power of a speaker, the less will he feel that he has done well. Success does not come to the careless. The success- ful speaker maps out his own career. No man can check the inner impulse of a great mind. The mind that is both fertile and active will surely SUCCEED. OCT 301S09