PREFACE.

An outline of study is presented in the triangular chart following. All culture whether of body, mind or voice, is a growth from the crude to the refined, and all drill must necessarily be in the order: 1. Mechanical; 2. Natural; 3. Artistic. Thus, all culture is based upon the Mechanical, passes through the Natural, and is completed in the Artistic.

This law applied to the rendering of thought gives :-1. Mechanical; 2. Intelligent; 3. Emotional. The basis of speech is Conversation, its higher form is Reading, and its highest form is Oratory. So culture in speech is based on Conversation, continues through Reading, and culminates in Oratory.

The character of all human expression is determined by the individuality of the speaker. The center of the individuality is the mind. Psychologically considered, the mind has three sides- the Will, the Intellect, and the Feelings :-the Will corresponding with the Body, Physical or Vital nature; the Intellect with the Mind, Intellectual or Mental nature; the Feelings with the Soul, Moral or Emotive nature. So the Audible (tones) and Visible (gestures) are either Vital, Mental or Emotive, according to which side of the mind prompts the action. Illustrations: Vital, the swagger and bluster of a bully; Mental, the careful utterance and gestures of a thinker; Emotive, the impassioned manner of the exhorter.

Our practical drill in Rendering trains successively the three sides of the mind. Beginning with the Will, we have our first group of exercises consisting of the three points, Animation, Naturalness, and Directness of voice, correspond

273933

ing with Energy, Simplicity, and Precision of manner. The aim in this Mechanical period is Naturalness and Simplicity, which, when attained, carry the pupil into the second, the Natural Period.

In the second period we work for the three points, Compass, Agreeableness, and Flexibility of voice, and Radiation, Grace, and Variety of gesture; the aim being those artistic qualities; Agreeableness and Grace.

This aim being attained the student finds himself in the third, the Artistic Period. Here we work for Propriety, Freedom, and Magnificence of gesture, to cultivate Imagi. nation secure Responsiveness of voice and body to mind, and add Brilliancy—that final polish and artist's touch— since" God himself signifies that his creation is complete by throwing over it the garb of beauty.

TO THE STUDENT.

The student should approach this complex and many sided study-this fine art—as an architect who sets before himself the task of constructing some great work even a grand cathedral which shall endure through ages to bless and to ennoble the souls of men because of its beauty and its usefulness. The architect first must have within him. self his well-defined ideal, for his work cannot excel that, though as he works his ideal is constantly changing and ever beholding more complicated and loftier visions to be wrought out. He begins to gather about himself material for the work, much that is crude and commonplace and some that is rare and precious. He must chisel, refine and polish, toiling on long and faithfully, ever with positive hope, that he may bring out the ideals hidden in his soul. Out ! of a dream he constructs a real temple with walls and roof and buttresses, pinnacles, high-pointed arches of windows

deeply recessed entrance way; within, the vaulted arches, the delicately fluted columns, the niches, carved panels, rose windows and delicate tracery work; a place worthy to echo back the grandest music of the masters, and the noblest and best thoughts and feelings of the world.

Or let the student begin his task as an organ builder. He gathers about him his material, shapes each part into suitable form, giving careful attention to measurements to suit the laws of sound. He is careful that all parts of his instrument are so nicely adjusted, with parts, each responsive to the other, that when finished, with each part in place, all parts are forgotten when it discourses wonderful harmony as it responds to the skillful touch.

In this commercial age, to many this will seem visionary and impracticable; but " he that hath ears to hear, let him hear. Let him first have noble ideals for noble purposes then "undertake great things and expect great things. "The student of expression, like the student of music, painting, sculpture, or any other art, should take the needed time for development.

The student should go about his work with energy, with a willingness to work hard. Do not think because you are attracted to the study that you possess "talent. " The pianist or the artist along any other line will tell you that talent is largely the result of hard work. Genius is the result of an endurance and persistence in hard work. These mystic keys hold the treasure. In this study as in no other science or art" a little learning is a dangerous thing."

Let us consider briefly the material needed by the student who would be the organ builder and the master musician, the artist and the work of art. (Material in large charts.)

Think of self to be used in this work not only as one but as three; three beings combined in one,- the Physical being, the Mental being, the Spiritual being. In the early

part of the study, separate the three and think of them as distinct and wide apart; later in the study all may be considered as a unit, acting together.

The Vital or Physical side of life needs no definition as it is visible and easiest to know and think about.

The Mental, with its wonderful faculties of Reason and Memory and Imagination, lives within the body. We can think of the seat of all this power as located in the brain. We often judge of the mental faculties themselves by the shape of the head. We think of the brain and its faculties as something.

The Spiritual life dwelling within the Physical body should be thought of as something. It cannot be weighed, measured, and examined as is the brain with its gray matter. No dissecting knife has ever yet found a trace of its presence. It cannot be seen with the X ray. It ever eludes the keenest search. Though it is so mystic and fleeting, its influence is more real to us than anything else we know about. However mysterious all this may be and whatever may be our belief, let us, to gain the most helpful attitude toward the study in hand-which must be largely of things intangible and subjective- let us learn to think of this spiritual or emotive nature as something. Think of it as a perfect correspondence to the physical body, dwelling within it and fitted to it as though the body were its garment. Think too of this spiritual body as being so delicate and impressionable that the slightest wish of a friend will cause it to vibrate, as will all feelings, hopes, fears, aspirations. Because of the fact it is so easily moved it is called the Emotive nature. This Emotive or Spiritual has its faculties no less than the brain.

Physical body has its complicated Vital Organs, Nerves, Muscles, Blood and Breath.

Mental has its Perception, Memory, Imagination, Reason,