audience all these qualities must be broadened, adapted and ennobled. True Expression demands intelligence, beauty, and strength. It has its fruition in the last. The voice must elevate, denounce, and command. It must leap from pew to pew, and from balcony to balcony. It may tremble with the intensity of earnestness. It may ring in the trumpet notes of command, or thunder in denunciation. It is the "harp of a thousand strings" whose chords were strung by the hands of Deity, and we are the masters with our hands upon the strings. DEFINITIONS Voice is that sound which is made in the larynx. Whether it be high or low, soft or loud, pure or impure, resonant or hollow, the seat of production is the same. It owes its different qualities to the modifications and changes of the entire vocal machinery. All kinds of voice are produced by a vibration of the vocal bands. Voice is vocalized breath. Its production and control depend upon the proper command of respiration. The lungs must be properly filled and expiration intelligently directed. Breath is the material of which voice is made. Respiration for vocal purposes should be studied. Voice is that phase of muscular activity which results in sound. Breath cannot be taken into nor expelled from the lungs without muscular action. This action also controls the vocal bands, the movements of the jaw and mouth and the expansion of the throat. We should, therefore, direct our attention to the exercise of these factors. Voice is the human organ of expression through which the soul manifests itself in sound. If we would call forth its harmonies we must first assume the mental phases which will demand them. A perfectly cultivated voice responds instantly to the demands of thought and emotion, but the master mind at the key-board can draw forth only the melodies that it has already conceived. The tendency of the voice is to be truthful, but it cannot express that which has not been created. Voice is the result of a psychic condition which manifests itself in the physical nature, causing the air to be expelled from the lungs through the larynx, tensioning and controlling the vocal bands, and thus setting in motion a volume of air which is modified by the resonance chambers, and which, vibrating on the tympanum of the ear, is called sound. GENERAL OBSERVATIONS All great powers are elusive and are not susceptible of measurement. Rules can be presented for the cultivation of the voice, but they will of necessity be varied again and again as experience demands. The artist adds a dash of color, he knows not why, but is pleased with the effect, so we must add to and take from rules when their absolute observance would not satisfy the cultured ear. The principles here set forth are not intended to be absolute, but rather suggestive. They are the result of years of experience, and it is believed that they will be helpful. It is impossible to reduce to writing what can be fully explained by the teacher, and there are mechanical difficulties that cannot be overcome by the printer's art, as no symbols can express the exact qualities in the tones of the speaking voice. The reader and student are furnished with a number of exercises which are the result of much careful thought, and the value of which has been tested by many pupils. Each branch of the subject is considered under a separate head for the sake of convenience. The pupil or teacher will find it profitable to select portions of different exercises for each lesson, rather than to proceed chapter by chapter. These exercises may be varied in many ways for the sake of freshness or fullness, and many new ones may be prepared. Of the exercises presented each, it is believed, has a value. When old material is used it is retained because of its worth. Many well-known principles may greet the student in a new, and, it is hoped, a more attractive guise. Whatever new material is added is not as an experiment; but because its utility has been proved. No cuts or diagrams are employed to illustrate the use of the vocal organs. The student who wishes to understand fully their mechanism will find the subject more comprehensively treated in works on anatomy and physiology than is possible here. The cultivation of voice should begin with the vowel sounds, in which sounds it may be studied apart from the other elements of the words. The beauty of a language consists chiefly in the utterance of its vowels. The consonants are but little influenced by pitch, inflection, force, and time. Any movement that may be made in the utterance of a word can be made with the vowels, and upon the correct utterance of these few sounds the control of voice will chiefly depend. VOCAL GYMNASTICS The student should assume an erect position; shoulders and hips back, head in line, chest easily expanded. The position should not be stiff. Keep the lungs easily inflated. The whole body must be active. Endeavor to conceive each sound accurately before its utterance, and direct the attention toward giving each sound exactly as required, and then determine to improve with each exercise. Careless or indifferent practice is worthless. Remember that the ability to conceive sounds is developed along with their utterance. VOCAL CHART The vocal chart on the two following pages is not intended to be complete, but merely suggestive. The variety of voice movement is almost endless. Many of these exercises are extremes. The object in practicing them is to render the voice pure and to break up monotony. Three principles are represented, Pitch, Stress (or force), and Directions of Movement (musical and inflected notes). With these as a basis, every student may construct a chart. Directions for Chart, Part I, page 24. X.-Commence with the line marked X and sing the musical note Do, holding the note about four seconds. Repeat, holding the note about two seconds. Repeat, holding through one second. Repeat, making a quick, smooth, rounded sound. Remove the d, leaving o, and repeat as before. Take the vowels a, e, i, o, u, and go through the same exercise with each. Pronounce the five vowel sounds, giving each a quick rounded sound, making a musical note as in singing. 1. Next take the line marked with figure 1 and repeat the five vowel sounds as above on the musical notes. Pronounce firmly the word no. Remove the n, leaving o. Repeat o with the same movement. Give the five vowel sounds with the falling inflection. Pronounce the word eh? as a question. This gives a sound resembling long a. Repeat the vowels on this inflection. Give the complete exercise on high, medium, and low pitches. |