Expressive Voice Culture | Page 4

overtones may find their appropriate
reinforcement in the resonance chambers. Thus the quality of the voice
depends, not simply upon the condition of the vocal cords themselves,
but upon the form and quality of the resounding cavities.

CHAPTER II
Elementary Lessons.
After this brief discussion of the principles involved in this method of
practice, we will proceed to give some essential exercises for practice.
EXERCISE FOR SECURING FREEDOM OF TONE
This is the foundation of all voice culture.
1. Take position in accordance with directions given in
Chapter I
.
2. Take humming tone as indicated in the preceding chapter,--_m, n,
ng,_--idealized and pure. The mouth should be opened and closed
without changing the tone.

3. Endeavor to concentrate all consciousness upon the conception of a
tone emanating from the nares anteri and floating in ideal forms of
vibration in the surrounding air. Those forms may vary in their definite
nature, but must always obey the principle of curves and radiation. One
should never reach up to a tone, but should seem to alight upon it from
above, as a bird alights on the branch of a tree. The mind must never
lose sight of the result--the ideal aimed at. The knowledge of processes
leads us to a right conception of aims, and enables us to judge of their
correctness. We should know what processes are normal (natural and
healthful) and what objects of thought will induce them.
While taking the above exercise no effort should be made in the throat.
The voice should seem to find its way without effort. The tone should
not be loud or sharp.
If the student finds it difficult to produce the tone alone, some word
ending in ing should be practised, as _ring-ring-ring-ng_.
FORMING OF ELEMENTS
First Exercise. Start the humming tone as indicated in the first lesson,
and maintain the same focus while forming certain elements. Take the
syllable _n-ö-m_, allowing no break while going from _n_, the nares
sound, to the vowel sound of _o_, and returning to the nares sound of m.
This is perhaps the best element to begin upon, because of its
definiteness, but the same principle can be applied to other elements of
speech, as _Most-men-want-poise-and-more- royal-margin_. Form
each syllable with the utmost care. Concentrate the mind upon the ideal
sound. First be sure that the pronunciation is accurately conceived.
Then enunciate clearly and try each time to make the form more perfect.
The principle of thinking is the same as that involved in striving to
make a perfect circle, or to execute any figure with more and more
beauty. The effort of the mind will bring the result, if the conception of
the element to be formed be correct. The sentence given--"_Most men
want poise, and more royal margin"_--is composed of such alternation
of elements as will tend to bring forward those that might be formed
too far back by their association with those elements that are
necessarily brought to the front. For example, the word_poise._ The
first and last elements are distinctively front. That helps to bring out
what is between.

The constant recurrence of the nares tone, as in _m, n,_ etc., may serve
as a regulator of tone. The object of this step in practice is to form
elements with beauty, and to form them with the same focus as that
secured by the humming tone. In this stage of practice each element
should be dwelt upon separately, but not in such a way as to mar its
expression. For example, unaccented syllables should be lightly
pronounced and the right shading carefully observed. Otherwise, when
the elements are put together their harmony and smoothness will be
wanting and the effect labored and mechanical, as is often the case
where attention has been given to the practice of articulation. To make
the effort of articulation a vital impulse in response to a mental
concept,--this is the object sought. The principle is that the will should
be directed toward the ideal to be reached, while the mind comprehends
the means incidentally. The means may be considered as a matter of
knowledge, useful in guiding the judgment but a hindrance when used
as a trap to catch the conscious attention of the practising student.
The whole difference between the artist who is spontaneous and the
artisan who is artificial is that the one recognizes the fact that the very
existence of human expression proves that the mind awakens the
instinctive response of the physical organism, while the other thinks
that he can calculate that infinite harmony which makes unity of action,
without reverting to the first cause of expression--the thought that
created it. To reproduce the impulse born of the thought--this is the aim
of a psychological method. This is secured only by right objects of
thought;