Expressive Voice Culture | Page 6

development of increased vital power in the voice the student
should practise the nares exercise and also the elements of speech in a
sustained and even manner, continuing tones as long as it is possible to
keep control of them. The effect of this is to establish strength and
steadiness in the action of the muscles that control the voice, and
increase of breathing-power in response to the requirements involved in
the exercise. The tone must be kept pure and free, and practised with
varying degrees of force, with the idea of steady projection and
determined control. The ability to sustain the tone for a long time will
increase, and with it the power of the muscles exercised.
The idea of projecting tone is based upon the feeling of sympathy with
those at a distance, and not simply upon the desire to make them hear.
Short passages of a vital and animated nature should be practised with
varying degrees of radiation, so that the consciousness of the student
may adapt itself to the idea of including in his sympathies a larger or
smaller number of people. The thought of sympathy with, or nearness
to, those addressed is a most important principle in the development of
this power. It is never the best way to strive to speak loud in order that
one may be heard. Such selections as Lanier's "Life and Song,"
Wordsworth's "The Daffodils," and Scott's "Lochinvar" will be found
helpful studies for radiation. It is useful in practising the humming tone,
or the nares tone, to imagine the whole atmosphere pervaded with pure
resonance. Too much emphasis cannot be placed upon the idea of
perfect purity as the essential foundation of power. The pure voice will
grow to power. In taking this exercise there should be no consciousness
of effort in the throat, and no shade of sharpness should be heard in the
tone. One must try for the pure, pervasive resonance which seems to
float on the air like the soft note of a violin. The right condition for the
expression of this radiant vitality in the voice is a complete alertness
and responsive vivacity of the whole person. This animation should be

vital and not nervous.
PITCH
A voice, to express variety, must have sufficient compass to give
opportunity for a free play of inflection over various degrees of pitch. It
has been said, "Inflection is the tune of the thought." It is that which
makes it attractive. If one desires to emphasize a point of thought and
make it attractive to another person he instinctively increases his
emphasis by lengthening the slide or inflection. The high pitch
indicates mental activity; the medium pitch is the normal or heart range;
the low pitch is more peculiarly vital. If one would express varieties of
thought with brilliancy and effectiveness, the range of his voice must
be wide, and the evenness of quality so perfect that he can glide from
one extreme of pitch to another without any break in the tone. Facility
in thus handling the voice may be developed by means of special
attention directed to this characteristic. The practice for securing this
adaptability in the modulations of pitch is as follows.
Begin with the nares or humming tone, giving it on as many different
notes of the scale as can be easily reached. Practise the scale gliding
from one note to another while maintaining the pure tone. Practise
gliding in the form of inflection, or slide, from one extreme of pitch to
another. This may be given with variations, according to the ability of
the student to control his voice with evenness and to maintain that pure
smoothness of gradation in quality which permits no break or
interruption in gliding from one pitch to another. These varieties of
practice in slides and scales should be introduced with the practice of
various elements of speech, as well as with the humming tone. The
different vowels should be so used. Selections for practice should be
chosen which contain much variety of thought and feeling and are
smooth in movement. For instance, Tennyson's "Song of the Brook,"
"The Bugle Song," practised with the introduction of the bugle notes
and their echoes, and various other selections of a musical and
attractive nature, may be adapted to this practice by simply
exaggerating the slides which one would naturally make in bringing out
the meaning. No extravagant or unwarrantable inflections which will

mar the expression of the thought should be permitted, but it is quite
desirable to gradually extend the range of the inflections, if one still
maintains in the practice that common sense which will leave the
expression in perfect symmetry when the extra effort made for
inflection shall have been withdrawn. Though it is sometimes desirable
to exaggerate one element, even