The American Union Speaker | Page 3

belongs to Professor William
Russell, whose valuable and protracted labors in this department of

education, both as an author and a practical instructor, merit the highest
commendation.
As the first of my recommendations, I would, at the outset, strenuously
insist on the importance of systematic vocal culture, which implies the
training of the ear to perceive the various qualities and modifications of
vocal expression, and the training of the voice to produce them. All the
different functions of the voice employed in speech should be
analytically exemplified by the teacher, and practised by the pupil, in
the reading or recitation of short passages in which they are well
illustrated, such as may be found in any good manual of elocution. This
kind of teaching is to elocution what practice upon the scale is to music,
and what the practice of the eye upon the harmony and contrast of
colors is to painting.
This course of training naturally divides itself into two
departments:--first that which is mechanical; and, secondly, that which
relates to the expression of thought and emotion.
I. THAT WHICH IS MECHANICAL.
BREATHING. The human voice is a musical instrument, an organ of
exquisite contrivance and adaptation of parts. Breath being the material
of its sound, vocal training should begin with the function of breathing.
Vigorous respiration is as essential to good elocution as it is to good
health. To secure this it is necessary, in the first place, to attend to the
posture, taking care to give the utmost freedom, expansion, and
capacity to the chest, and then to exercise and develop all the muscles
employed in respiration, so that they may be habitually used with
energy and power, both in the inhalation and expulsion of the breath.
Whenever the voice is to be used in speaking, reading, singing, or
animated conversation, the pupil should be required to assume the
proper position, and to bring into exercise the whole muscular
apparatus of the vocal organs, including the muscles of the abdomen, of
the back, of the ribs, and of the chest. Elocutionary exercises, especially
that of declamation, thus practised with a due regard to the function of
breathing, become highly beneficial in a hygienic point of view,
imparting health and vigor to the whole physical system. The want of
this kind of training is the cause of much of the bronchial disease with
which clergymen and other public speakers are afflicted. In the
excellent work on Elocution, by Russell and Murdock, the following

exercises in breathing are prescribed and explained:--"Attitude of the
body and position of the organs; deep breathing; diffusive or tranquil
breathing; expulsive or forcible breathing; explosive or abrupt
breathing; sighing; sobbing; gasping; and panting."
Experience has proved that the respiratory organs are susceptible of a
high degree of development, and it is well known that the strength of
the voice depends on the capacity, health, and action of those organs. It
is therefore of paramount importance that elocutionary culture should
be based on the mechanical function of respiration. And while the
elocutionist trains his pupils in such breathing exercises as are above
named, he is at the same time giving the very best part of physical
education; for the amount of vital power, as well as the amount of vocal
power, depends upon the health and vigor of the respiratory process.
Few are aware how much may be effected by these exercises,
judiciously practiced, in those constitutions where the chest is narrow,
indicating a tendency to pulmonary disease. In all such cases, regularly
repeated deep inspirations are of the highest value. It should be
observed that these exercises are best performed in the open air, or, at
least, in a well-ventilated room, the windows being open for the time.
But no directions however wise or minute, can supersede the necessity
of a competent teacher in this branch of physical and vocal training,
and I cannot dismiss this topic without expressing my high appreciation
of the value of the labors of that great master of the science of vocal
culture, Prof. Lewis B. Monroe, of Boston, who is probably
unsurpassed in this, or any other country, as a practical teacher of the
mechanism and physiology of speech. Already the benefit of his
instruction in this department of education is widely felt, and I omit no
opportunity to advise teachers to avail themselves of a longer or shorter
course of his admirable training. For if there is any accomplishment
which a teacher should be unwilling to forego, it is that, of skill in
elocution.
ARTICULATION. A good articulation consists in giving to each letter
its appropriate sound, and to each syllable and word an accurate,
forcible, and distinct utterance, according to an approved standard of
pronunciation.
This is what constitutes the basis of all good delivery. It has been