The Ontario Readers: The High School Reader, 1886 | Page 5

utterance of words so
as impressively to portray their latent sentiment,--all this is possible
with those alone to whom difficult word-forms, complex
sentence-structures, and the infinite variety and play of thought and
emotion, are more or less familiar through such a wide range of reading
as only the silent prosecution of it makes possible.
The art of oral reading, however, though not so generally needful as

silent reading, is still of great importance to everyone in respect of its
practical utility simply,--though few of those whose duty it is to read
aloud in public, do so either with accuracy or grace; as an
accomplishment which may be used to give pleasure to others, it is,
when perfectly possessed, not excelled by any other; so that as an
acquisition which puts one in a position of vantage either for
benefitting one's self or for bestowing delight or benefit upon others, it
is worth every necessary struggle for its attainment.
One of the most valuable results of oral reading when systematically
pursued as a school study, is the effect which it has in improving the
tones of the voice for ordinary conversation and discourse, and in
securing some measure of orthoepy as a fixed habit of utterance.
Conversational speech is notoriously slovenly. The sonority of our
vowels is lost, and their distinguishing qualities are obscured; and with
unnoticed frequency our consonants are either dropped or amalgamated
with one another. Yet, while amendment in these matters is to be
striven for, there is nothing that the teacher who wishes to establish
habits of orthoepy has to be more watchful in guarding against, than
bestowing upon his pupils an affected or mincing utterance, all the
more ludicrous and objectionable, it may be, in that a certain set of
words are pronounced with over-nicety, while almost all others are left
in a state of neglected vulgarity.
Too frequently the study of oral reading is pursued with reference
solely to the prospective public use of the art in the declamation of
prepared passages; and the elocution-master's science has been brought
into some discredit by wide discrepancies between the performances of
his pupils in their well-drilled and often hackneyed selections and their
ability to read unfamiliar pieces at sight. It is quite true that voice
culture is greatly aided by the close study and frequent rendering of
selections suitably chosen for the elocutionary difficulties which they
present; but it should never be forgotten that good reading, the sort of
reading which the schoolmaster should above all else endeavor to make
his pupils proficient in, implies the ability so to read a plain account, a
story, an oration, a play, or what not, at sight, with absolute correctness
as to pronunciation, with such clearness of articulation and

appropriateness of sentence utterance as will make it perfectly audible
and intelligible to one's auditors, and with such suitable and impressive
intonations as will put them in full possession of those emotions which
may be said to be the essence or spirit of the piece;--and, moreover, to
do all this with pleasure to one's hearers and with ease to one's self.
Now as comparatively few readers are ever required to read in public,
and as in the home-circle everyone ought to read, it is plain that the
first duty of the teacher of elocution is to develop in his pupils a
mastery of such a style of reading as is appropriate to small audiences;
and, then, if he have time and opportunity, to extend and amplify the
practice of his art so as to fit such as are capable of fuller mastery of it
to appear before greater audiences. For though all voices are capable of
being much improved through cultivation, few only can be adapted to
the requirements of a large auditorium; and the care and attention
which should be devoted to the benefit of all should not be spent for the
advantage merely of the few.
And moreover, those practices and studies which voice culture and the
attainment of a knowledge of the principles of vocal interpretation
demand, may be pursued by all in common. That alone which is
necessary for the public reader or orator, is a more extended, and,
perhaps, a more earnest and thoughtful practice.
Although practices for the improvement of the voice cannot proceed far
without attention to the principles of vocal interpretation, and though
the study of the latter necessarily includes the former, yet for the sake
of clearness the elementary principles of voice culture may be
discussed separately from their application in the interpretation of
thought and sentiment.
With respect both to articulation and expression the generic properties
of the voice are five, namely: Quality, Pitch, Force, Time, Abruptness.
Of these properties there are, of course, many modes or degrees, but the
voice must, in