III. VOICE

Vocal training for speech is a big problem in itself, and only a few general suggestions can be offered here. If the speaker will practice speaking or reading extracts of vigorous oratory and selections of literature rich in lofty emotion, in a hall where he feels free to let his voice reach out unsuppressed, he will usually find his vocal powers increasing. If his vocal habits are free from serious faults, such practice is the best kind of vocal preparation for public speaking. But in the majority of cases the vocal habits are not good, and speaking practice needs to be guided by an understanding of at least a few of the more important characteristics of a good speaking voice, and by help from a competent teacher.

Distinctness

The most fundamental requisite of a good voice is distinctness. The speaker must be able to make his audience hear, not faintly, but easily and unmistakably. Not a word important to the sense should escape them. Hence, the speaker needs to form his words perfectly and to project them well. An audience may be unable to hear because a word is not well formed, or because it is not projected far enough from the mouth of the speaker.

Distinctness de

Proper Formation of Sounds. pends, first of all, upon the proper formation of the elementary sounds used in speech, and upon the correct combination of these sounds into syllables, words, and groups of words. The speaker's first object, then, should be to perfect and strengthen the action of the

lips, tongue, soft palate, and jaw. Greater vigor and quickness in the action of these muscles, especially the tip of the tongue and the lips, should be sought. The speaker should listen to his own speech and try to discover words that are lazily or carelessly uttered. He should make a list of these words, and practice speaking them with exactness and snap. Combina

tions of words that are difficult for him to speak easily, should be practiced again and again until there is no uncertainty or hesitation in the action of the articulating organs. All the muscles that mould sound, shape words, and join them together into groups should be toned up and made firm and quick in their action.

If the speaker will take a hand mirror and study the action of the lips and jaw as he utters the vowels and consonants, he may be able to discover incorrect positions and flabby movements which he can correct. Thus in the sound of the long e as in eat, the teeth are separated from an eighth to a quarter of an inch, and the lips at the corners of the mouth are drawn back into a smiling position; while in the sound of oo as in who, the teeth are separated half an inch or more, and the lips are protruded and rounded. The è is produced with the lips in the form of a horizontal slit; the ōō is produced with the lips puckered as in a low whistle. Both sounds cannot be produced correctly with the same position of the lips. They may be produced with the lips in the same position, but in that case the work of forming the sounds must be done by the throat, and the sounds produced, instead of being clear and musical, will be hollow and throaty. Much of the thick,

hollow, impure speaking commonly heard is due to the inaction, or to the imperfect action of the lips, tip of the tongue, and jaw.

Projection of Sounds. The second important factor in distinctness is power to project the sounds so they will carry easily to all parts of an audience. If the speaker will practice speaking in a large hall, or even in a small one, and take pains to see that every sound reaches easily into the farthest corners of the room, he will do much to overcome indistinctness. If the room is very large or the acoustic conditions are poor, he should speak slowly and to an imaginary person in the back of the hall. Every word essential to the sense should be uttered to reach that person. The speaker should not speak as loudlyas possible, but should form his words as exactly ds necessary, and should project them so that every bit of sound is put out of his mouth and seems to reach the corners at the back of the room. Loudness and bigness should not be mistaken for distinctness. The speaker may make a great deal of noise and yet be indistinct. To be distinct the average speaker does not need to "talk louder," but to articulate more carefully and to place his tones out of his mouth.

TONE-PLACING. Proper placing of the tone is the main requisite of carrying power in the speaking voice. This tone-placing for distinct speech should not be mistaken for the tone-placing taught for purity in song. Its object is to give every sound a chance to escape beyond the lips; to prevent sounds from being swallowed, muffled, or shut in. If the speaker will form a circle with his thumb and fore finger and hold

it directly in front of the mouth from a quarter of an inch to two inches away from the mouth, and will try to make every sound he utters pass through and beyond the circle, he will do a great deal to draw the words out of his mouth and make them carry easily. His words will cease to drop dead as soon as they leave the mouth, or even before they leave the mouth.

Strength. If the formation of the words is clearcut and the tone well placed, then the thing needed, if the speaker cannot make himself heard easily, is greater vocal strength. In order to obtain this, he should practice speaking in a large hall or in the open air under conditions that require more than common effort and volume. The object of this practice should be to give the voice free and vigorous exercise, but this exercise should never be carried so far as to strain the voice. The speaker should avoid a forced, assumed tone. He should not try to put on the big voice of some one else, but should try to increase the volume of his own voice, to replace the weaker tones in his voice by stronger ones, to discover and cultivate the fullest, richest, strongest tones in his own voice.

BREATHING. In seeking vocal strength, he should try to add to proper formation of sounds and to proper tone-placing, correct breathing. His breathing should be deep. He should try to drive the air over the vocal organs by breath from the bottom of the lungs rather than from the top. As he forces out the air in speech, the front abdominal wall surrounding the short ribs and just below them, should move in, while the extreme upper part of the chest should be passive. Except in the impersonation of exhaustion and gasping,

the extreme upper part of the chest and shoulders should be kept firm and still. The speaker who heaves and sighs while speaking can never hope for great vocal power well controlled.

The speaker should carefully examine his breathing method. He can do this before a mirror, or he may test it by putting one hand on the extreme upper part of the chest and the other on the lower part at the place where the sternum and ribs join the flexible muscular walls of the abdomen. As he speaks his shoulders should not rise and fall and he should feel no movement beneath the upper hand at the very top of the chest; but beneath the lower hand the wall of the body should strike in as each word is uttered, and should push out each time the breath is caught between phrases. This movement may be very gentle or very abrupt. In tranquil speech it will be gentle, while in laughter and shouting it will be vigorous and quick. The gentle movement may be seen in the flanks of a sleeping dog, while the abrupt movement may be seen when the dog barks sharply. By conscious effort the speaker should seek to develop this deep breathing. The following simple exercises will assist him in this:

First, he should make the abdominal walls push outward slightly as he draws in the breath, and sink inIward as he forces the air out. The upper part of the chest should remain still. Second, he should repeat such sounds as hŭk, hù, hě, hĩ, hä, hẽ several times, forcing the breath out by a quick inward action of the abdominal wall. Third, he should utter such a sound as hä abruptly as in laughter, and repeat this sound, slowly at first but with increasing rapidity, until a