A cultivated voice out of practice can be prepared for public speaking by a two days' repetition of the above exercises. c. Moving the lips and diaphragm vigorously, repeat with ẽ and short vowels Wee-weck-wick-wack-wock, or quee - queck-quick quack-quock. Learn to use the open vowels with consonants, and the short vowels will usually take care of themselves. d. Practice difficult combinations of consonants with and without vowels. (See § 6: IV.) Add also t or d and st to the first three columns of the following: 13. Pitch and Time. (§§ 35-96.) Practice with different degrees of loudness and kinds of stress, with long and short slides in slow and fast time, the following inflections, and also the examples under a, b, c, d, h, i, and §§ 39-42. In the following the small preliminary note, in connection with each inflection, represents a slight slide of the voice that occasionally, especially in connection with terminal or median stress (§ 15), precedes the real inflection. This makes the voice in the downward inflection, for instance, move thus, rather than. This preliminary movement of the voice is not represented in the marks used in this book, except in the case of the upward circumflex ~ in which, because it is exceptionally important, it is marked lest it should be over looked. It's a glòrious, a splèndid project! It's abòminable, Indéed, is it só? Did he say só, and to you? c. Falling Circumflex. oh oh oh oh aw aw Ôh, you meant no hârm, -ôh, nô, yôu are pûre. All that I live by is the awl. e. Practice the scale both up and down with a long median swell on each note. This exercise, especially with oo, will also cultivate pure quality. f. Sound alternately a high then a low ah, aw, or oh. Never Develop low tones by practicing a low g, d, or b consonant element, or low whispered u in up; high tones by using them. practice too high. g. Base or contralto voices should gain perfect command of musical notes between mid e and g. Tenors and sopranos between mid g and b. h. Read the following, beginning low, and gradually ascending the scale on each syllable, and ending with the rising inflection : Do you mean to tell me that you could have thought that I could go all around town and tell everybody that I happened to meet that I could believe such a mean story about you as that? i. Read the same, beginning high, and gradually descending to a falling inflection. Also, Start high, To the deep, (descend) down, low, gradually, rising, high, lower, lower, low, (Descend) To the deep, (descend) dòwn, Through the shades of sleep; Through the cloudy strífe Of death and of life; Through the veil and the bár Of things that seem and áre; Even to the steps of the remotest thrône, down! down! Practice exercises in §§ 149-151; § 97; § 92: a, b, c. 14. Force. (§§ 99-115.) Practice explosively, expulsively and effusively,―i. e. with different degrees of abruptness and smoothness, both loud and softthe exercises in §§ 10-12. a. Also, with different degrees of loudness, then with abrupt explosive and expulsive force, at medium or low pitch— FORWARD, FORWARD, FORWARD, etc. Read extracts in §§ 107, 110, 111, 114, 118, 149: b, d, and §§ 211, 213. b. For smooth force, make at medium pitch, long, swelling sounds of oo (§ 13: e), beginning and ending soft, with the middle loud. Read passages in §§ 112, 119, 120, and those marked for effusive utterance in §§ 221-225. 15. Stress. (§§ 99-105.) Lift the arms at full length above the head, and strike forward and down. When the hands reach the hip-level, stop them suddenly and utter ah. This, which need not be continued after one can give the proper sound, will cause Initial Stress >, with the beginning of tone louder (not necessarily very loud) than its continuation or end; made with explosive or expulsive utterance (§§ 8, 10). With the same movement (§ 15) begin a soft sound as the hands begin to descend, and end with an explosion as they stop. This will give Terminal Stress <, with the end of the sound loudest; made with expulsive or explosive utterance (§§ 8, 10). Median Stress <>, with the middle of the sound loudest; made with effusive or expulsive utterance (§§ 8, 10). Compound Stress ><. This begins and ends loud; a combination of Initial and Terminal Stress. Thorough Stress, loud throughout; a combination of Compound and Median Stress. Tremulous Stress, a trembling tone. a. Practice each kind of stress with ah, aw and oh; also With vehemence, > Understand distinctly, you all are fools. determination, grief, I am determined to abide and remain. b. Practice the different examples in §§ 99–105. 16. Volume and Quality. The flexibility of the organs, which is the inevitable result of practicing the foregoing exercises, will sufficiently prepare one for the direct study of these elements as explained in §§ 121–137. EMPHASIS. 17. The first thing noticeable in the utterance of consecutive words is, that certain of them are uttered with more weight of voice than others are; that they receive what, for this reason, is termed an emphasis. A little thought will evince that this emphasis is given to words mainly because they are conceived of as introducing into the general drift of the phraseology more weight of meaning than other words do; often as in themselves conveying the specific meaning that characterizes a whole passage. A man, e. g., may remark: "In that case, I shall walk to Boston." Four persons, hearing him, may exclaim respectively: "You shall walk to Boston!" "You shall walk to Boston!" "You shall walk to Boston !" "You shall walk to Boston!" In each case the word (in italics) emphasized indicates that it, rather than any other, specifies that which conveys to the conception of the speaker the import, information or peculiarity of the expression. This example shows also the importance, if we wish to be rightly understood, of emphasizing the right words in the right way. It will be noticed that the same phraseology may be made to convey almost as many different ideas as there are different words in it to be emphasized. Here is the 18. General Principle Underlying Emphasis. Words or phrases conceived of as introducing special importance, information or peculiarity into the general thought of a passage are emphasized; those that merely carry forward the general thought, expressing what is of little value in itself, or is known, acknowledged, forestalled or repetitious, either in the way of statement or sequence, are slighted. a. For illustrations consult §§ 40, 41, 42. All that are necessary for our present purpose may be considered in connection with the following: Antithetic or contrasted 19. Antithetic Emphasis. words or phrases necessarily introduce importance, peculiarity, etc., into the general thought, and are emphasized. |