Washington standard. [volume] (Olympia, Wash. Territory) 1860-1921, 1879-06-27
Vocal Culture.

The object OF these articles is to
,mesent results rather than processes.
If that youthful mother. or teacher,
or minister, can he shown how and
whese to get the requisite informa-
ton by which they can increase their
yower of usefulness two-fold or ten
told, and can be inspired to give the
time and thought and money neces-
,sary, we shall not regret this outlay.
, There are two leading objects to be
placed before the mind in our re-
searches on this question.
l, Intelligent distinctness of enun-
citation.
2, Ease of delivery.
Other matters are largely involved
but these just now are paramount.
The first enables the nearer to
understand what is said without
painful effort, or interposing the
everlasting What did you say, sir?"
The second saves the speakers vocal
ogans, enabling him to do many
times the work without danger, to
say nothing Of the wear and tear of
the hearers ears. 1t scarcely comes
within our line of thought to speak
of what is merely ornamental, or
simply preparing to recite set pieces
on special occasions; but rather the
use of the voice in common converse
ton, common reading, in singing,
in teaching, in the pulpit and at the
bar. Our first textbook on the sub
ject was Rush's Philosophy of the
Human Voice, treatise so philoso-
Alhical that he himself tartly said.
that his prefaces are regarded as
"the only ineligible part of the
book" It is full of conceits, odd
phrases and irrelevant matter, Alb
stract in style and cynical in tone, it
never secured popular attention, yet
it contained many most excellent
thugs. Rush has been followed by
Gummere, Barber, Russell, Com
stock, Caldwell, Bronson, Murdoch,
Bacon, Sprague, Thwing. Shoemaker,
and others who may have escaped
our attention since coming to this
northwest coast.
There is no one department of
education where careful, early, con-
tinuous training is of so much value
as the building up, and development
of the voice. The gift of articulate
speech is one of the greatest gifts of
God. It distinguishes man from all
other animals, and cannot be too
highly priced. The necessity for
vocal training is seen in this simple
fact: Man does not speak naturally-by
nature-indeed he does not speak at
all, except as he is taught. Men no
more talk by nature, than they write
by nature. They do neither. Our
mothers, our nurses, our brothers
and our sisters, together with Tom,
ick and Harry, of the streets,
teach us to talk, and what marvel is
it, if by the time the youth comes be-
fore an accomplished teacher he is
spoiled all over, and takes the labor
of o lifetime to correct the nis-educa-
ton of the first eight years. The
statement should here be emphasized
strongly; all that art seeks to do in
this matter is to bring the pupil
back to the simplicity of nature,
and after reforming him from his
backslidings from nature, to develop
his normal capabilities to the ut
most. To talk of objections to vocal
training, therefore, is silly nonsense.
AS we'll talk of q clild's writing
and learning arithmetic by nature,
as to think he talks and reads by
nature. The alphabet, the elements
OF our language and the multiplied
ton table, are all Greek to the child
except as it is taught. Of all the
countless myriads of voices on this
babbiing earth, no two are precisely
alike; each has it peculiarities, and
naturalness consists in each using
= his own powers and not apeing some
body else. The mischief is this.
Just at the time when the child is
most sensitive and impossible, just