Maryland independent. [volume] (Port Tobacco, Md.) 1874-current, 1886-10-08
VOICE BUILDING.
Possibilities in the Art OF
Training the Vocal Organ
The Professional Voice Of the Clergy
man, Lawyer and Actor.


Mrs. Florence James Adams has
studied the art of voice building, both
in this country and abroad. She is
deeply interested in the subject, aud an
ardent believer in the future possibilities
Of the voice.
First of ALL" she explained, 'you
must know in the new method Of voice
building the conversational voice IS
trained by the vocal scal,. There are
three registers in the speaking voice
upper, middle and lower. Every voice
has range Of at least seven notes. The
lower register is merely used in conver-
sation, Of course. Its province is to eX-
press anger and the harsher passions.
The middle register is usually the
weakest of the three. This is, however,
The normal voice. The upper register,
with its shnll, decisive tones, is the
mental. The lower one is called the
vital. 1t is deep and passionae e. The
normal is, of course, the happy medium.
The evenly balanced man whose heart
does not outrun his head, speaks in this
voice. Excitable people drift into one
extreme or the other In the voice, as in
things, repose brings grace. The range
matters little in the conversational voice.
Though it were limited to three notes, a
wise succession of tone would make it
effective. 1t is the slur, the careless,
meaningless rise and fall that ruins The
speaking voice.
care not our English cousins good
speakers 2"
"They say, You know" Mrs. Adams
replied, "that the rising infection is the
best spur to conversation. The falling
infection is dogmatic, decisive, and cuts
off all discussion. The young English
man says, I-ah love you-ah with the
rising infection. lie leaves the subject
poised in the middle voice. Naturally
the young woman can't leave it hanging
there like Mohammed's coffin. You see,
the matter has already drifted into de-
lightful explanatory discussion. The
young American, however, says Il
love you with falling infection.
That ends the matter. The young wo-
man can call or pass out-that's all. But
there is ever so much to be said on the
other side"
aDo the Americans speak through the
nose 2"
Educated Americans No. The
Americans have good speaking voice as
a usual thing, though it tends, perhaps
to sharpness. The voice, you know, is
the truest test of character. 1t is al
most unfailing. One can disguise the
face the eyes, the manner but rarely
thinks of speaking out of the usual voice,
One can tell the intellectual man, the i'm
moral man, by his voice more readily
than in any other way. The professional
voice is another strange thing. One can
tell lawyer the moment he opens his
mouth. He speaks in hard, didactic
tone with a downward infection. His
voice is low, but decisive Usually when
lawyer wants to get a great effect he
assumes a stage whisper. OF course there
are ever so many characteristics.
''What of the clergyman's professional
voice."
"Well, from his calling one would ex-
pect him to have middle-register voice,
full of heart and sympathy, but as a
usual thing the head tones predominant
in the pulpit. The idea of one preach
ing charity and benevolence in head
tones strikes me as very ridiculous The
voice and thought are out of harmony.
1t reminds one of a boatman looking one
way and rowing steadily in the other
| direction. OF course most clergymen
are hard students given to brain work
and this accounts for their voices. Now
and then you hear clergyman who
| speaks in the low, broad tones Of the
normal voice. He may speak the verlest
nonsense, but he is called magnetic
Every evangelist I ever heard uses this
voice. Moody, Sam Jones, Talmage and
preachers of that kind all do. There IS
a heart quality in it that has wonderful
effect Again, it gives ono an impress
sion of self-contained strength. A
speaker can never use all the middle
voice, and one feels that there IS
always a reserve awaiting call. DR.. John
Hall, of New York, is one of the best
illustrations of what l am saying. lie
understands that emphasis depends on
the tone, not on the force"
Gas to the stage2"
'There, of course, the voice is all I'M
portant. One can always pick out the
young actor. He has awakened to the
realization of the fact that he has a
voice. He runs up and down the SCALE
ending his sentences now in one voice
and now in another. 1t is merely mat
ter of vocal imitation. The thoughtful
voice is always poised. That is the reason
women-especially of the ippant sort
have flexible, sliding voices, that run 'n0
scale in few sentences.
"Good conversational voices are rare
them" :.
"Well, it is hard to say. Children's
voices before they learn to initiate tneiF
elders are perfect They talk as the IN
net sing. The lower classes OF every
country, in spite of their harshness anu
corruptness of speech, have good quai'y
of voice. They produce the great sing
crs of the world The modern ltaliaH
method of voice building, you Know Is
founded on the idea of kinship between
the speaking voice and the singing