Spirit of the age. [volume] (Woodstock, Vt.) 1845-1913, 1886-09-29
VOICE BUILDING.
Possibilities in the Art OF
Training the Vocal Organ.
The Professional Voice of the Clergy
man, Lawyer and Actor.

studied the art of voice building, both
in this country and abroad. She is
deeply interested in the subject, and 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 scale. There are
three registers in the speaking voice
upper, middle and lower. Every voice
has a range of at least seven notes. The
lower register is merely used in CONVEX
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 shrll, decisive tones, is the
! mental. The lower one is called the
vital. 1t is deep and passionate. 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, reposc brings grace The range
matters little in the conversational voice.
Though it were limited to three notes. n
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 ?"
"Thcy say, you know" Mrs. Adams
replied "that the rising infection is the
best spur to conversation. The falling
infection is dogmatc, decisive, and cuts
off all discussion. The young English
man says, T-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 Mohammcd's coffin. You see,
the matter has already driftcd into q de-
lightful explanatory discussion. The
young American, however, says 4
love YOU with falling infection &.
That ends the mlttcr. The young wo-
man can call or pass out.-thats ALL But
there is ever so much to be said on the
other side"
"Do the Americans speak through the
nose ?"
Educated Americans No. The
Americans have a good speaking voice as
usual thing, though it tends, perhaps
to sharpness. The voice, you know, is
the trucst 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 car
tell lawyer the moment he opens hi
mouth. lie speaks in hard, didactit
tone with downward infection. Iii!
voice is low, but decisive. Usually whcl
lawyer wants to get great effect he
assumes stage whisper. OF course there
are over so many characteristics.
"What of the clergyman's professional
voice."
"Well, from his calling one would cx
pect him to have middle-rcgistcr voice,
full of heart and sympathy, but as {
usual thing the head tones predominant
in the pulpit. The idea of one preach
ing charity and bcncvolcncc in hcat
tones strikes me as very ridiculous. The
voice and thought are out of harmony
1t reminds one of boatman looking onC
way and rowing steadily in the othc,
direction. Of course most clergymer
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 tn,
normal voice. lie may speak the veries
nonsense, but he is called magnetic
Every evangelist I ever heard uses thi
voice. Moody, Sam Jones, Talmagc ant
preachers of that kind all do. There i
heart quality in it that has q wonderful
effect. Again, it gives one IN imprcs
sion of contained strength.
speaker can never use all tho middl
voice, and one feels that there j
always q reserve awaiting call. DR.. Johl
Hall, of New York, is one of the bes
illustrations of what l am saying. II
: understands that emphasis depends OF
the tone, not on the force"
"As to the stagcl"
"Therc, of course, the voice is all i'm
portont One can always pick out tn
t young actor. He has awakened to tn
| realization of the fact that he has
voice. He runs up and down the scale
ending his sentences now in one voic
t and now in another 1t is merely mat
' ter of vocal imitation. The thoughtful
voicei always poised. That is the reosol
A
t women-espcciolly of the tlippant sort
! have flexible, sliding voices, that run tn
scale in few sentences"
f "Good conversational voices are rare
Q thcnp
p "Well, it is hard to say. Children
. voices before they learn to initiate thci
, elders are perfect They talk as the lin
net sing. The lower classes Of ever
country, in spite of their harshness an,
corruptncss of speech, have good qualit
$ of voice. They produce the great sing
crs of the world The modern Italia
t method of building, you know,
t. founded on the idea of kinship betwcc,
s the speaking voice and the singin
a 2oice. The same training goes to max
each. There is no reason why one VIII
. has all the natural vocal organs cannC
d sing rs we'll us speak. If he can spca
o truly, without aifcctation or falseness, h
can sing well. Chicago Tribune.