Daily press. [volume] (Newport News, Va.) 1896-current, 1898-09-04
DO YOU SPEAK SOFTLY?
f"u Can he caught tn Control Your VoIce
and Adapt 1t to tho Room, You Enter.

on Gan lie Taught tn Control Your No1co
| and Adapt 1t to the Room You Enter.
| DO you speak softly? Has your voice
precisely the proper pitch and can it
tdapt itself on the instant to the room
;ou suddenly enter? Have you learned
hat you must never whisper in a
!hnrch-for Whispering is always very
'udlble there-but speak in a low, firm
one? Can you laugh properly and
taimtily, as an ideal girl Should" Can
iou control your voice. using one tone
or one occasion and another for an
! 'ther. at Will? Can you talk ami
natcdly and with enthusiasm, without
hrowing your arms about. your head
90 far back ana without moving your
oa:!y?
| For If you cannot say yes to all these
lues'lnns you are not perfect and
properly modern girl. There have
''een many criticisms. as we'll as
praises. levelled at the American girl.
end one of the chief of these has been
Tor years that she talked too loud ana
Too often did not modify her voice
when occasion called. Now, Ameri
:an fathers and mothers say the time
has come for reform. and the new cult
Of speaking softly has been started.
| A foreign woman. continental to her
finger tips. who has the softest, pref
TEST voice herscIf-Mmc. Mcndosez-
is the apostle of this new cult, and to
her studio" on Fifth avenue come
each day troops of girls, singly or in
classes of six and eight. tina, they may
be in the fashion. 1t is. in fact. ii rage
III mild way. Only those girls blessed
by nature or by very early training
with voices that are properly fashion
able can afford to keep Out of the pro-
nession. and all the others of the sets
wend their way daily TO the studio"
! 1t is not alone ny eXample-though
! example has a great deal to do with it
that the cult Of speaking softly is
taught The girls ranged about her
Nine. MendoscZ asks each of them to
speak in her ordinary conversational
tone. Then. stepping to the piano
near by, she strikes note. II high
in the treble it is meant for "a girl
whose tones are naturally harsh and
cultural; if down in the bass, for
girl who speaks shrilly and in a half
| scream.
THAT for YOU" she says, singing
out girl. Now try and see how close
you can pitch your voice to that"
No exact point OF meeting is there
and no similarity OF tones sought at
ter, but the deep voice and the shrill
one, the nasal voice and the voice that
seems to come from the bottom OF the
T throat raj ,1pI NJ 1o1 ntn
until they commence TO lose their dis
! agreeable peculiarities and are on
| Enmcwhat common ground
Now. this is but the preface 1t is
not so much the object of the cult to
change voices as it is to control them.
And yet the two go together in a
measure. Once, by this plan of nasal
gymnastics, Il girl can alter her tones
at will. it is simple thing for her to
learn to speak softly She comes to
learn that by raising her voice hardly
at all she can make her tones carry"
to marvellous degree. She is taught
the difference between rooms how
there is one tone for public assem-
blages, another for parlors, a third for
still smaller rooms and yet another
for the street
AS completely as If she were taking
singing lessons does this system OF the
new cult of speaking softly range her
voice up and down. keeping it mean
while Gf there is a tendency either
wayl. out OF her throat and her nose,
until she is complete mistress of her
tones. all the while holding forward as
the main object soft speaking