Los Angeles herald., 1907-06-30
Copyright by James Eiverson.

tain the degree of perfection neeoeo " 'N-
a successful performance. !.
To begin with. reciter ought to possess
good voice, a good presence, goou> nne-'
and plenty of common sense. -
Assuming, then. that you can lay ciaiih :. ~
the possession of these four essentai yuan.
ties, your studies will naturally commence .'.
with intelligent reading-that ls TO say, you
must learn to read story with cohlore w
yourself, in such way that an audience nlay
hear every word of it. and may 'noioue'''
enjoy your relation of it.
You must first find out whether your ma
tural voice is pitched in too high or low Key
or whether it is too shrill or too narsh W ne
agreeable. Ask some competent tr1ena 10 ms
ten while you read page OF pook " hiii'' ~
and he will tell you at once. Then perseVere
until you are able to speak comfortapV III
pleasant tone.
Now for the next step-the distinct artlcu-
lation of every syllable. There must be no e,
slurring or clipping of words II must say
is not pronounced II mus say, nor Is VIC
ular' a satisfactory equivalent Tor farciGu.
lar" Every consonant should, as a rule, De
clearly recognizable. and final consonants,,
such as the f'g" ing" and the ID IN ano'
are of especial importance.
At the same time the PRONUNCIATION Oh
these consonants must not be too eonscien-
tious. 1t occasionally happens that an elocu,
ZIONIST makes "and" to sound like and-er,
and ] need scarcely say that this Is most IT
ritating effort at accuracy.
Then, of course. the aspirate must be Vreae-
ed very tenderly, even when it occures In tine
middle of word like anywhere" 10 aspir-
ates in sequence. such as "he had,'' are by no
means easy to pronounce in rapid speaking
but it can be done with practice.
When in doubt about the pronunciation OF
a word, it is best to consult dictionary.
The next step is to get your voice under
control In reality, as you are no doubt
aware, it is a delicate musical instrument, ca
rpable of producing the most exquisite moduia-
tions of tone. You will notice in conversa-
Aion that it rarely remains upon one note, but
travels up and down the scale, changing key,
time and tone with marvellous facility.
When, for instance. you are expressing sur
prise, the natural infection is up the scale,
whereas in anger the tendency is to be down.
ward infection.
So far as possible you should strive to paint
the meaning of the language by the manner
and tone of your voice. A grand poem should
roll out majestic and full of strength. while a
commonplace narrative requires little more
than the ordinary conversational tone.
When the language is sorrowful, let the
cadences of your voice be sympathetic enough
TO draw Ine pocKeC nanukerchlels ouI oI the
pockets of all the old ladies' in your audience;
and when it is full of fun, throw yourself heart
and soul into the fun. and compel the people
to laugh until the tears rain down their cheeks.
At times the movement needs to be peace
full and quiet, at others it rises to vigorous
action; but the voice must always be brought
into perfect harmony with the words.
It is possible to express in this manner all
kinds of passions and feelings-love hate,
rage, despair, envy. courage, timidity, terror,
malice, jealousy, irony-in fact, the pronunci-
alton of a single word may often be made to
express its own meaning, as for instance,
words expressive of sounds, such as "gnash"
and "growl."
correct punctuation of the sentences. For in
stance '1t droppeth-as the gentle rain from
heaven,' sounds infinitely better than the
same words gabbled through without the
break.
These pauses come in very useful, too, for
taking breath. so that they. are not purely
ornamental Then, again, there is the EN-
phasis to be attended to, for if it happens to
he placed on wrong word, the meaning of a
sentence may be entirely altered.
But then this is not reciting yet. 1t is com
paratively easy to read poem intelligently,
Int it is a far different matter when you come
to recite it,.
extent in transporting his audience to the ac-
tnai scene of the events which he is describ-
;nc so that they may not only forget that a
s4erv Is being related to them, but may see be-
fore them stage complete with actors and
scenery. . , -
onu saws that cottage is on that side Of
the platform. the people must not merely
imagine that cottage might be there, but
thew must actually see it there; and if he
strokes his chin and mentions man with a
Sna,d Il is the man with the beard that the
DSss' ..,,.+ COO and uOt the raciter