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inapplicable to public speaking. Another kind of force equally inappropriate, but habitually adopted by some speakers, was also alluded to, that arising from violence of emotion. This style of utterance, from whatever kind of feeling it arises, is as unsuitable in addressing a public assembly as a private circle, or even an individual; although it may be very natural and appropriate in poetic or dramatic recitation, which often implies an expression of the extremes of human feeling. The proper force of voice for public speaking, has been mentioned as most nearly exemplified in animated conversation, addressed to a numerous company in a large room. This style of utterance possesses the energy of sentiment; embracing the mental influence of thought and feeling, blended with the physical influence of space. It is by departing from this manner, and approaching to that first mentioned, that those faulty and unnatural tones are produced, which have become prevalent in professional and public perform

ances.

Directions for practice. The 'exercises on force of utterance,' commencing at page 67, may be practised as follows.

The exercises on 'shouting and calling,' should be repeated daily, with the utmost attainable force; their purpose being to strengthen the organs, and impart volume and power of voice.

The exercises on 'force of emotion,' may be managed in nearly the same way. Their chief use is to facilitate strength of expression, in passages marked by great vehemence.

The exercises on 'declamatory force,' or the appropriate style of public speaking on subjects of importance and interest, must be carefully preserved from the violence of tone belonging to the preceding exercises, and should be strictly confined to the natural manner of earnest conversation with a distinct and impressive utterance.*

*The mode of utterance which appropriately belongs to public speaking, is that to which all learners, except the very youngest, should be accustomed, for its mental, not less than its physical, advantages; since the voice may, by early training, be formed to any desirable point of strength and pliancy, and a distinct, ener

The exercise on 'moderate and conversational force,' should not fall short of the energy of voice required for conversing in public, but should preserve that moderation of utterance, which distinguishes the ordinary occasions of conversation from those of peculiar interest.

The exercise on 'subdued force' should be read in a style approaching to a whisper; and that on 'whispering' should be performed in literal correspondence to its designation. The intention of these two forms of exercise, is, to perfect the student's command of his voice, and to enable him to retain distinctness of enunciation, while he lays aside loudness.

The most difficult of these exercises, are those on declamatory and conversational force; the former of which is apt to become a compound of chanting and calling, and the latter to drop down into the feebleness of private conversation. The result, in the one case, is the common arbitrary and mechanical tone of oratorical occasions, and professional performances, a

getic utterance is favourable to strong and clear impressions on the mind of the reader or speaker himself, as well as of those who are addressed. Youth is the favourable season for the formation of habit; and the practice of vigorous exercise of voice, in early years, lays the foundation of facility in professional effort, in after life. But, aside from these general considerations, the necessity of the case, in the size, merely, of most public school-rooms, furnishes an immediate reason for the assiduous cultivation of a forcible and natural enunciation, in school exercises. The habits which generally prevail in school reading, are a bawling or a feeble utterance, and a formal tone; and these defects are necessarily transferred to the higher stages of education, and to the habits of professional life.

Students whose voices are fully formed, and therefore not exposed to injury from great exertion, would do well, in their daily practice, to carry their force of voice, not only to the utmost possible limit of exercise in public buildings, but even to that required in addressing a numerous assemblage in the open air. Exercise of this sort gives great freedom of utterance, and general command of voice, in practising on a smaller scale.

Students who labour under organic weakness, and learners whose voices are in the stage of transition to the grave tone of adult life, should commence the practice of such exercises with a moderate force, and proceed, by degrees, to the utmost extent of loudness. An abrupt commencement of force might, in some cases, occasion injury to health, or to the voice.

tone prescribed by mere custom and ill-cultivated taste; the force of which adds nothing to meaning, or to genuine emotion, but serves merely to express, in a formal way, the misdirected excitement of the speaker. In the other case, an over familiar, or fireside tone of voice, is incurred, which is altogether at variance with the seriousness and the dignity of public address.

The daily repetition of the various stages of utterance, exemplified in the exercises on force, will serve to maintain vigour and pliancy of voice, and preserve a disciplined strength and facility of utterance. The elementary practice of the examples should not be relinquished, till a perfect command is acquired of every degree of loudness. The succession of the exercises should occasionally be varied, by practising them in inverted order; and care should be taken to preserve, in the expression of each, that perfect distinctness of articulation without which force of utterance becomes useless. Full impressions of the importance of preparatory discipline will be needed, to induce the student to carry on this department of practice with that vigorous and persevering application which it requires. The advantages of the attainment in view, however, are of the utmost consequence to the health and vigour of the corporeal frame, the perfection of the organs of speech, the distinctness of enunciation, the adequate expression of thought, and the appropriate influence of feeling. The customary tones of public speaking are generally assumed through inadvertent imitation, or adopted by misguided taste, and are equally defective and injurious; whether we regard the speaker himself, the sentiments which he utters, or their influence on the minds of others.

Pitch. Few faults in speaking have a worse effect, than the grave and hollow note of voice, into which the studious and the sedentary are peculiarly apt to fall, in public address. A deep and sepulchral solemnity is thus imparted to all subjects, and to all occasions, alike. The free and natural use of the voice is lost; and formality and dulness become inseparably associated with public address on serious subjects; or the tones of bombast and affectation take the place of

those which should flow from earnestness and elevation of mind. The young catch, by involuntary imitation, the intonation of adults; and hence the prevalence of false and hollow utterance, in the declamation at schools and colleges,-a style of voice which often seems on a sudden to convert the youthful speakers into grave and formal personages, somewhat advanced in life.

The false pitch now alluded to, is attended with many injurious consequences: it leads to a faint, inaudible, or indistinct utterance, an exhausting mode of emitting the voice, which impairs the action of the lungs and the vigour of health; add to which a formal and tedious monotony of speech, preventing the natural tones of the voice, and their appropriate influence.

The true pitch of the voice, for every individual, is that to which he inclines in animated conversation. The prevailing seriousness of feeling which naturally belongs to the expression of the voice, in the utterance of the sentiments commonly introduced in public discourses, may appropriately incline the tone to a lower strain than is usually heard in conversation on ordinary subjects. But the common error is to exaggerate this tendency of voice, and to create a different mode of speech from what is natural and habitual to the speaker; so that the professional man and the individual are not the same being,-if we judge by the tone and expression of the voice.

The opposite fault of a high and feeble note, has a very unfavourable effect on the ear, owing to the associations with which it is accompanied. It divests a speaker's whole manner of manliness and dignity, and renders his utterance much less impressive and distinct than it would otherwise be.

The various kinds and degrees of emotion, require different notes of voice, for their appropriate expression. Deep feeling produces low tones; joyful and elevated feeling inclines to a high strain; and pity, though so widely differing in force, is also expressed by the higher notes of the scale. Moderate emotion inclines to a middle pitch.

The exercises on pitch are intended to produce the effect of contrast, and to guard the ear against the undue prevalence of any note unauthorized by meaning or emotion, or tending to create indistinctness of utterance. The appropriate note of each class of exercises, will be most correctly given in practice, by allowing full scope to the particular emotion which, in each instance, affects the pitch of the voice, and otherwise determines or modifies the prevailing tone. In this, as well as in other departments of elocution, it is the degree of mental attention and interest in what is read or spoken, that favours felicity and truth of mechanical execution. The exercises on pitch should be attentively practised, till the power of easy transition from one class to another, in inverted, as well as regular, order, is fully acquired, and the appropriate keynote of any emotion can be struck with certainty and precision; while the natural compass of the student's voice is strictly regarded, and a strong and clear articulation carefully preserved.

Time.* The utterance of successive sounds requires, in every form of speech, a certain rate, or proportion of time, occupied in the formation of each element of sound, and in the intervals which elapse between the elements, in their natural and proper succession. A given time is necessary to distinct and intelligible utterance. Deep and solemn emotion requires a slow movement; and a deliberate manner is indispensable to a serious and impressive delivery; while animation and earnestness naturally incline to a degree of quickness in utterance, without which speech is apt to become languid and dull.

The extremes of drawling and rapidity are the common faults in time; the former unavoidably associated with laziness of habit and inefficiency of voice, and the latter, with carelessness and a want of selfcommand, if not of a strong and clear conception of what is uttered.

*The word time is sometimes used in elocution, as equivalent to movement, in music.

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