PART III.

THE ELEMENTS OF VOCAL EXPRESSION.

There are four great elements of vocal expression; namely, Quality, Force, Pitch, and Time. With definitions of the first three we will pass on to the last, which will be of greatest practical benefit to Fifth Reader students.

QUALITY means the kind or timbre of a sound, the purity or impurity of a tone. The reader should attempt to read in as pure a quality as possible, unless the thought or emotion is of a harsh, malignant, or secret nature. Much beauty may be added to the voice, even without a knowledge of all the principles of elocution, by carefully developing one's pure qualities of tone.

FORCE is the power with which the sound is sent forth from the vocal organs. We should read or speak loud enough to be heard by the audience, and at the same time we should avoid straining the voice or giving the impression of trying to speak loud. One great help toward being heard is the art of making your audience listen to you. In other words, you must read so correctly or speak so entertainingly that the audience will try to hear you. Do not raise your Pitch to a high key, but simply increase the Force with which you are speaking.

Let the pupils give the expression, "Ladies and gentlemen" to an audience of twenty persons. Now give the same to an audience of five hundred persons, without increasing the degree of Pitch.

PITCH relates to the location, variation, and succession of speech notes in the scale. By location we mean whether the word is in high, middle, or low Pitch. By variation we mean that the note is inflected from one degree of Pitch to another, and thus we have the rising Inflections, which are anticipative or questioning, and the falling inflections, which are positive or conclusive in expression. Succession means that continued change of degree and inflection which gives variety and beauty of melody. A speaker may make the melody of a spoken sentence as varied and beautiful as that of a song.

TIME is the duration of utterance. The three subdivisions of Time are Quantity, Pause, and Movement.

Quantity is the length of time spent in the utterance of a sound. Pause is the length of time spent in silence between the utterance of words, clauses, or sentences.

Movement is the degree of rapidity or the rate with which we utter a series of words or a sentence.

There are three subdivisions of Quantity; viz. Long, Moderate, and Short. Long quantity is used only in the long sounds to bring out solemnity, pathos, grandeur, or calling, as in " Apostrophe to the Ocean " (page 315), or "The Nineteenth Psalm' (page 341). Much of the sing-song, drawling utterance in reading is due to placing long quantity on short sounds. Short quantity is characteristic of gaiety, joy, or excitability of any kind, the language of which usually contains a predominance of words composed largely of short sounds (see selections on pages 71, 104, and 123). The pupils can easily determine the long and short sounds by referring to the "Table of English Sounds," page xii.

For the purposes of this volume we give two kinds of pauses; viz. Grammatical and Rhetorical.

Grammatical pauses divide the written discourse into such heads and subdivisions as will make the sense apparent to the eye. They are indicated by the punctuation marks.

Rhetorical pauses are much more numerous and refer themselves to the ear. They divide spoken language into its proper parts, so that the sense may be understood at first hearing. These are regulated by a general law: when you have words enough to make one idea, group them together and separate them from all other words by pauses. For example: "John went to town | bought a new hat and returned home." There are three ideas in this sentence, which should be separated as indicated by the above marking.

But in order that the pupil may know more exactly where to make the rhetorical pauses, we subjoin the following diagram, which is based upon the rhetorical laws of language.

The Rhetorical Pause should be used

Before

1. Relative pronouns.

mentioned."

"Here is the man | whose name I

2. Disjunctive conjunctions. "He is poor | but honest."
3. Adjectives and adverbs following the words they modify.
"The man | contented came | boldly."

4. Infinitive phrases, except when the infinitive phrase is
the object of the verb and is embodied in the idea.
"He came | to buy land." Exception. "I want to
go to town."

5. Prepositional phrases, except when the preposition is embodied in the idea. "The house was hidden | by the walls." Exception.-"Give me a cup of water." 1. Syllables or words that will not coalesce. "She sells | sea-shells." Between 2. Words of a series.

After

Before and After

taken."

"Men | women | and children were

3. Clauses. "He promised | and was trusted."

1. Moderately emphatic words. "Men's votes were what he wanted."

2. Words preceding ellipses. "He did his duty, and I| mine." 3. Words or phrases used independently. "Songs of home and love they charm most."

4. Nominative phrases.

"To do good | was her delight." 1. Very emphatic words. "No, | never | will I submit." 2. Transposed words, phrases, or clauses. "And upon

this seat | I'll rest."

3. Words or phrases in apposition. "It was Simon Peter

and Andrew | his brother."

4. Direct quotations. "He said, |'Mock me not,' | and fled." 5. Parenthetical expressions. “This question as it seems | must be settled."

Let the student mark any selection by this table and read it, carefully observing all the marked pauses. In time the habit of pausing correctly will be fixed, and these pausing places will be recognized as quickly as the words themselves.

Movement may be divided into Slow, Moderate, or Rapid. The slow should be used for solemn thoughts, the moderate for ordinary thoughts, and the rapid for excitability of any kind.

THE PRINCIPLES OF ACTION.

We can give only a meagre outline of this subject here tion action means any physical manifestation of though ing in expression. In treating the subject we divide it Expression, Gesture, Position of Feet, Poise, and Attitud

Facial Expression. There is a marked difference be and the other divisions of the subject, in that we do n own faces in speaking, but we are often painfully consci hands, feet, and bodies. Perhaps the best suggestion we here is to feel what you say; and, barring bad facial hab should be corrected by the teacher, the face will usuall your earnestness or feeling.

Gesture. Back of all gesture there must be the impuls ture; without it you rob all gestures of their true mean the mechanical execution of the form becomes apparen audience. Better a good impulse with a poor gesture beautiful gesture with no impulse. However, we give cu significant gestures which the student may practise with a improving his form of gesture.

HAND SUPINE.

The hand supine is the simplest form of gesture and is used in ordinary emphasis, asking, assertion, determination, demand, etc., according to the high, middle, or low plane in which it is made.

HAND REFLEX.

The hand reflex implies concen reflection, and reference to on ward thought, conscience, or according to the mental, moral, zones to which the hand comes.